VAL BOURNE looks at the relatively recent re-emergence of herb growing

It wasn't that long ago that the only herbs you ever saw came in boxes and jars on the kitchen shelf. But now every garden centre sells a range, and they are highly popular. One of the major figures in growing and promoting organically grown herbs is Jekka McVicar of Jekka's Herb Farm, Alveston, near Bristol. Often known as the queen of the herbs, Jekka sells a huge range by mail order (www.jekkasherbfarm.com 01454 418 878). Her herbs are even helping to keep the lions of London Zoo healthy.

When I went to visit Jekka's farm on one of her special open days, I was attracted to Moroccan mint (Mentha spicata var. crispa Moroccan').

It reminded me of countless cups of sugar-laden mint tea imbibed in warm Moroccan sunshine. I intend to use their thickly-textured bright-green leaves with yogurt and cucumber and, if warm weather returns, I may even make Moroccan tea.

But mint has an ancient history that pre-dates the package holiday. It was found in the tombs of the ancient Egyptians, probably put there to cure indigestion in the after-life. The Romans took it with them as they conquered Europe, including Britain, almost certainly for the same reason. Most herbs have an ancient history, too, and were either used in cooking or medicine.

Herbs were the plants of quiet monastery gardens and they were used by apothecaries to treat illness. They pre-date ornamental garden plants and modern medicine. Many have powerful reputations. But I love them for their aromatic qualities - they are the gardener's aromatherapy massage. Just brushing past lavender, thyme or sage in summer relaxes the mind.

Mints are rather rampant in the garden, but planted in a trough or a bottomless large pot, they can be contained and their leaves vary from clean-sharp spearmint to eau de cologne, pineapple, lavender and apple. If space is tight, many herbs are diminutive enough to grow in containers.

Jekka's Chelsea display will feature the pictured modern stoneware made by potter/gardener Gordon Cooke, winner of The Times Best Back Gardens Competition.

Mound-forming thyme (used as an antiseptic mouthwash for sore throats) and chamomile (made into a tisane or tea to improve appetite and relax the nerves before bed) are against a pot of succulent red houseleeks (Sempervivum tectorum). The snapped leaves of these can be rubbed into burns and insect bites.

Tectorum means of the roof' and house leeks have been grown on tiles to protect houses from lightning strikes and fire for 2,000 years. Charlemagne, the King of the Franks (742-814), ordered a plant to be grown on every roof throughout his extensive empire.

And American settlers took this plant with them, too. I am always amused by one common Irish name for the house leek - welcome-husband-though-never-so-late'.