Are you of those people who enjoy triangular, cucumber sandwiches made with thinly-sliced bread on the lawn, perhaps, in summer? (Who's for tennis?) For those who do like them, the question is what to put on the cucumber slices. Pepper and salt and maybe oil, all right; but then some want additional herbs. This nonsense comes to mind as the herbs are moving in their pots and you're on the lookout for more, perhaps, from the garden centres.
The best approach is probably to grow from seed a few of your special favourites, and buy the rest in pots. These growers know their stuff. And, before we leave sandwiches, a sandwich of one of the better herbs alone is, in some opinions superior to your cucumber. Chopped chervil or even chives, with just a little oil, maybe, and a very light pepper and salt. For herbs are things on their own, not just incidentals for garnishing.
Everyone has his or her preference for, as the catalogue from Eden Plants, Rossinver, Co Leitrim, sent last summer, has it: "Herb-growing is an addictive pleasure". Make it easy for yourself, chives will go on forever - or almost. Just dig them up in the quiet season and divide them, if you will. But while some people have the idea that it is unnecessary to feed herbs, there are those which do need regular dosing. Naturally enough, they are those which you cut and gather many times in the season. Chives, definitely. Also, the finest of them all - chervil - which, sown in early summer and then in autumn, not only survives the winter, but keeps coming on as you cut. They also seed themselves. Grown in pots with a good compost and an admixture of coarse sand, they keep you happy, year in, year out. Parsley also can do with good feeling. And, for preference, all in pots.
Don't forget winter savoury, which develops into a mini-tree about eight or ten inches high. Yes, herbs are of medicinal value, and nutritive. They are also simply delicious.