We now stock herb plants, seeds to grow your own and all the accessories for your herb needs. Our Herb kits include everything you need to grow your herbs which are perfect for the greenhouse or window seal.
Whether you use parsley with your cod, mint with your new potatoes or basil with your spaghetti, herbs are something which can enrich our lives. They can be used throughout the home and if you know what you’re doing they can boost your health. They can be grown in the veg garden, planted in your flower borders or grown in pots on the patio – there should always be room for herbs as they are plants that earn their keep!
Uses
Herbs have a variety of uses including culinary, medicinal, or in some cases even spiritual usage. General usage differs between culinary herbs and medicinal herbs. In medicinal or spiritual use any of the parts of the plant might be considered "herbs", including leaves, roots, flowers, seeds, resin, root bark, inner bark (cambium), berries and sometimes the pericarp or other portions of the plant.
Culinary herbs
Culinary use of the term "herb" typically distinguishes between herbs, from the leafy green parts of a plant, and spices, from other parts of the plant, including seeds, berries, bark, root, fruit, and even occasionally dried leaves or roots. Culinary herbs are distinguished from vegetables in that, like spices, they are used in small amounts and provide flavor rather than substance to food.
Some culinary herbs are shrubs (such as rosemary, Rosmarinus officinalis), or trees (such as bay laurel, Laurus nobilis) – this contrasts with botanical herbs, which by definition cannot be woody plants. Some plants are used as both a spice and an herb, such as dill seed and dill leaves or coriander seeds and coriander leaves.