GARDENING: RICH PICKINGS

“If you've got the room, then a designated space to grow herbs is a good idea and can become a beautiful feature in its own right,” says Elly

What’s your flavour?

Looking to spice up your green space this spring? Here, Elly West explains how a herb garden can provide so much more than some flavour to your cooking

Ihave to be honest, buying herbs from the supermarket doesn't sit well with me. It always seems quite wasteful; a few leaves in a cellophane bag that I might use half of before they go limp in the fridge after a day or two. So much nicer to have a selection of fresh growing herbs, providing fragrance, texture and colour in your garden while also attracting bees and butterflies, ready to pick in the quantity you need, as and when you want to add some flavour to your cooking.

Many of us may grow herbs without really thinking too much about it –an old woody rosemary or sage bush, some sprawling lavender or an overgrown bay tree. I'll never forget surprising a client with the life-changing news that the leaves from the enormous bay tree in his mixed hedge would be exactly the same as he'd recently bought from a shop to add to a casserole.

Herbs make great additions to our gardens and kitchens; they are low-maintenance, many thrive on neglect. They don't need much space or attention, and even a window box or patio pot can make a great spot for easy pickings. If you've got the room, then a designated space to grow herbs is a good idea and can become a beautiful feature in its own right.

We have a long history of growing herbs in this country, both for culinary and medicinal purposes. The Chelsea Physic Garden, created in 1673, is one of the world's oldest botanic gardens, established by the Worshipful Society of Apothecaries to grow and showcase medicinal plants. Located on the River Thames to make the most of its warm air currents, and to allow plants to be easily imported. It now contains around 5,000 different edible and medicinal plants.

Herb garden designs dating back to medieval and Renaissance Europe, and the old monastery gardens, continue to influence modern gardeners, where the herbs are divided into beds arranged symmetrically around a central point such as a sundial, or topiary bay tree, as a permanent feature. A cartwheel shape with brick edging or low clipped box is attractive and keeps things organised. Traditional English cottage gardens of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, on the other hand, often mixed vegetables, herbs, fruits and flowers all together. This can work well too, with herbs being good additions to gravel gardens or grown alongside traditional favourites such as roses and hardy geraniums.

When planning a herb garden, aim to include a mix of evergreens, perennials and annuals. The hardy Mediterranean evergreen shrubs such as bay, rosemary, lavender and sage will create permanent backbone and structure in your garden. Low-growing thyme and oregano will also be there all year round. Originally from stony, sunbaked hillsides, they don't mind scorching heat, drought, freezing cold winds or heavy downpours. However, they do need good drainage as it's the combination of cold and wet soggy soil that will kill these herbs off.

When you're deciding where to position your herbs, traditional thought is as near to the kitchen as possible, however, always prioritise the best position for your plants over the distance you need to walk to get to them. Unless your garden is enormous, it's unlikely to make a huge difference to your day, and picking a few herbs makes

a good excuse to take a walk down the garden. Easy access makes sense though, so perhaps near a path or a patio – this also means you can enjoy the scent when you brush past.

Most herbs like to be in as much sun as possible, particularly the aforementioned Mediterranean varieties. Mint is an exception and will grow just about anywhere, including on heavy soil and in shade. Despite it being an invasive thug, I still like growing it to add to peas, chopped up with a blob of butter, and for making mint tea. Keep it contained though, ideally in a large pot, so it doesn't rampage through your flower beds. Likewise lemon balm, which I remember my mother adding to jugs of squash as a childhood treat when we had friends round (simple pleasures!) Other herbs that are happy in shade include chives, parsley, coriander and dill.

Annual herbs that are easy to grow from seed include tarragon, basil, parsley and coriander. Sow a few seeds every four weeks for a supply right through summer, or buy them as small plants at the garden centre, ready to plant out. These need more moisture and nutrients than their shrubby counterparts, so add compost to the soil in these areas, and feed and water them as necessary through the summer.

Alternatively, you might want to set aside some designated raised beds for your herbs, especially if you're gardening on heavy clay, as you can improve the drainage as necessary. Use topsoil mixed with grit and stones, and your plants should be happy.

Some herbs can be grown for colour and texture, such as striking bronze fennel, a favourite in Chelsea show gardens, or purple sage, which look as good as they taste.

