About me
I’m Jack Hodgson, a permaculture designer from Essex and the guy behind Jack’s Patch.
Living in an edible food forest flipped a switch for me — I realised every landscape has the potential to be like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, but for plants.
Why can’t our dream gardens be both beautiful and edible - feeding us, nourishing wildlife, and sparking wonder? It’s all about creating an experience.
Whether you’re in the city or the countryside, a cottage or a studio apartment, my mission is to make growing good food accessible to all.
My story
Jack and the Beanstalk
Growing up around the corner from Brentwood, I was never your typical Essex boy. My friends called me Nature Boy instead, as I was always more interested in climbing trees or chasing butterflies. The first thing I ever grew was a runner bean plant in primary school, and I won the competition for the biggest in my class. Either I was born to grow, or Jack really bought some magic beans…
When I left school I trained to be an electrician. I worked long days in London and took the tube to work, some days never seeing daylight. I knew there was more to life, but I didn’t know where to find it. The other side of the world was as good a place as any to start.
New Horizons
So I packed a bag and went to Australia. I travelled, surfed and partied; but like any backpacker I was running out of money and time on my visa quicker than I would have liked. This is where fate comes in. I was in a hostel when a local farmer came in looking for farm hands and, by chance, myself and three others were in the reception (drinking beer like you do as a backpacker!) and was called over by the hostel owners to be ready for 8am pick up the next morning to start farm work .
I thought I knew what a farm looked like but as soon as I got there I knew there was something more special about this place - it was a Permaculture Farm. I experienced something new and it excited me. It had me asking what even is ‘Permaculture’?!
Permaculture on this farm was the ethos and it was highlighted everywhere in its systems; self-flushing aquaponic planters that grew wheatgrass for market, chickens that had free roam to forage amongst the orchard to help with pests whilst fertilising, a reservoir for water capture and to cycle into a water system to water the garden, swales to grow limes and lemons. Real lemons being green and real limes being yellow, who knew!
There was also grey water from the sink to feed a group of banana trees, a duck wash area and a garden with ‘no dig’ practices. Everything worked together in harmony. I've still only listed some of many examples, but they’re all mind blowing, right!
During my first day we were asked to go to the garden to pick some tomatoes and vegetables. I remember eating a fresh tomato and the taste blew my mind to an extent that it set off a chain of motions that led me to where I am today. I felt robbed that I had never tasted a real tomato before that point, it was the epiphany that birthed my passion.
It was all so simple and it made so much sense.
Eating food fresh from the earth, or the tree, was a completely different experience to buying it from the supermarket. I felt like I was really feeding my body for the first time in my life.
I was hungry (literally!) to learn more, so I booked a flight to Costa Rica to live and work on a permaculture farm.
Everything is connected
Costa Rica was where my whole worldview began to change. As are the principles of permaculture, everything on this farm was working as one ecosystem. 90% of all the plants that grew were edible or medicinal. Even when I plucked a blade of grass out from beneath my feet, there were peanuts growing on the end! I felt like Charlie visiting the Chocolate Factory, discovering a brand new magical and edible landscape… only this one was far healthier.
When I eventually came home I immediately signed up to an allotment waiting list, and got one within a few days. People wait years for allotments in towns like mine! It felt like the universe wanted me to do this and everything was working in my favour.
The allotment wasn’t big, but it was perfect for me. I started growing and experimenting with the principles of permaculture in my own quiet corner of Essex; planting flowers to attract pollinators, collecting rainwater, and even building a greenhouse from upcycled plastic bottles! Working as an electrician again by day paid the bills, but I would count down the hours until I could leave and go to the allotment. I called it: Jack’s Patch.
Joan’s Garden
On the weekends when I had a bit more time, I’d ride my Dutch cargo bike around local restaurants to collect food waste and coffee grounds for my compost. One of the yoga teachers spotted me and asked if she could introduce me to her Grandma, Joan. I went to her house with a box full of veggies, and was amazed to see she had so much beautiful land so close to the M25.
She told me that if I wanted it, there was a ¼ acre plot for me to do whatever I liked with. All she’d ask for in return would be some more veggies! It was overgrown and was going to be a lot of work, but she was handing me my dream. Jacks Patch 2.0 was born!
Over the next few years I transformed this old horse paddock beside Britain’s busiest motorway into a thriving Regenerative market garden. I supplied local chefs, farmers markets, delivered veg boxes and hosted farm-to-table volunteer days, all with the vision of connecting people more deeply to the food they eat. It became a little corner of paradise. Word began to spread about my work and soon I started getting invites to do podcasts, collabs with my favourite brands, and talk on stage with people I’d been following for years. I even converted a shipping container to grow microgreens and mushrooms in the winter months, and was finally able to quit my job as an electrician and grow full time.
A new road
And then, the inevitable happened. Joan told me that the motorway was expanding, and she had no choice but to sell her land. I had to leave the farm and everything I’d been building over the past four years. I was devastated, but I also knew deep down that nature always finds a way.
Think about trees growing out through cracks in the concrete, or last year’s tomato plants that sprout again in your compost bin. Nature is resilient and adaptable, and no matter how hard humans have tried to suppress it, it will always find a way back. Permaculture taught me that I am a part of nature too (spoiler alert, so are you!) so if we do what we are destined to do then we will all thrive.
And for me, that’s growing. I believe that everyone should know how to plant a seed in the ground and watch it grow, so I’ve made it my mission to inspire and educate others on their growing journey. Since leaving the farm I’ve been able to make so much more of an impact than I could have if I’d stayed; transforming 100s of acres instead of less than half, and inspiring thousands across the UK, Europe and beyond instead of just a few in my hometown!
I’ve transformed pub gardens into edible wonderlands, university rooftops into urban oases, and long-neglected back gardens into personal paradises. I’ve travelled across Europe for talks, workshops and retreats, and host one of the UK’s most popular gardening and growing podcasts. I work with amazing clients 1:1 on their land, and reach more than I can count digitally through my ebooks and social media!
Like all of the plants and animals around me I’m constantly adapting to my environment, whilst staying true to the roots that got me this far. I don’t know what the future holds but that’s the fun of it… and from my experience it just keeps getting better!
As long as I’m helping others make a deeper connection to the Earth we all share, I’m happy. Even if I help just one person grow a sunflower in their back garden or some basil on their windowsill it’s a job well done. Because one seed can grow a hundred fruit, and one person can inspire a thousand more…
My Mission
As the founder of Jack’s Patch, my mission is to transform overlooked urban spaces into thriving, edible ecosystems that reconnect people with nature and growing their own food.
I learnt by working in farms where the whole system was edible, if not medicinal, during my Permaculture Design course in Costa Rica. That Willy Wonka chocolate factory ethos feeling really ignited a passion in me to tackle this back in the UK.
Rooted in permaculture principles, I design and build sustainable gardens - from rooftop oases to backyard food forests - that are both beautiful and productive.
My work is driven by a passion for ecological design, community engagement, and regenerative practices. Through hands-on projects, educational workshops, and digital content, I aim to inspire others to cultivate their own green spaces and embrace a more sustainable lifestyle.
Whether it’s converting a neglected plot into a community garden or integrating edible landscapes in urban settings, I strive to make permaculture accessible and impactful for all and allow it to spark joy in you as it does in me!
