Start a shrubby herb pot now

Create an aromatic patio display that you can also eat!

Growing in pots is a great way to have fresh herbs at your back door, but they're a varied bunch and not all need the same conditions. Parsley and mint are best in moist soil and not all are evergreen. Fennel starts off a cute, fluffy li le pet but soon becomes a monster, unsuitable for a pot with other herbs, while mint is so vigorous it needs a pot of its own or it’ll swamp others! Annuals, such as coriander and dill, only last for a few months before needing to be replaced.

But the shrubby herbs, which are evergreen and include some very useful flavours for cooking and are lovely aromatic plants to add interest to your patio, like the same conditions and make good pot companions. These include rosemary, bay, thyme and sage, as well as the fragrant foliage of lavender, santolina, creeping thymes and curry plant.

All these are sun lovers and none are too vigorous as young plants, and if they get too big you can prune them back and use them in the kitchen; in fact regular pruning will keep them neat and a ractive. A pot like this will stay good looking and useful for a year or two and then the plants can be carefully transplanted to the garden.