Ben Raskin

I discovered growing on a vineyard in Italy in my late twenties and have now worked in horticulture for more than 25 years. For 12 years I grew vegetables, including running a walled garden at Gravetye Manor in Sussex and setting up the market garden at Daylesford Organic Estate.

I now combine a range of work in the UK, predominantly as Head of Horticulture and Agroforestry for the Soil Association, but also implementing a 200-acre agroforestry planting at Helen Browning’s Eastbrook Farm in Wiltshire. I write gardening books for children and grownups.

I’m on the boards of two great grass roots organisations; the Organic Growers Alliance and Community Supported Agriculture Network UK, and sit on the committee of the Farm Woodland Forum.

Hobbies include singing and playing in a folk band, walking the kids (and dog), knitting. Covid lock down has justified investing in a table tennis table, enabling me to relive my childhood glory of winning the school competition age 10 – my first and last sporting achievement.