And with them comes an unwelcome harbinger, the wild onion, showing up in gardens like a clump of chives that has lost its way from the herb patch.

I had neither the will nor the energy to prepare berries for drying, and my small herb patch grew rank with weeds.

And all within the fence, the flower-beds, the herb patches, the vegetable strips were neat and tended and precise, the living embroidery which she had worked upon the stony hillside.

In July 2012 minerals and herb patches appeared on the world map, with varying levels of scarcity - which players could control, harvest or destroy.

Mineral mines were fixed points, and herb patches would disappear when depleted, but would grow while not over-harvested.

There will also be a small herb patch.

He rummaged through his herb patch, then decided against it and disappeared up into his nest instead.

If you're planning a formal herb patch, don't edge it with conventional box - use edible plants instead (above).

As times passed, inevitably, people began to arrange their herbs in patterns when they planted them, until eventually the herb patch became ornamental, and was a garden in its own right.

In the garden the rain ran in rivers between the rows of potato plants, and the herb patch was a shallow pond.