Neville Portas is a wild gardener and compost activist near Birmingham. His fascination with growing began in the early 1980s. While accompanying his father on a Youth Training Scheme, Neville found himself standing inside a polytunnel, thinking, “I’d love one of these.”
It wasn’t until Neville had children of his own that gardening evolved beyond a pastime. Thinking deeply about the future—for his family and humanity—led him to question resilience, food systems, and the myth of individual self-sufficiency. An allotment or two followed, along with a profound realisation: true resilience doesn’t come from isolation, but from community. “The only way to be self-sufficient is to take the self out of sufficiency,” he reflects.
This understanding drew Neville into community work across the Midlands. He collaborated with local authorities and organisations in North Birmingham to help open and protect green spaces, supporting community hubs and neurodivergent and SEN children. Through weekly sessions that combined access, education, and care, he discovered that keeping green spaces open and welcoming to all was as important as growing food itself.
Over time, Neville’s attention shifted to the foundation beneath it all: soil. Soil health became central to his work, with no-dig methods initially guiding his growing style. While valuing compost as a vital means of recycling waste streams and regenerating degraded landscapes, he grew increasingly aware of the limitations and resource demands of constant compost application, particularly at scale. This curiosity led him deeper into soil biology and regenerative agriculture.
Diving into microbes, garden ferments, and the soil food web transformed how Neville understood growing. Learning how bacteria and fungi unlock nutrients revealed a living system powered by relationships rather than inputs. This holistic view led to an interest in Taoism and eastern philosophy, which in turn drew him to Korean Natural Farming (KNF)—a sustainable method that harnesses indigenous microorganisms and locally sourced materials to create self-sustaining farm ecosystems.
Today, Neville works with organisations including Old Tree Soil, The Geyer Foundation, and Bala Botanicals, raising awareness around healthy food systems and regenerative growing. He focuses on signposting people towards free, accessible, practical resources that empower confident growing while caring for living soil. He also runs an online store that provides essential tools for regenerative growing, supporting growers transitioning from extractive methods to long-term soil health.
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