Jekka McVicar

Who is Jekka McVicar?

Jessica "Jekka" McVicar is an English organic gardening expert, author and broadcaster, particularly on the cultivation and use of herbs.

Jekka was brought up in Chew Magna, Somerset, and learned about the use of herbs from her grandmother, the writer Ruth Lowinsky, and her mother. At the age of 17, after leaving Cranborne Chase School in Wiltshire, she joined the progressive rock band Marsupilami as a singer and flautist under the name Jessica Stanley Clarke. The band released two albums, appeared at the Isle of Wight Festival and the first Glastonbury Festival, and toured in Europe.

After working for a time at the drama department of the BBC, she began working at a herb nursery in Somerset. She married Mac McVicar, and in 1987 they established a herb farm - now known as Jekka's Herb Farm - at Alveston near Bristol. They have the largest collection of culinary herbs in the UK, with more than 500 different varieties. Jekka has been awarded 62 Royal Horticultural Society Gold Medals for her organic herb displays, including 14 at the Chelsea Flower Show, and Best Floral Exhibit at Hampton Court in 2007 and 2008.