LEAVES OF LIFE

by ESTHER DEANS

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Used hardcover book with dustjacket in 'nearly new' condition. First edition, published 1991, 66 pages. Colour photos throughout

In Leaves of Life Esther Deans provides helpful advice about gardening for people with disabilities ... or the 'handicapable' as she writes in her beautiful dedication. Based on her low-maintenance No Dig garden method, she provides a variety of ideas, such as making gardens in pots, placing pots on casters and creating raised garden beds for people with mobility problems. Focussing on plants that tantalise the senses, Esther describes fragrant plants for people who are blind or visually impaired, as well as plants that can be felt and heard.

Leaves of Life is also about Esther Deans and the people who have inspired her. Esther is an extraordinary woman, with a flair for entertaining people with her delightful stories, many of which are included in this book. Her best-selling book, Growing Without Digging helped change people's concept of gardening, and she has written a successful cookbook, From Garden to Kitchen. Esther has long been active in helping people with disabilities enjoy the fruits and labours of gardening. Her zest for life and for gardening can be seen in every aspect of Leaves of Life.

Since 1975, Esther Deans' classic books No-Dig Gardening ( aka Growing Without Digging) and Leaves of Life have inspired thousands of people to grow their own vegetables and flowers at home.

About the author

Esther Deans, poet, writer, gardener, conservationist, became famous in the 1970-1980s for her books which developed a no dig method of gardening by covering her lifeless soil (you can also cover the lawn) with newspaper and then wads of weed-free straw. She did this inside a garden border.

She recommends layers of: (1) of newspaper (2), lucerne hay (3), organic fertilizer (4), loose straw (5), another sprinkle of organic fertilizer (6) compost (7). You can also use little pockets of good compost and seedlings in a top layer of loose straw, or browned grass clippings and rotten straw, which is fertilised by the ducks bathing water or some other organic fertiliser

Esther is still alive in 2008 aged 97 in October. She lives in Waitara, a northern Sydney suburb in Australia. She influenced the work of Bill Mollison and A Sampson-Kelly in Permaculture.

Her original book, Esther Dean's Gardening Book: Growing Without Digging has sold over 130,000 copies.

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Leaves of Life - Esther Deans