When I was very young, I absolutely loved the TV programme, The Herbs. My favourite character was Bayleaf, The Gardner and all these years later I often sing his theme tune when digging away in my own patch.

“I’m Bayleaf, I’m the gardener,

I work from early dawn,

you’ll find me sweeping up the leaves and

tidying the lawn” la, la la……

This is all a bit random but there is a connection with a wonderful TV programme of my youth and what I am planning to do next in my garden.

I need a herb garden having dug up my herb plants last year and so the brain is whirring away thinking about form and function!

I have had a few different herb gardens in the past;

A cartwheel herb garden

A chessboard herb garden

A pot and pipe herb garden

None of the photos linked to above are my efforts but they do give you the general idea of how I laid out the herbs in their various guises.

Now, reading my book “The Herb Garden month-by-month by Barbara Segall, I have found what looks like a lovely herb and rose garden which combines old and fragrant Damask roses with the gorgeous colours and aromas of herbs such as lemon balm, ginger mint, lavender and sage growing in the warm sun beneath the free-flowing blooms. I can smell long, lazy-hazy days of summer already and not a spade has been wielded yet.

I have already found a rose which I MUST have in this garden. It is the Damask rose “Ispahan” which originates from my husband’s home city of Esfahan/Isfahan in Iran. I don’t think he knows that such a rose exists so it will be a nice surprise when it arrives.

Now all I need to do is find the space and the energy to start the project.

At least I have a plan!