Millennial gardeners who bloomed during lockdown
Tomé Morrissy-Swan discovered a passion for plants during the Covid-19 confinement – and he is not the only one
When does adulthood begin? Is it your 18th or 21st birthday, or when you move out, start a career, get married or have children? I’m not sure what my marker is, but, at 28, I know I’m still some way off.
During the lockdown, however, I came the closest I have yet come to feeling like an adult. Why? I started looking after plants.
There have long been pot plants on our balcony, but this year I took up the protectoral mantle. In April, I bartered with neighbours for the El Dorado of compost, emptied old pots, resurrected winter-beaten perennials, carefully germinated (often unsuccessfully) tomatoes, chillies and peas, and watched ( some of) them grow. I regularly checked the weather forecast before bed, surely a sign of early-onset middle age.
It seems I’m not alone. Interest in gardening has spiked among people in their twenties and early thirties since the UK was plunged into hibernation. For months, many were confined to their houses, with outdoor activity limited.
Those working from home suddenly had time to kill, conveniently coinciding with spring. People lucky enough to have gardens spent more time in them; others were drawn to balconies or indoor plants.
Research by ao.com has found that 66 per cent of millennials had more time to garden during the lockdown. According to the Royal Horticultural Society, visits to its website are up 533 per cent year-on-year among 18-24 year-olds; for the 25-34 category, clicks rose by 123 per cent. Its virtual Chelsea Flower Show received 2.1 million visitors; 28 per cent were under 35.
Conversely, the charity estimates that only one per cent of visitors to last year’s regular event were aged 16-24, rising to six per cent for 25-34.
The ao.com poll says 62 per cent of lockdown gardeners found it vital for their well-being. For the RHS’s director of science, Professor Alistair Griffiths, this isn’t surprising. “There’s a lot of evidence around mental health and gardening. There’s a number of things it ties into. It provides an element of control, it helps restore the mind and there’s the physical exercise aspect.”
Climate change, too, is a growing worry. Far from a distant concern, Griffiths says we are beginning to feel its immediacy, with young people at the forefront. “More and more people, particularly younger people, are seeing how it’s affecting them right now,” he observes, pointing to recent events such as the Chobham Common fire.
Griffiths describes growing plants as “green infrastructure”, in the same vein as solar panels, and says that this gives individual gardeners a sense of control. “It’s not a silver bullet by any means,” Griffiths points out, but every little helps.
Some have turned their newfound passion into a career. Ollie Saunders is helping to launch the Chiswick Flower Market, which kicked off earlier this month, and is surprised by the number of young people opening stalls.
Many have switched careers, such as a lawyer now selling houseplants. “Obviously, there’s environmental awareness,” Saunders explains. He also thinks Covid-19 accelerated people’s plans – they may have been looking for an excuse; now, with lost jobs or commuting less appealing, is the time to turn them into reality.
Stories of millennials and their cacti have circulated for years. Yet, lockdown has encouraged many twentysomethings to fully immerse themselves in nature.
As for me, I’m still monitoring my plants every day and reaping the minimal, yet no less satisfying, gastronomical rewards.