Mum’s ‘life has changed in every way’ after finding ‘GardenTok’ community on TikTok and posting content as side hustle
Gina Mellard said she never dreamed of becoming a content creator, but some of her videos have received more than 300,000 views.
A mother who turned to TikTok while pregnant and came across a gardening community online has now become a content creator herself and said it has been “life-changing”.
Gina Mellard, 35, who lives in Lincolnshire and works part-time for a building society, has always loved flowers – but she said she knew nothing about gardening for many years.
While working from home and raising her three young children, she came across the “GardenTok” community online, which inspired her to start filming and creating her own content under the handle @ginas_flower_garden on TikTok.
She said she never dreamed of being a content creator, but with some of her videos receiving “hundreds of thousands” of views, it has now become a second part-time job and side hustle, where she spends up to two hours each day filming and editing.
Through TikTok, she shares practical advice, garden transformations, seasonal growing tips and honest insights into balancing gardening with family life and work – and she said everyone should “give it a go”.
“I think as my garden grew, my confidence grew with it – and to be honest, everyone’s been so lovely on GardenTok, everyone’s your cheerleader,” Gina told PA Real Life.
“It has changed my life in every way. I don’t know what I would have done without it.
“It has opened so many doors and it has been life-changing.”
While Gina has always loved flowers, her gardening journey only truly began after moving from Wiltshire to Lincolnshire in 2021.
At the time, she was caring for a toddler while pregnant with twins and spending most of her time at home.
With limited support available, the garden became both a sanctuary and creative outlet – and in her spare time, she came across GardenTok on social media.
“My grandma’s always loved gardening and I’ve always loved flowers, I just didn’t know how to garden,” Gina said.
“Our house in Wiltshire was a new build and I just used to put a few plants in, but everything died. I didn’t understand anything.
“It wasn’t until I moved and started gardening completely from scratch, and then found TikTok gardening, that I started to learn more and teach myself.”
Over time, the mother-of-three taught herself everything from planting bulbs and creating borders to building ponds and maintaining a flourishing garden.
As her confidence grew, she started documenting the journey online, helping others learn alongside her.
“My children were the reason I started gardening and posting online,” Gina said.
“I would walk around the garden with the pram, digging up flower beds and filming it, and it just happened naturally with making content.”
At first, Gina said she started copying others and following their guidance in real time before posting her own content on TikTok in 2022.
She said it took time for her to be fully comfortable in front of the camera, particularly as she considers herself an “introvert” and lacked confidence in the past.
However, it now feels natural – and she said it almost feels like she is just chatting to her family when she is filming.
“It was daunting at first, but you get used to it,” she explained.
“You almost forget that there are so many people watching.”
One of Gina’s first videos as a “newbie gardener” was tips on creating a wildflower garden, where she simply scattered seeds – and one poppy video has received more than 300,000 views to date.
Her content often focuses on bulb planting, garden transformations, pond building projects, rose growing, seasonal gardening updates and beginner-friendly gardening advice.
She said she never set out to “get lots of views”, but she now has nearly 20,000 followers on TikTok and hopes her following continues to grow.
“It just happened completely naturally,” she said.
“I never set out to be a content creator, it just happened because I loved to share my passion.
“When you get such lovely comments as well, you just want to keep going with it.”
On TikTok, Gina aims to create educational, realistic and inspiring content that helps make gardening feel accessible for everyone.
She posts DIY content, such as how to make ponds, tips on how to enhance gardens on a budget and reviews of different types of flowers.
While she does not wish to disclose how much she earns from TikTok, she said she joined the creator fund when she hit 10,000 followers and she is starting to see a small income from her rose reviews and educational content in particular.
She is also a TikTok Shop creator, where she makes shoppable content for small gardening businesses on the platform – but she still has “pinch me moments”.
“I don’t really think of myself as a content creator,” she said.
“It’s definitely surreal that hundreds of thousands of people have seen my garden and content.”
Gina said being outside and in her garden has improved her wellbeing, too.
She said her day-to-day life is typically “doing the school run” and working from home, so getting out in her garden or visiting her allotment gives her “the perfect balance”.
“It’s lovely to be creative because, my day job, I work with lovely people, but it’s not creative. It’s very desk-based,” she explained.
“TikTok and content creation just allows me to be creative, but I don’t have to leave the house… I love it.”
She added: “It has been so good for my wellbeing as well – especially when I was on maternity leave, I don’t know what I would have done without it because you’ve got that connection and you’ve got that community.”
Gina said autumn is often an ideal time to start planting bulbs and trees or scattering seeds, as people will see results by the spring.
Her top tips for beginners are firstly thinking about the desired style and structure of gardens, including where the borders and shade are; what flowers and features to include, such as a pond, play area for children or patio; and what the budget is.
She said growing from seed is often the most cost-effective way to start, along with taking cuttings from family members’ gardens, and she has even upcycled items, such as ice buckets, to make her own flower pots.
While Gina loves creating beautiful garden spaces, she is equally committed to showing the less glamorous side, including failed plants and weeds, weather damage and gardening mistakes.
“No matter if you’ve been gardening for 10 years, you can still fail,” she said.
“Sometimes it is just the weather and you do fail, but it doesn’t mean it’s necessarily you.
“That’s why I try and be realistic and I do share the wins and losses.”
As a self-taught gardener, Gina said she wants to demonstrate that gardening does not require formal qualifications, years of experience or large budgets, adding: “Anyone can do it, you’ve just got to start.”
She wants to encourage beginners to get started and “have fun”, and she hopes she can help and inspire people along the way.
Speaking about her advice to others, and particularly to mothers, she said: “It has been transformative.
“Whether you’re consuming the content or whether you want to make content yourself, I would recommend gardening to everyone.
“You can get the kids involved, which is lovely, or you can just do it yourself.
“It’s just something that you could do at any time.”