Plant a windowsill herb garden for a delicious taste of summer in the depths of winter without even having to step outside your back door.
As the gardening year slows it's hard to give up luxuries like chopping generous handfuls of fresh herbs straight into your cooking. But indoor herb gardens created this month keep you in freshly-picked flavour all winter long. You can pick some herbs, such as rosemary and sage, all year round from the garden. But herbs like mint and marjoram which die down outdoors in winter stay green if you bring them indoors.
Pick up an easy-to-use kit with all you need to get started from the shelves here at our garden centre in Henley on Thames, or make your own combination with individual potted herbs and a selection of pretty containers. A row of identical pots looks good, or an indoor windowbox holds several herbs at once. Choose a windowsill with maximum light – though shade-loving herbs like parsley and chervil prefer indirect sunshine.
Keep your herbs on the dry side, but keep air humidity high by sitting them on a tray of pebbles topped up with water. Given good conditions, you should be able to keep picking sparingly but steadily right through till spring.