Beyond the herb bed

Grow and enjoy more herbs in your garden by interplanting them in beds, borders, pots, and the veg patch. Adam Frost shares how he mixes things up

- Adam Frost

Herbs are such brilliant plants and even a very simple meal with a fresh scattering of them becomes elevated for me! They are the magic when it comes to adding flavour to food and drinks, plus while growing, they also attract pollinators such as bees and butterflies, which is great for the overall health of our gardens. But it was Geoff Hamilton who got me onto the idea of interplanting herbs across the garden, some ideal for sun, others for shade - a herb for every location as it were. With a choice of shapes, forms, flowers and uses there’s something for everyone. From the ornamental border to the veg patch or in pots, they really do work in so many settings. Weaving them through your garden is a great way to combine functionality with beauty.

I have had a fascination with growing herbs from being a kid really. I think my first memory is the smell of lemon balm that Scruffy Nan (as I called her) had let seed all over her garden. As youngsters my cousins and I would come back in the house at the end of the day, lemon scented! It blew my mind as to how it looked nothing like a lemon, but that smell was amazing. Fast forward to when I’m 16 years old and get my first bedsit. I stocked my windowsill with parsley, sage, thyme and rosemary, which felt very exotic at the time. Today it’s common to use these herbs in our kitchens, fresh, dry or preserved.

I also grew up watching my uncle, who was a chef, and those memories stay with you. As my gardens grew so did my herb collections, but in all honesty, I would normally keep them in groups. It was probably Geoff Hamilton that started me looking at herbs in a different way and not focusing so much just on the function of these plants but the beauty, too.