Easter’s long weekend can herald the first opportunity for many to get out in the garden.

Time to review what’s what, perhaps you’re considering undertaking a new project for your outside space this year?

A new seating area? A pond or water feature? A vegetable patch?

Well if growing vegetables seems a step to far, perhaps you would consider a herb bed as a starting point?

Being able to easily pick and add instant flavour to any meal will be worth the rewards of finding a small area or some containers to grow a few aromatic herbs.

Soft herbs like basil, marjoram, chives, parsley, coriander, dill, usually added at the end of the cooking process, before serving, can make such a massive difference to a meal.

These can all be sown from seed now, under glass, with or without heat.

Basil loves the warmth so will like a warm windowsill or greenhouse if sown before June it also doesn’t like going to bed with wet roots so water in the morning.

Sow seeds of coriander and dill every two weeks for a constant supply through summer months.

Plant out once the ground has warmed up and all risk of frost has passed.

Woody herbs – sage, rosemary, sage, thyme have unique flavours great for soups, stocks, meats and pasta.

They will survive the winter months with some care but don’t like wet roots preferring sun and well-drained soil.

Sage can be grown from seed but I would recommend buying plants of the others.

Mint is a must have, whether tea or mojitos are your preferred tipple, its easy to grow and a great container herb, in fact I only grow it in a container as it is too vigorous to grow in the ground.

It will come back yearly but benefits from being trimmed right back after finished and repotting regularly.

Light, space, heat and regular watering are required for your herbs to grow happily.

They require watering fairly often and picking regularly to avoid bolting (producing flowers and setting seed).

Regularly pick from tips of each stem, just above a pair of leaves to encourage fuller plants rather than tall, lanky ones if picked from the base.

If you are going down the container route, terracotta pots look great and work well with herbs as they are heavy and porous so won’t suffocate the soil but they also conduct the heat so need regular watering to avoid contents drying out too quickly.

Place near the back door for easy picking.

Feed with liquid seaweed while they are growing for strong plants.

If the prospect of growing from seed is daunting, plug plants are available from most garden centres and even supermarkets.

Either way you will have fresh herbs at your fingertips daily!

Don’t forget to use the extra few days off to get out and see some of the lovely gardens showing their spring blooms over the long weekend. Perfect for some ideas and a bit of inspiration.