Alice Vincent: On Rootbound and finding freedom during lockdown

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We met over Zoom at noon in the beginning of January. Despite having a chaotic morning following a water leak in her kitchen, Alice Vincent, 32, is cheery and excited to delve into the topic of conversation: her passion for urban gardening and her first novel Rootbound: Rewilding a Life, which was longlisted for the Wainwright prize. Not only is Alice an author, a journalist and the features editor at Penguin Books, she is also one of the most prominent voices of a new generation of gardeners sharing their plant obsession on social media. The self-taught gardening expert started her journey on Instagram and a newsletter under the name Noughticulture. Later writing a column for the Telegraph and multiple gardening books.

At first glance, Alice’s Instagram account @noughticulture looks to be the work of a well established horticulturist. Yet, her gardening obsession started as a pastime while at university studying English Literature. It has flourished ever since and attracted over 35,000 followers. “I was very much like a lot of people of my generation, raised to see accomplishment as getting a good job that you love. Always improving and bettering yourself (the trap of late capitalism) and that you always have to be busy. I very much ascribed to that theory, until I got to a point where it wasn't making me happy anymore.” Following a significant turn in her personal life, gardening created the sense of belonging she had been looking for. “When the relationship I thought I'd have for the rest of my life fell apart, it gave me some kind of philosophical guidance, in the form of understanding that nature repeats itself. Gardening was massively relaxing, reassuring and stabilizing at a time when nothing else in my life was.”

Alice’s first novel Rootbound came out in paperback last December and is part memoir, part botanical history. Before starting the writing process she would never have imagined that she would sit down and write a book about her heartbreak and life, as well as “plants and the histories that I find interesting about them.” What her life coach told her made it all clear: “You were writing that book because you needed to. It was a form of therapy for what you were going through.” In the novel, Alice reflects on London’s historical green spaces, a horticultural solution to a fast-paced life and explores how plants became her solace as her love fell apart. She looks to her own family and other people who have turned to the earth when things went wrong in the pursuit of finding out what it was that made her want to garden. What does she want her readers to take with them from Rootbound? “I'd like them to think about challenging the expected path of things. To think about other ways they could live their lives that would maybe make them happier.”

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… a place to play and experiment

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The gardening obsession dates all the way back to 2015. She shared the first photo alongside a caption reading: “Hi! This is noughticulture. Urban gardening, indoor jungles and greenfingers from SE5”. “I set it up as a sort of extension, a place to play and experiment and see what would happen.” She goes no further before mentioning that she felt gripped by imposter syndrome and a general sense that she did not have enough knowledge to share. In that sense, one can say that the account became a way for her to push herself, and a way to put her hands up and say “I don't know what I'm doing either.” To this day, she continues to learn and has built strong friendships with people she has met through the gardening community on Instagram. “I didn't really expect it to lead me into the world that it has, which is one of such enthusiasm, education and knowledge,” she says.

Six years later, gardening in urban cities has gone from being a relatively unusual hobby to becoming the norm, especially among millennials. Alice points out that this generation was never taught how to garden, so what is it that makes this hobby so appealing to them? According to Alice, this boosted interest is owed to multiple factors. Firstly, it can be an attempt to prevent the well known phenomenon amongst millennials: Burnout. “Gardening is kind of the opposite of burnout. It can't demand that much from you, you get what you put out. It's just an innately relaxing thing.” Secondly, it is the inevitable rebellion from technology and it being the perfect opposite to what is encouraged to achieve. “We're very adept at spending more time online, and we've gotten used to having what we want delivered very quickly. None of that really applies in gardening. You can't hurry something along as it requires patience and has a level of uncertainty.”

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There is freedom to be found within our gardens

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Lastly, Alice expresses that she has no doubts that the soaring houseplants sales correlates with people having their freedom stripped away during the pandemic. It has not only changed the pre-existing communities online and offline, but there has been more interest from new gardners wanting to connect with nature. “People have been locked in their houses, had their freedoms restricted, and of course, an incredibly stressful anxiety inducing moment.” What this has resulted in is a need to tend to something other than yourself. “People are suddenly like ‘I want to grow food. I want to be outside. I want to tend to my houseplants’, and seeing horticulture and plant care as part of their self-care. That's never been more needed as time and when we have to spend so much time indoors.” There is no doubt that the pandemic has made urban gardening more difficult due to lack of access to community gardens. People are more desperate than ever before for plant related content to help them learn and share.“We’re all kind of doing our own thing, trying to engage with nature. There is freedom to be found within our gardens.”

She goes on to say that regardless of whether you are feeling frustrated, bored, grouchy or sad, gardening can be the cure. “Whenever I feel sad or overwhelmed I go and garden.” This is of course one of the main reasons why, according to the Garden Centre Association, “sales of houseplants across the UK boomed in July 2020, and compared to the same month in 2019, sales were up 81.82 per cent.” One example being Patch, an online plant shop that has experienced a 500 per cent sales increase throughout the pandemic. These statistics make one thing clear: the interest in keeping houseplants goes far beyond decor. There is something far more vital under the surface.

What is clear is Alice’s naturally positive outlook. She is able to, even during uncertain times, step back and observe. There is always something flourishing around us. “I’m talking to you now looking at my garden behind the screen. I see loads of shoots coming up. That’s hope, right, that those flowers are going to come?” Lockdown has changed young people’s perspective on gardening and the outdoors as a whole. We can only hope, thanks to the pandemic, that this trend is here to stay.