About

My name is Shannon, or Shan and I set up the @diaryofaladygardener Instagram in January 2019 after being given an allotment as a Christmas present.

While you're all thinking 'what a wonderful gift', and I do completely agree with you now, but back then, this was somewhat out of the blue and I didn't have CLUE about growing things. It was a very thoughtful gift but I never thought it would catch on. See I was a bit of a serial hobbiest, all the gear and no idea but had a different interest on a weekly basis with the ambition to give it my all. I was also the kind of person that would say I couldn't keep anything alive, I wasn't greenfingered and I had no idea that potatoes were grown from, well, other potatoes...

But, when my first day on the plot came I got stuck right in. Within a few months I had some shiny new Instagram pals to follow and chat veg with and I quite quickly became obsessed. Yes, most people did laugh at me when I told them I was off to my new allotment every weekend, or when I continued to talk about nothing by my seedlings and gardening adventures. At the age of 22, it wasn't very 'cool' to be into gardening, and most people laughed and asked when I'd be retiring (until I suddenly had 10K followers and the pandemic meant EVERYONE thought gardening was cool that is).

Flash forward to 2021 and I've launched a podcast and am planning 101 different dreamy projects, I've made some proper IRL best friends in the gardening community and dream of one day owning my very own British flower farm. One where people's weddings are decorated with my blooms, and locals come by to pick up a bouquet for their mantle, and people flock to the field to take a million and one photos of how majestic it is. And I hope, that it will spark the growing adventures of many more!