Born in Exeter, England Toby was brought up in the coastal towns of Dawlish and Kingswear in Devon. He trained as a nurseryman at Blyth's Devon Nursery and later Whetmans in Devon before studying horticulture, first at Bicton College, Budleigh Salterton, Devon and later Hadlow College of Horticulture and Agriculture, Hadlow, Kent where he trained in Landscape and Amenity management. During which time he spent a year as a horticultural trainee at the University Cambridge Botanic Garden as a woodland supervisor.

He also worked as a gardener for the author Tom Sharpe and built a garden for the poet laureate Andrew Motion.

Toby is married to Lisa, a gardening writer, and has three children, Henry, Eddie and Emma. They live in Dawlish where he gardens on a sloping site the size of two tennis courts and has an allotment nearby .

Toby's first job in TV was in 1996 as a horticultural researcher for Brian Lapping Associates working on Channel 4's Garden Party. In 1998 he then joined Granada's Satellite Channel Breeze as a gardening presenter which lead to TV roles designing and building gardens on shows including Home Front in the garden, Real Wrecks, Carol Vodermanns' Better Homes and BBC 1's Garden Magic.

He took over from Monty Don as the main presenter on the BBC flagship gardening show Gardeners' World in August 2008. .

Toby has supported a variety of charities including Perennial, Greenfingers, Thrive and Hospiscare.He has recently designed a memorial garden for 45 Commando Royal Marines.

Toby Buckland has written a number of books, including: