Life Lessons from ‘That Gardening Guy on TikTok’
I was listening to one of my usual podcasts yesterday as I drove around for work. This particular show interviews people with wild ideas and different perspectives or approaches to life. Yesterday’s guest makes time in his life to take care of plants. He’s got hundreds in his home and backyard. His own flourishing garden. And then he shows the world through TikTok how to care for and cultivate their own plants.
I will not be following him on TikTok. That would involve joining another social media platform that I have no interest to participate in, or spectate. But I’ll probably see if his name pops up on Instagram, and I’m sure I’ll buy his book when it releases this spring. Honestly, I appreciate that the gardening guy on TikTok thought it was a calendar app when someone encouraged him to join and share his knowledge two years ago. Maybe that’s part of his charm.
Anyway, when he talks about plants, he also roots life lessons in his words. Like how the roots of avocado seeds from two fruits eaten in the same week look entirely different. One seed was already sprouting when he ate the avocado; the other seed took more time. Growth happens at different rates, depending on where we start and how ready we are for what’s next. A lesson in realizing things might take longer than we expect, and on letting go of expectations.
During his podcast interview, he said something about how a plant looks different at different times of the year and during different seasons. But that doesn’t make the plant any less alive. Actually, the plant needs to go through those different phases and cycles to thrive. Like a tree dropping its leaves in the fall only to grow new buds in the spring on sturdier branches. The tree is one season stronger because of its cycle. Pulling back to press forward.
But as humans, we try to have the same routines day after day, regardless of the seasons. We simply try to power through, even when a pulling back of sorts might do us some good. Firmly holding on to constant growth and continuous hustle. Grinding ourselves into the ground when what we really need is a blanket, a cup of tea, and a nap. A chance to drop our leaves for a little while so that we can grow stronger.
His words were brief and eloquent, and they stuck with me. I listened to episodes from three other podcasts yesterday, but it was Garden Marcus’ words that stayed in my head. They drew a picture of a tropical plant desperately trying to survive in a harsh arctic winter. Bright vibrant teals and reds, out of place against brutally cold and windblown white. How often are we, am I, that plant? Stubbornly fighting against nature, for reasons we probably can’t articulate.
Seasons have a purpose though, in every facet of life. The best example I have is in sports. In every sport, there is always an offseason. Because we can’t be at peak physical condition all the time. Our bodies don’t hold up to the huge toll of competition continuously, nor will our bodies endure the rigor of a heavy training load without rest. We are not built to race or undertake our most challenging workouts every day. Without breaks, our bodies break for us.
We understand those cycles when it comes to sports. If we played any sport growing up, we learned that overtraining leads to injuries and that competition leads to sore muscles or bruises that need time to heal. There is a reason tournament weekends were physically draining and that coaches encourage a period of downtime after the season ends. Build, fine-tune, perform, recover. Start again.
But outside of sports? We forget about seasons and cycles. We ignore that we feel more tired during the long nights of winter and we still try tackling our to-do lists with summer levels of energy. Digging into and draining our personal stores without a second’s thought on when or how we’ll replenish them. How often are we scraping the bottom with only a little or nothing left to give? When will we let some of our leaves fall so that we can let our pots fill back up?
I’ve never been great with plants. During college, I tried. But I managed to kill a terrarium and I can’t tell you how many orchids. I haven’t wanted to be in charge of plants since, preferring to brighten a room with the occasional bouquet instead. Ironically, most of my bouquets tend to live longer on my dining room table than any of my plants ever did. I’m not sure what that says about me. Maybe Marcus would have some sage and wise wisdom about it.
His advice, if you want to get a plant is to think about the plant when you are picking one out. Not about whatever you are trying to fix in yourself. But focus on the plant. Choose a plant that you feel a connection to, because connection is a good place to start. I don’t know that I will use that advice to pick out a plant that is probably better off in someone else’s hands than my own. But I will use that advice when tending to the different plants inside myself.
There is only so much water in the watering can, and only so many worms nourishing the dirt. Everything cannot be in full bloom all at once. If everything is fighting for the sunshine, plants will crowd and strangle each other. Flourishing is a balance of giving back just a bit more than you ever take. Because nothing can grow from empty. Seasons and cycles. Pulling back so we can regroup. Dropping leaves every now and then as part of growth.
