The garden at Artemis House is enormously important to my clinic, patients and students – and to me! It is laid out in a spiral, representing a journey through a woman’s life, starting at birth with a beautiful rose arch and ending in paradise by the tranquil pond. There is a narrow gravel path to follow as you slowly walk around the garden and as the path unfolds the planting reflects the herbs that are most helpful for that time in a woman’s life.
We aim to grow as much as possible in the garden to produce home grown and home processed herbs for the dispensary. To maintain this garden requires an enormous amount of work, knowledge and passion and Katie, who has been carefully helping me in tending the garden for years, and I meet up regularly to plan planting schemes, decide which which herbs we need more of for the practice, which beds and borders need attention, and to design new garden projects, all of which requires considerable amounts of labour to carry out.
To help us keep the garden looking its best, this spring and summer we are looking for volunteers to come and work alongside Katie and me regularly on Mondays and/or Thursdays. A passion for herbs and plants is essential, but no previous gardening experience is necessary as a herb garden does not always follow the same rules as an ornamental garden (our definition of a ‘weed’ is slightly different for starters!).
The days volunteered and the work to be done will be arranged in advance with us but you can give as much, or as little, time as you are able.
The work involved includes
- weeding herb and vegetable beds and paths
- sowing seeds, pricking out and potting up seedlings
- watering and feeding beds and borders
- deadheading roses and flowering plants
- collecting herbs for drying and processing
- making tinctures and glycerites
- pressing tinctures and glycerites
Please note we are not on a public transport route so you will need to be able to drive yourself to and from the garden.
If you are interested please email clinic@annemcintyre.com with your availability. Thank you!
