Matt James is a gardener, garden designer, broadcaster, gardening columnist and lecturer.

Fuelled by a passion for plants and gardening he has worked widely within the horticulture industry from production horticulture to landscape construction. He trained at Merrist Wood, and then onto a degree in horticulture at Writtle College.

For setting up farmers’ markets in Surrey and South London in 2000-01, Matt was awarded ‘Londoner of the Year’. More recently his designs for gardens in California won him two prestigious awards.

Channel 4’s ‘The City Gardener’ introduced Matt to the gardening public; the series was later broadcast around the globe. Two series about urban garden design in the U.S. soon followed and most recently he filmed a series about environmental challenges and their affect on our gardens. Matt also guests on Radio 4’s Gardeners’ Question Time.

Currently Matt is a committed lecturer teaching on horticulture degree programmes at Duchy College, Cornwall, and the renowned BA (Hons) Garden Design course at University College, Falmouth. Two of his students have won the coveted Society of Garden Designers ‘Student of the Year’ award. In 2010 his students’ entry for Hampton Court Palace Flower Show won gold.

The City Garden Bible, published by Transworld, is the most recent of his three gardening books, but Matt has also written for numerous publications on garden design and gardening, including The Daily Telegraph, The Sunday Times, Real Homes, Garden Life, and The Garden. Currently he writes a weekly column for the News of the World.

Although a Londoner born and bred, Matt now lives in the Cornish countryside with his wife, two small children, and a quintet of disobedient chickens!