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We’ve not had as much of that in the last few weeks as we probably should, but surprisingly, the garden’s starting to give us something back. At last. Yes, the tomatoes are still a long way off being ready, but tonight, Nik harvested a fair-sized crop of all sorts of vegetables, more than filling the enamel bucket.

We’ve already eaten our way through a lettuce (the first two went to seed), made blackcurrant and raspberry liqueur, had plentiful bowlfuls of strawberries, and enjoyed more than a few handfuls of broad beans in our risottos.

Today’s tidy up garnered beans of all kinds (Dwarf French, Runners, Italian Red, and Regular French), and Charlotte, Kestrel and Red Rooster potatoes. We also used our first homegrown onion this week. The carrots and parsnips have been more disappointing, though, with only two carrot shoots showing from three varieties planted, and while the chillies are doing something, it’ll be a while until we start using those, too.

Even the herbs have failed. We’re perplexed as to what’s not quite gone right this year so far, but who knows, maybe the autumn will yield better results. By then, we might possibly have had more of the fabled summer sunshine, a much more important ingredient than maybe we first thought.

Herbs are versatile in the fact that not only do they provide tasty seasoning to many cooked dishes and form the basis of herbal remedies, but they are usually incredibly easy to grow. We had a go a couple of years ago, growing basil, coriander and chives on a windowsill. We still have some chopped chives and dried basil leaves in the freezer, but thought we’d have another go, so this time it’s oregano, parsley and thyme.

Why these three? They came in set of chintzy miniature herb ‘urns’, and as they are different from 2007’s crop, we thought we’d start with the largely Italian trio. We are growing them again in a sunny windowsill (essential for indoor germination) in the kitchen, and then will probably plant them out into smaller pots by the back door.

Sowing is pretty much identical for all three. Pop some soil into the pot, drop the seeds in, cover with more soil, water in, and then leave, sprinkling with the wet stuff when dry. All the best guides tell you to sow in the spring, and then harvest in the summer, but that’s all of little bearing when you’re growing herbs indoors; my basil and chives kept cropping more and more each time they were cut, and were finally called time on in the autumn, when the basil flowered.

If these latest indoor horticultural endeavours are successful, then we’ve also got cress, mint, and windowsill chillies (to name but a few) to go in pots, too, to not only season our food and give us natural-tasting tea, but, when hanging from the pan rack in the kitchen, to also bring the outdoors indoors.