Earlymorning,thecoolbeginningofa sunnyday,coffeeinhand,a bit
ofspontaneousweedinghereandthere...Ifthisdoesn’tsoundlike
a recipeforblisstoyou,DeboraRobertsonmightjustchangeyourmindILLUSTRATION: GETTY /ISTOCK IMAGES
D
uring this year’s strange,
dark and sunny spring, my
dining table – once heavily
peopled, and the site of loud
conversation, laughter and, frankly,
scandalous behaviour – was filled
with egg cartons and the cardboard
liners from loo rolls. Lacking trays
when the garden centres were
closed, this is what I used to plant
seeds. Alongside some of my
favourite cottage garden flowers –
scabious, nicotiana, cornflowers,
sweet peas and marigolds – were
shiso, courgettes, borlotti beans,
radishes and various cut-and-
come-again salad mixtures. Most of
these were planted from packets of
seeds I’d stored in the shed for
years, so germination was patchy.
But this is the year I cast off
perfectionism (I suspect that was
the same for lots of you) and just
did my best and hoped for the best.
Years ago when I worked at River
Cottage, I got to know MarkDiacono, who was the gardener
there (see his Otter Farm, opposite).
He taught me that while most of us
can’t grow everything we eat, many
of us can grow some of what we eat,
and just giving it a go is enormously
rewarding, as well as potentially
delicious. He says, “Success is
a happy feeling, so consider
big-flavoured perennials that will
enter into a productive pact with
you – mint, rosemary, thyme and so
on – that are hard to kill, offer you
a long season of flavour year after
year, and take little care. After that,
pick plants that give you interest on
your investment of time and money- repeat-harvest plants like peas,
courgettes, beans and cut-and-
come-again salads.” His book
Grow & Cook: The Ultimate Kitchen
Garden Guide (Headline £10.99), is
useful and encouraging if you’re
just getting started.
I have a city garden, about six
metres by 15, from which I expect
much: food, fragrance, beauty,
tranquillity, therapy – and my
favourite seat on the terrace to be
available at all times.
The kitchen opens onto the
garden so, at this time of year, I use
it as an extension of my larder. I grow
lots of herbs, mostly in pots (all the
better to keep them away from the
dogs’ low-fly zones), focusing on
herbs that are sometimes difficult to
buy but have a great impact on my
cooking, such as tarragon, chervil,
salad burnet, summer and winter
savory, and unusual varieties of
regular herbs such as ginger
rosemary and Thai basil.
I have a tendency to become
obsessed with certain plants. I have
many, many mints. At the moment,
my tiny plot is home to eau-de-
cologne, chocolate, Moroccan, lime,
apple, pineapple and buddleia
mints, as well as the more usual
mint-sauce mint, Mentha spicata.
And then there are the thymes:“I’ve long been a
proponent of pyjama
gardening”
14 deliciousmagazine.co.uk