Since reviewing the River Cottage Herb Handbook (highly recommended) I’ve been making much more of an effort to use more herbs in my cooking. To make this as easy as possible I have a large selection right outside the kitchen door – chervil, coriander, dill, mint and par-cel (a perennial parsley/celery cross) in the shade and basil, rosemary, thyme, French parsley and oregano in the sun. To complete the selection I must get round to potting up some chives and adding them to the mix.