Seed to Dust

*SHORTLISTED FOR THE WAINWRIGHT PRIZE 2021*

'A wholly original, semi-autobiographical book on how to live, how to be calm and content with only a little, in a quietly humming garden' Daily Mail

Beautifully illustrated, Seed to Dust is a reflective and restorative account of a life lived in harmony with nature.

Any garden belongs to everyone who sees it - it is like a book and everybody who visits it will find different things.

Marc Hamer has designed and nurtured 12 acres of garden for over two decades. It is rarely visited so he is the only person who fully knows its secrets; but it is not his own. His relationship with the garden's owner is both distant and curiously intimate, steeped in the mysterious connection which exists between two people who inhabit the same space in very different ways.

In this life-enhancing book Marc takes us month-by-month through his experiences both working in the garden and outside it, as the seasons' changes bring new plants and wildlife to the fore and lead him to reflect on his past and future. Through his peaceful and meditative prose we learn about gardening folklore and wisdom, the joys of manual labour, his path from solitary homelessness to family contentment and the cycle of growth and decay that runs through both the garden's life and our own.

You've seen gates like that at the side of the road, you've wondered what's behind them. They really are the entrance to the wonders you imagined.