Ben Newell took his first step to becoming a terrarium sensation when he was put in charge of a compost bin at a nursery school where he worked. It was 2013 and Newell, now an RHS Chelsea Flower Show gold medal winner with almost four million followers on social media, had no interest in horticulture.
“I started researching compost, which led to an interest in vegetable gardening. Next to the school was an allotment, I put my name down and within a week I was choosing my plot,” says Newell, 32.
The job at the school helped to turn around an unhappy period. His father died when Newell was eight, followed by his brother’s death five years later, and he had descended into a life
