The simplicity of Rocket Gardens

As the summer casts its hazy glow over the garden, it’s definitely time to install my Rocket Garden on the patio. If you haven't come across them before, Rockets Gardens are organic herb gardens full of tasty herbs which are perfect for using in your cooking. One of the great things about Rocket Gardens is they are a very practical solution for people who simply aren't experienced gardeners - and you can grow them even if you don't actually have a garden. Especially for people living in the city, this is a real plus - they will still thrive in a window box or balcony.

Fresh herbs are a wonderful way to bring a real touch of luxury to simple recipes, I just love being able to snip off some fresh basil and stir it into tomato soup (made by my better half). A typical Rocket Garden might contain such goodies as good old basil plus mint, sage, thyme, parsley, chives, oregano, marjoram, Vietnamese coriander, tarragon and lavender. And if you haven’t made organic carrot and coriander soup, you’re missing out. The BBC has a superb recipe that you can whip up in under half an hour. If its one of the gloriously hot days we’ve been enjoying lately, you can always serve it chilled and use the mint to go with your sorbet dessert.

Best of all, the herbs are all organically grown in Cornwall, and by using herbs from your own supply, you use zero ‘food miles’ to bring those herbs to the table. Practical Action estimate that food in the UK travels 30 billion kilometres each year and in doing so adds an enormous 19 million tonnes of CO2 to the atmosphere. Imported food using air and boat travel inevitably contributes to this a great deal, as do car journeys to and from the supermarket. So I’ll be making the ten step journey from the back door to the Rocket Garden and snipping my own herbs off to use in my kitchen instead.