Question
I would like to make a chamomile bench but donot know how to start.Can you advise me please?

Answer
Stonesmith Garden Vessels (www.stonesmith.com/benches_1.html) posts its catalog on the internet at its website and sells a form of Chamomile Bench that simplifies that art of preparation for this traditional English garden piece.

There is also a reference book which unfortunately I do not own - not yet, anyway - "Herbs: A Garden Project Workbook", available Used for under $10 from the Gardenguides Book Shop (www.gardenguides.com/books/usedbooks/herbsgpw.htm).

I do believe Vita Sackville-West described her technique for this project, which she constructed at Sissinghurst, in one of her books.  But I have lent my copy out and can't find it described elsewhere.

As a guide to cultivation, Roman chamomile is generally obtained as plants and propagated in the fall or spring by root division.  It needs full sun, excellent drainage and acidic soil.  Shakespeare claims that walking (or sitting) on Chamomile stimulates growth in one of his plays, but many writers record a history of adoring Sissinghurst visitors who walked too much over the vegetation and destroyed so much of the gardens they had to be annually renewed.

I have not given up, mind you - but time is a-wasting, and I am giving you a status report on your request.  With the weekend over, perhaps the borrower of Sackville-West will now return my book.  I'll keep you posted.