To see herbs at their finest, and learn from the true experts, Jekka McVicar's Herb Farm near Alveston, north of Bristol, has open days in May and June, bookable in advance at jekkas.com. n • ellyswellies.co.uk

Plant of the month: Lavender

Instantly recognisable for both its scent and appearance, lavender is an English country garden staple and for good reason. The silvery evergreen leaves provide structure all year round and its versatility means it can be grown as a hedge, in a pot, in a herb garden, or as part of a mixed border in both contemporary and traditional schemes. The flowers are loved by bees and are generally shades of purple, but there are also pink and white varieties. Some forms are more compact than others, so better suited to hedging. 'Hidcote' is the classic English lavender and has a neat and tidy habit, while 'Grosso' is much larger and more sprawling. There are also French varieties (pictured) with 'ears' on top of the flowers, although these tend to be a little more temperamental and need frost protection in colder areas.

Lavenders are originally from the Mediterranean region where they are found growing wild in dry, exposed and rocky areas. As such they will do best on free-draining soil in full sun. Always make sure you cut them back hard after flowering, using a pair of shears and chopping off the flower stems and firmly into the new leaves to keep plants flowering well in subsequent years and to stop them getting woody. Now is a good time to buy and plant lavender, just before it bursts into bloom, for a summer of colour and fragrance.

Window allure

This month, Rupert Oliver of Rupert Oliver Property Agents looks at the value of well-fitted windows and what they can do for our homes and our health...

Enter a room. Where is your focus directed? Why, towards the light. Windows are central to the character of a property and every room is orientated around and defined by them. Why is it that basements and attics are spaces associated with entrapment and fear? It’s the lack of light.

Window benefits

Studies demonstrate that daylight and views of nature have positive impacts on health and wellbeing at home. We need daylight (in fact we need regular exposure to both light and dark), and a view of the outdoors is a contributor to wellbeing, particularly if it’s a natural or attractive view. A good level of natural light daily also results in better sleep quality and circadian regulation.

The attraction of these enablers of light makes sense, but there is something more than logic at play here. Where are the most coveted tables in a restaurant or café? In an office space? In a bedroom? On an aeroplane or train? Almost always by the window.

This preference runs deep. There is a theory of positive space called ‘refuge theory’ that suggests people prefer an environment that give a place to hide while maintaining wide fields of vision. So it’s not just the light – we like to look out at the world and whether it’s a view of a luxuriant garden or a busy street, looking out is a pleasure and a security. It stops us feeling trapped in a box, it frees us from our walled structure, particularly important for individuals who are not able to leave their dwellings freely.

Bristol’s windows: Georgian

What about windows in our city? We have a real mixture of architecture in Bristol with nearly 200,000 houses and more terraced housing and flats than the national average. Many of Bristol’s houses are Georgian (built when the city was developing as a port) and there are a number of residential squares, such as Portland Square, where terraces of three-storey houses were laid out around central gardens.

Georgian houses, and therefore the window placement, are based on symmetry. Windows tend to be larger and taller on the lower floors and double-hung sash windows were most typical, using grids generally in nine or 12 panels which allowed the use of smaller panes of glass. The Georgian house’s focus on space, comfort and style, its generous proportions, and its light interiors due to the large windows mean that the houses of this period are elegant and soughtafter properties.

Bristol’s windows: Victorian

The majority of our Bristol homes were built during the Victorian era and before the First World War. Sash windows were still favourites for the Victorians, but the advancements in glass production during this period saw the removal or reduction in the number of glazing bars.

Victorian windows were characterised by their ‘two over two panel’ grid design that features on both the top and bottom panes. The window tax was abolished in this era, increasing the number of windows in new houses. The size of windows also began to grow, welcoming in more light, using sash bay windows and giving access to fashionable balconies. Many sashes had their sills lowered to become full length or were replaced by French windows. Victorian houses were built for all classes of society – palatial squares were developed for the prosperous middle classes and upmarket Italianate and Grecian villas sitting in their own gardens were constructed in places such as Clifton Down. A host of working class and artisan homes were also built, predominantly in the south and east of the city.

End of 19th century and beyond

The end of the century saw the Arts and Crafts movement using leadedlights set in stone mullions or oak frames and the Queen Anne movement with white-painted small-pane sash windows. The pre-war and inter-war periods saw a mixture of revived-traditional and modernist windows. The first were an evolution of the Arts and Crafts and Queen Anne styles and the Arts and Crafts ones become the common style for many inter-war housing estates, with timber casements, often with small panels of leaded and coloured glass in doors and at the top of windows.

Window style preference is always a matter of personal taste and the windows in our period houses are only one part of their visual and experiential impact. Beyond a preference for windows that are authentic to the period of the house – rather than unsympathetic modern imposters – I’d say there is no right and wrong. Big windows that let in lots of light are always winners, but there is a charm in almost any clean, well-kept light-giving window in a well-presented house. So let’s enjoy them all. n • rupertoliver.co.uk; 14 Waterloo Street, Clifton, Bristol, BS8 4BT