With thoughts turning to al fresco dining and summer barbecues, now’s the time to plan for a garden filled with aromatic and flavourful favourites
The fab five for pots!
These all thrive in containers, making them brilliantly handy for barbecues!
Pretty and tasty red-veined sorrel has a lemon kick to it. It’s great for soups, sauces and is cooked like spinach for stews, or simply added to salads. Sow continuously and harvest only the young leaves or it will taste bitter. Likes partial shade or sun.
It’s always best to grow mint in pots on its own; it’s a vigorous, quickly-spreading perennial so give it an inch in open ground and it will take the proverbial mile! It doesn’t mind growing in poor soil and will benefit from regular trimming and a shear back at the end of summer. Have it handy for all those summer garden cocktails! Who fancies a mojito?
Pretty bobbing blooms on oniony stems that look great in a container. They like rich soil to grow well, and are an easy-to-grow perennial. Why not plant up a pot with some white and purple ones mixed in together for the perfect potato salad crop?
The pretty purple-green rough leaves would easily stand alone as a fabulous foliage plant if it weren’t so useful as a herb! Sage likes it warm, sunny and sheltered, but plants don’t last too long and may need replacing after a couple of years. Fantastic with barbecue meats.
BAY
Grow as a potted standard to brighten up the patio doorway. It’s an evergreen for a sheltered, south-facing wall, or in a conservatory, that adds unmistakeable aroma to fish and marinades. Give it a trim in summer to keep it in shape and encourage lots of new growth.
Maximise your displays
Create your own rounded brick beds, hexagonal structure from wood, or repurpose an old cartwheel! Keep your herb garden compact and easily sectioned off, but make sure the area is really well draining. Ideal inhabitants would include lavender ‘Hidcote’, rosemary, thyme, marjoram, chervil, mint and chamomile.
Create a fun, aromatic, fulsome pathway with low-growing foliage thyme ‘Goldstream’ with pretty purple-flowering thyme ‘Russettings’ in between, both of which will spread happily around paving slabs. Just brushing against it will release the scent.
This is a super easy and impactful way to grow gorgeous herbs. Simply bring together a number of different size plastic pots. Part fill each container in turn, before placing them inside each other to create a tier. Plant in every slot but leave room for expanding growth. Plants included here are lemon variegated thyme, curry plant, chives, rosemary, black peppermint, purple sage and marjoram. Site it in a good spot just outside the kitchen door if you can for quick pickings!
