As I work and live with herbs, I befriend them. The familiar perennials return year after year to greet me with each warming spring; while the new annual acquaintances, which need sowing every year, unfurl from their tiny seeds into replicas of herbs from last year. Every year and throughout the seasons, the herb garden returns this friendship with a feast for all the senses.
As a cook, herbs are my best friends. Just a handful brightens up my emergency store cupboard concoctions: dried pasta and canned tomatoes cry out for warming, peppery basil; green beans and flaked tuna for robust parsley and gentle chives; and rice and frozen peas for scented thyme or sage. Half a clove of crushed garlic will not go amiss in any of these impromptu scenarios either.
