Dig into new year

TRENDS: GROW A GARDEN AND HEAL ALL THE HURT

- Alice Spenser-Higgs

Gardening is changing ever so subtly, and the key influencers are the Gen Z and Millennial generations as well as technology.

In the Garden Media Group's 2026 trends report there is a slow and steady move towards more connection instead of consumption, a desire for simplicity rather than excess, and the prioritising of well-being instead of status.

Noting that anxiety and uncertainty are still burning us out, the report points to gardening as a way to build resilience, because gardeners are "rooted in resilience".

That's because gardening is about unpredictability. Plants flourish or die. Fortunately, gardeners can bury their mistakes in the compost heap and a gap is a promise of new plants to discover.

Gardeners down the centuries have celebrated the healing power of gardening, and no less than the American philosopher Ralph Waldo Emmerson (1803-1882) who penned the quote: "All my hurts my garden spade can heal."

To garden is to play and research from Oregon State University confirms the therapeutic benefits of this.