Simon Hickmott

SIMON HICKMOTT has been interested in growing plants since he was a boy, and has since made a career out of growing the weird and the wonderful. He worked at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, in the tropical section, growing exotic plants under glass. He also run a seed library at the Henry Doubleday Research Association, growing and distributing hundreds of rare and endangered vegetable varieties. He was Raymond Blanc's Head Vegetable Gardener, producing diverse and high quality vegetables and herbs for his famous restaurant and hotel, Le Manoir Aux Quat' Saisons. For many years he ran his own company, Future Foods, growing and selling lesser-known edible plants by mail order. Most recently, he has been Head Gardener for a private estate. He is the author of Growing Unusual Vegetables: Weird & Wonderful Edible Plants and How to Grow Them, has contributed to the New Royal Horticultural Society Dictionary of Gardening, and for many years annually helped to compile The Fruit & Veg Finder, a directory of seed suppliers.