Robert Hart (horticulturist)

Robert Adrian de Jauralde Hart (1 April 1913 – 7 March 2000) was the pioneer of forest gardening in temperate zones. He created a model forest garden from a 0.12 acre (500 m²) orchard on his farm. He credits the inspiration for his work to an article by James Sholto Douglas, which was in turn inspired by the work of Toyohiko Kagawa.^{(page 41)}

Hart, son of a lawyer father and a soprano mother, was born in London and educated at Westminster School, after which he was employed at Reuters news agency in charge of special Indian mails, work which involved compiling digests of weekly articles by Mahatma Gandhi, whose nonviolence philosophy he took on board.

At the outbreak of World War II he considered registering as a conscientious objector but changed mind following retreat from Dunkirk in 1940 and enlisted in the Corps of Military Police, later transferring to the Intelligence Corps to work in code-breaking.

After demobilisation, he was a dairy farmer in Norfolk and Somerset before moving to Shropshire where he took on a smallholding on Wenlock Edge.

Robert Hart began with a smallholding called Highwood Hill farm at Wenlock Edge. His intention was to provide a healthy and therapeutic environment for himself and his brother Lacon, who was born with severe learning disabilities.

Hart though soon discovered that maintaining large annual vegetable beds, rearing and taking care of an orchard were tasks beyond his strength. However, he also observed that a small bed of perennial vegetables and herbs he had planted was looking after itself with little or no intervention. Furthermore, these plants provided interesting and unusual additions to the diet, and seemed to promote health and vigour in both body and mind.

...
Wikipedia