About

Gardening is a slang term common on TikTok that's a pseudonym for smoking weed. TikTokers say the words "gardening," "gardener" and "garden gummy" to avoid being banned on the platform, similar to other algospeak words and phrases. The usage of "gardening" was widely popularized by TikToker Natalie Benson (@notnataliebenson) in late 2023 and early 2024.

Origin

"Gardening" as a pseudonym for smoking weed was coined by TikToker^[1] @notnataliebenson on November 21st, 2023. In the video, she stated that her old account had been banned because she'd discussed marijuana on it. So, she said that she'd only refer to smoking weed as "gardening" from then on. Over two months, the TikTok received roughly 139,200 plays and 20,300 likes (shown below).

Spread

Continuing into late November 2023, Benson continued to upload videos in which she referred to smoking weed as "gardening," such as in a TikTok^[2] shared on November 22nd, 2023, that gained over 347,800 plays and 59,200 likes in two months (shown below, left).

Soon, others started to take notice of Benson's "gardening," evident in a video posted by TikToker^[3] @emilyraefit on November 28th, 2023, which showed that Benson's following had grown to over 51,000 followers. The TikTok received roughly 189,800 plays and 1,900 likes in two months (shown below, right).

Leading into January 2024, others on the app snowballed the slang's usage, such as TikToker^[4] @kay_caputo on December 31st, 2023, whose video about gardening received over 2.8 million plays and 221,800 likes in one month (shown below, left).

On January 9th, 2024, TikToker^[5] @theashleyhalfacer posted a similar video about "garden gummies," earning over 2.8 million plays and 231,900 likes in three weeks (shown below, right).

Towards the end of January 2024, the cultural awareness of "gardening" as a slang term spread outside of weed-smoking communities on TikTok, evident in a video shared by TikToker^[6] @tannervanb on January 11th, 2024, who stated that she'd been "fooled" by Benson and other "gardeners." The video received roughly 7.7 million plays and 661,000 likes in 19 days (shown below).

Various Examples

Search Interest

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External References