CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS: Stories from the Ground Up—How Green Spaces Shape Our Lives

A new Narratively x ScottsMiracle-Gro series exploring the lives, memories, and connections rooted in the yards, fields, and green spaces we call home.

Hey, writers! We’re so excited about our next series: a collection of true, deeply human stories about the moments, memories, and turning points that unfold in the outdoor spaces we tend, share, and live alongside — the backyards, fields, parks, and small patches of green that quietly shape our lives and communities.

This is a collaboration with our new partner ScottsMiracle-Gro, North America’s leading lawn and garden company, whose core belief is that “good can grow anywhere.”

Together, we’re seeking real stories, to be published this spring at Narratively.com and scottsmiraclegro.com, about how nature and green spaces bring people together, deepen connection, and shape identity, creativity, wellbeing, safety, and a sense of belonging.

We’re especially interested in narratives where time outdoors serves as a catalyst for something meaningful: a childhood shaped by a particular place; a relationship or family ritual deepened through shared time outside; a moment of healing or reinvention sparked by being in nature; or a group of people strengthened by tending, restoring, or reimagining an environment that matters to them.

What We’re Looking For

We’re seeking cinematic, narrative-driven pieces — primarily first-person and memoir, though we’re open to great reported stories if the narrative is strong and the characters are vivid.

These stories should be rooted in lived experience and tied to a specific outdoor environment — not as the subject of the piece, but as an element that strengthens or propels the human story at its center.

We’re especially interested in stories that explore:

• Family, memory, and belonging —

How a backyard, green space or an outdoor space becomes part of someone’s inner landscape — shaping childhood, identity, or relationships.

i.e. the old, sprawling oak tree under which you and your childhood best friend would lie in the grass and create a vivid imaginary world, sharing your deepest secrets.

• Community, Culture & Expression —

How shared outdoor spaces reflect who people are and bring communities to life — shaping traditions, creativity, belonging, and connection at a local level.

i.e. the immigrant family whose small front lawn became both a classroom and a bridge between generations, or the courtyard that functioned as a town square in miniature, where neighbors who disagreed on everything else still showed up with picnic blankets and food.

• Sports, Healing & Wellbeing —

Stories from the fields where play, confidence, resilience, and community take shape.

i.e. the soccer pitch where you pushed through the toughest season and found moments of calm or strength you didn’t know you were looking for.

• Climate, water, and adaptation —

How people adjust as the environments they rely on shift — and what those changes reveal about care, resilience, and home.

i.e. the coastal family watching the encroaching tide year after year — a slow erosion of both land and memory that they’ve found a way to preserve naturally.

• Curiosity and discovery —

The small wonders and unexpected insights that come from truly noticing the world outside our doors.

i.e. the neighbor who stopped mowing as often “just to see what would happen,” and found an unexpected ecosystem unfolding — clover inviting bees, soft patches drawing kids to play, and a lawn transforming into a small, living community of its own.

Examples of the Tone and Depth We’re Seeking

Below are a few previously published Narratively pieces that reflect the kind of depth, intimacy, and sense of place we’re after. Your story doesn’t need to resemble these in content, but should match their emotional clarity, reporting quality, or sense of transformation:

Yes, New York City Does Have Trees. I’m on a Quest to See All the Best Ones.

A personal journey through the city’s overlooked green spaces, revealing the people who nurture them and the meaning found in seeking them out.

The New Sisterhood of Black Female Homesteaders

A powerful look at women reconnecting with land as a source of identity, resilience, and healing.

Risking Life and Limb to Catalog the World’s Plants

A story driven by scientific passion, adventure, and the human drive to protect nature — told through vivid scenes and personal stakes.

The Vegan Who Bought Her Husband’s Cattle Ranch

A narrative about family, transformation, land stewardship, and reimagining what a piece of property can represent.

Chasing London’s Mysterious Flock of Feral Birds

A curious, community-centered exploration of urban nature and the bonds formed through paying attention to a shared environment.

These pieces demonstrate the range we’re open to: personal journeys, deeply reported stories, unexpected subcultures, scientific or environmental discovery, and narratives driven by identity and place. Your story can be quieter or more intimate — as long as it feels real, grounded, and human.

Again: the lawn or green space is a meaningful setting — not the point of the story.

Format & Payment

We’re commissioning 15 stories in a mix of formats:

• First-person or reported narratives

• Shortreads (up to 1,000 words)

• Longform features (1,000–3,000 words)

Pay starts at $750, with potential for higher rates for ambitious or heavily reported pieces.

Deadline

Submissions (for memoir) and pitches (for reported stories) are due Friday, January 23, 2026, but will be accepted on a rolling basis until then over a 6-week period.

Ready? Head over to our Submittable page and pitch or submit away.

Wondering how to write a pitch that gets our editors’ attention? Don’t miss longtime editorial director Brendan’s story, “The 3 Best Pitches I Ever Received,” where he shares the full text of three successful Narratively pitches, along with insider tips on how to pitch your own story.

Timeline

December/January 2026 - Submissions (memoir) & Pitches (reported) Received

February 2026 - Selections Made

March/April 2026 - Stories Go Live

A Note from ScottsMiracle-Gro

Lawns and green spaces have long been places where people gather, play, celebrate, and reconnect — from backyards and schoolyards to neighborhood fields. They’re woven into the fabric of daily life, offering room to breathe, to move, and to feel grounded in the outdoors.

Through Scotts’ Lawns Positive initiative, we and our partners advocate for the role that real grass and healthy green spaces play in community wellbeing, environmental resilience, and everyday connection.

We’re grateful to partner with Narratively on this series, and we look forward to seeing the stories it inspires.