Whether it's dinners, salads or drinks – herbs can add flavour and colour to almost any meal.

Even if you are not a top chef, some well-chosen herbs and edible flowers can make any meal special. Nasturtiums are great in salads, both the flowers and leaves are peppery to the taste.

The seed pods can be used like capers and are delicious fried in butter with fish.

Pansies and violas are often candied but can be added to sweet and savoury dishes. Calendula, known as poor man's saffron, has long been used to add a yellow colour to food. As an addition to a salad, it is tasty and colourful.

Herbs are so versatile, with mint topping my list! Chop it up and add to natural yoghurt, some garlic, cayenne pepper and cumin and you have a delicious mint dip.

Add to couscous to give it a fresh lift. Of course, with lime, it is the basis of a mojito! Mint comes in many forms, spearmint and peppermint are the old favourites but try chocolate mint, apple mint, strawberry and pineapple mint for subtle flavours. Bear in mind that mint can take over the garden, and perhaps grow it in a pot. Divide regularly to keep young tasty growth abundant. For me, the next most used herb would be parsley.

I never seem to have enough. I prefer the flat-leaved parsley as it does not have such a rough texture, and a better flavour, in my opinion.

Used in combination with coriander use it in salsas, Moroccan cooking and Mexican dishes. Coriander and parsley in scrambled eggs are delicious! Parsley likes damp shady conditions and is in danger of going to seed in this warm weather. Coriander, likewise, likes shade, but goes to seed easily, and is best sown at regular intervals.

A real taste of summer is tarragon- I always forget about it until it finally shows itself quite a while after the winter. It is used in pickling, often with fennel or dill, and is delicious in salad dressings. Tarragon and chicken are a match sublime! Tarragon likes deep rich, moist soil, and needs to be protected from slugs when it first appears.

It also detests waterlogged soil. Tarragon, along with chervil and dill are well-known 'French ‘fines herbs', which are often used together in light egg and fish dishes. Lovage is another favourite- it is not that popular here but is used extensively in France and Holland. It tastes like a combination of parsley and celery and is a great addition to soups and Italian sauces.

Lovage grows into a large plant, about five feet tall, so give it space! Both it and fennel, are extremely hardy and are useful as shelter-giving plants.

One herb which everyone associates with summer is basil… Who doesn't love the smell of it? Caprese salad is surely a summer treat.
Many people ask me why they can't grow basil, but it is a difficult plant to keep going. If the weather was always as it has been these past few weeks we would be fine! Basil does not like rain, humidity or temperature fluctuations. When growing from seed it is prone to damping off, as well as mildew and rotting.

Unfortunately, unless you have a warm dry conservatory or glasshouse, growing basil is not really an option… though we can hope this weather lasts all summer…

Rosemary, sage and marjoram are easy herbs to grow, and a must if you enjoy Italian cuisine.

To ensure sweetness of flavour, keep cutting your herbs, even if you are not using them. Often, once the plant gets woody, it tends towards bitterness. Basal cuttings can be taken in late summer from woody plants for rooting, they are generally very successful. Herbs such as parsley, chives and fennel can easily be split in early autumn or late spring.