The lockdown has created a crop-growing revolution that enthusiasts say could transform how we think about nature, food security and our communities. Growing vegetables has long been hailed as one of the most beneficial of pastimes and an initial run on vegetable seeds in the early days of the Covid-19 crisis has resulted in a bumper crop of early seedlings, which gardeners are sharing using social media and community groups to spread the good news about the “good life”. On the Isle of Wight almost 5,000 people have signed up to the Green Island Veg Economy (Give) initiative in the past two weeks. The concept is simple: if you have a surplus of homegrown seedlings or veg, leave them outside your house for others to take for free. “It has just exploded,” says Holly Maslen, an artist who set up the initiative. “In the past, gardeners might not have bothered cropping, but people are starting to think of others who might not have so much or very little space.” Maslen hopes for a future when those lucky enough to have a garden will be able to share produce with those who do not, making the island more self-sufficient. The Royal Horticultural Society has experienced hundreds of thousands more people looking for growing advice on its pages compared with last year. Views of its how to compost page are up 500%. Local RHS groups have taken up community-minded activities. In Castlecaulfield, Northern Ireland, volunteers have distributed microgreens, while in Milton Keynes sunflower seedlings have been given to elderly people. In Rainham, Havering, seeds and plant care packages have been delivered to residents. Across the UK, new gardeners are getting their hands dirty for the first time. Carla Francome, a TV producer, has converted her “short stumpy bit of land covered in paving stones” in Bounds Green into a cultivation hub. Her local Facebook group has become a place to share tips and seedlings. One elderly resident who is self-isolating had 10 cuttings delivered to her door after making a request. “I do wonder if I’ve suddenly become 75,” Francome says. “But I’ve found fiddling around outside, with the birds singing, getting fresh air and fingers covered in dirt, is a delightful way to spend time.” Liz Cooper used to get up at 5am to get to her job as an investment manager in the City, but now gets up early so she can tend to her seedlings before her kids destroy the peace. The sense of achievement that growing from seed gives is addictive, she says. “There was nothing, and now there is something. It satisfies a nurturing instinct – like you get the good bits of children without anybody talking back at you or drawing on your walls.” In Oxfordshire, the Rose Hill And Iffley Low-Carbon group – which is aiming to become the first zero-CO2 estate in the country – has organised a physically distanced seedlings share on 6 June. In Romiley near Stockport, residents are sharing plants and having a sunflower-growing competition after one resident put packets of seeds through everyone’s door. Hannah Stephenson, who split a peace lily she got when she left home to share among residents, is winning. “I do not want to use the phrase ‘blitz spirit’, I don’t want to hark back to a war, but there is definitely an increased sense of community and sharing,” she says. And, as any long-term gardener will tell you, the process may be exactly what a stressed-out nation needs right now. A Danish study in 2018 found that 10 weeks of gardening produced similar benefits to 10 weeks of cognitive behavioural therapy. “There is considerable evidence that 120 minutes’ exposure to nature a week is a key factor in maintaining positive mental health,” says Dr Alan Kellas, the green care lead at the Royal College of Psychiatrists. But he wants the government, local authorities and public health experts to put in place measures to ensure everyone – including those in high-rise flats – can benefit from access to nature. “If you plant a seed, you think in terms of weeks and months, not the 24-hour news cycle,” he says. “It’s a retreat and it is one of the best ways we have found to cope.”