Making a herb garden

Set aside a corner of your garden for a traditional herb patch and you'll be hooked on these gorgeous little plants forever. Whether it's leafy parsley or fragrant thyme for cooking, or pot marigolds and echinacea for cosmetics or home-grown medicine, herb gardens are productive, useful and beautiful.

Herb wheels: in our garden centre you'll find ready-made wooden herb wheels made of six compartments for an instant herb garden. Simply place it on a cleared patch of ground and plant a different herb in each section for a pretty feature.

Formal herb gardens: traditionally, herb gardens were laid out in formal geometrical patterns, easy to recreate at home. Mark out a circle or square, then divide into symmetrical beds: L-shapes or diamonds work well. Add a central focal point, like an elegant container, and paved paths for a neat, satisfying design.

Herb spirals: another great way to grow herbs is to build a rising spiral of stones, bricks or vertical wooden boards to about 80cm high, then back-fill with soil. Herbs love the sunny, well-drained conditions and create a lovely cascade effect as they grow over the edges.

Please ask the staff in our Henley on Thames garden centre for more information and advice about making a herb garden.