TikTok star launches his first book
Fans of TikTok star Garden Marcus will be delighted that he has written his first book, How To Grow: Nurture Your Garden, Nurture Yourself – but this is no ordinary gardening book.
Since launching his TikTok account in December 2019, Marcus Bridgewater has gathered a huge audience. Like his social media output, the book focuses on plant care as a metaphor for personal growth. For similar books, read my reviews on The Right Genes by Nick Hamilton and Son of the Secret Gardener by Trevor Millum.
How To Grow – all-round well-being
In the book, he focuses on well-being for mental health, physical fitness and spiritual awareness. He weaves together stories from his life in Florida as a child in his grandmother’s garden. The first lesson he learned: “…growth cannot be forced, only fostered.”
Reflecting on his own development, Marcus gives readers the skills to better their own mental health and develop kindness, patience, and positivity. How to Grow is more of a self-help book that draws inspiration from the garden. However, it does take knowledge from the plant world to teach us about ourselves and opens our eyes to what we can achieve.
Getting the gardening message out there
If you’re looking for a straightforward how to grow plants book, this is not for you. However, riding on the back of the upswelling gardening for mental health movement, Marcus has captured the attention of a younger audience. I’m one of those older gardeners who have been banging on about mental health, physical health and gardening for decades. Our message feels like it has been falling on stony ground until recently. I commend his aims and am happy that the baton appears to have been passed on!
Marcus Bridgewater is a creator, educator, motivational speaker, and plant enthusiast. He is the person behind Garden Marcus on social media. He is the Founder & CEO of Choice Forward, a company that offers life coaching, seminars, and workshops. More at: www.tiktok.com/@gardenmarcus, www.instagram.com/garden_marcus and www.gardenmarcus.com.
How To Grow: Nurture Your Garden, Nurture Yourself is available now, published by HarperCollins, price £17.99.
Read more horticultural book reviews you might like – The Thoughtful Gardener and Good Soil; Urban Flowers; The Salad Garden; The Jam Maker’s Garden and Charles Dowding’s latest No-Dig volume.
