Growing your own herbs couldn’t be easier

Using fresh herbs in your cooking has always been popular but rather than buying cut herbs from your local supermarket why not try growing your own? Even if you do not have a garden, herbs can be grown in a window box or on a windowsill, all you need is a suitable container, some soil and either seeds or young plants to begin your herb growing journey.

Having a range of different herbs in your herb garden is the best idea so that you have a variety to use in different recipes, but some herbs are easier to grow than others for instance mint will quickly take over any herb bed, so a single pot of mint is preferable to planting it with other herbs.

Try planting different varieties of the same herb such as flat leaf parsley and curly parsley, large leaf Italian basil and large purple sweet basil as this not only gives you more variety in your cooking but also makes for an attractive display in your herb garden.

One of the easiest herbs to grow are chives which can be used in potato salads or as a garnish for soups. Chives are a particularly rich source of vitamin C and beta carotene making them a healthy alternative to croutons.