You don't have to have a vegetable patch to experience the satisfaction of cooking with home-grown ingredients. In fact, I know people in London with balconies and patios full to the brim with all kinds of potted herbs, tomatoes and even chilli plants. However you manage it, you can't beat the feeling of venturing outdoors and picking a few ingredients from the garden to cook with. Somehow, it always tastes better.

One of the easiest ways to get your kitchen garden started is by selecting a few potted herbs. Lavender may not be the most obvious choice, but it's wonderful for baking with, as in my simple biscuit recipe below. We tend to associate it more with bathing, but in parts of Europe where it grows in profusion, it is often sprinkled into bread doughs and cakes. It also works well with chocolate. In the restaurants, we make lavender ice-cream to go with chocolate mousse and use lavender flowers to flavour chocolate ganache, which we pipe between layers of crispy pastry for a millefeuille.

You'll know if there's wild garlic growing nearby because you'll notice a waft of it in the air when it flowers. Mark Sargeant, head chef at Claridge's, recently spent a weekend in Wiltshire and made this delicious herb risotto with it while he was there. It is the leaves, not the bulbs, that are mainly used in cooking. They have a mild garlicky flavour without the aftertaste we commonly associate with garlic cloves.

Eat them cooked or raw in soups, stews and salads, to make pesto or mixed with goat's cheese as a filling for tortellini.

If you haven't got the room to grow anything, but would still like to bring the outdoors indoors, buy a bottle of rosewater. Paired with the right ingredients it adds a sweet and floral aroma to food, with a delightfully unusual taste. Try adding a splash of rosewater to fruit salads, icings, mousses and whipped cream, in sparkling wine or champagne, and on peaches before baking. And if you're feeling adventurous, try it in my recipe for raspberry, rosewater and pink champagne jellies.

Lavender melts

Makes 16 biscuits

These biscuits are extremely short and buttery and they will melt in your mouth. Great on their own with a cup of tea, or to accompany a bowl of chocolate ice-cream.

50g golden caster sugar

130g unsalted butter

200g self-raising flour

1 tbsp chopped lavender leaves

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