Cerfeuil Royal Guardians

Companion plant chervil: A staple in French cuisine and antagonist to bad bugs

CHERVIL

A delicate shade loving plant, chervil (Anthriscus cerefolium) resembles a finer leafed Italian or flat leaf parsley, but tastes of anise or liquorice. Popular among the Romans of old, it was used, along with the slender taproots, as a flavouring in soups or chewed to suppress appetite on long marches. The umbels of tiny white and mauve flowers add a satisfying smattering of colour to the understorey of your garden in summer. Only growing to sixty centimetres continually pluck and top the plant to delay flowering and encourage a healthy bushy aspect.

Grown in a guild with dill and coriander, a fortress wall of beneficial plants will surround your marijuana and keep it safe. Aphids and whitefly are repelled while attracting honeybees and parasitoid mini wasps that feed on the larvae of hostile insect species. Chervil dislikes being potted on and should be sown directly into the garden. Sprinkle the fine seeds in a shallow furrow and water in well. Within the fortnight the sprouts will need thinning and by week six it will be ready for use. Leaving a few flower heads to mature and self-seed guarantees a new crop year after year.