Herb Garden
Since May, the Inner Garden Team at Botton Village has been hard at work, creating a new herb patch within the gardens.
The herbs were carefully selected by the people we support in the team, for use in Botton Village Cafe recipes, focusing on the ‘taste of Italy’, and for use in herbal teas and dried herb bags to be sold in both the Botton Village Store and on in our online shop.
Community members chose basil, rosemary, sweet marjoram, oregano, mint, lemon balm. lavender thyme and calendula.
Laura, Team Leader for Care and Support, said ‘Once we knew what herbs were needed the people we support got set on planting the various seeds and then watering them regularly.’
Preparing the garden
The Inner Garden Team then began to prepare the garden, starting with a big team effort to weed and rotovate the area completely.
‘Some people helped by digging out the big bushes, others used a trowel sat sitting down. Other people liked to remove branches and take weeds away in the wheelbarrow. Some enjoyed using the rotavator to get to the deep weeds out. There was certainly a job for everyone to be included.’ said Laura.
Once the area was cleared, the team then began work on creating the paths that would be situated between the rows of herbs.
Robin, Head of Natural Environment, said ‘First the weed membrane was put down then the wood cut to form the path. In total we created 4 paths, it took 3 tonnes of pea gravel and lots of wheelbarrow trips to spread it out. It was hard work for the team.’
Planting the herbs
Once the paths were complete, the herb seedlings that were grown in spring and nurtured by community members were ready to plant out. Each herb was carefully planted by the team in selected rows throughout the beds and labelled.
The Inner Gardening Team said, ‘We are all very proud of the transformation and the team effort to change it from an overgrown weedy garden area into a lovely sensory area for the people we support’
‘Work now begins on maintaining the garden and picking the herbs when they are ready to harvest.’
Many of the herbs growing in the garden will be available to purchase as herb teas and dried herb bags in our Botton Village Store and online shop. Order yours today!
