Grill Hills: Grow your own herbs

Question I know now is the ideal time to plant a herb garden and would appreciate some advice. What are some good ones to start with and how would I use them in cooking? - Brian, Honeydew

Having your own herbs in the garden has many benefits: your food will taste better; the plants are beautifully fragrant and attractive; they need little attention, apart from a sunny spot and water; they can be grown in pots on a sunny windowsill if you don't have a garden; and they are wonderfully satisfying - nothing beats picking herbs from your own backyard.

The plants will be either annual, meaning they last for one season and then die, or perennial. A herbaceous perennial dies in winter and reappears the following spring.

Six is a good number to start with for any herb garden. A mix of parsley, rosemary, sage, basil, origanum and thyme (and some mint) should cover your cooking needs.

PARSLEY

Taken-for-granted parsley is so much more than a garnish. With its neutral, fresh taste, it can be added to almost any food to enhance the flavour and colour. Over the years, the overused curly parsley has fallen from culinary grace to be surpassed by the Italian flat-leaf variety.

ROSEMARY

This evergreen shrub is essential in any herb collection. Some say a rosemary bush will only grow well if you have received it as a gift from someone else. Fragrantrosemary thrives in hot sun and poor soil and needs very little watering. It's synonymous with lamb but is also good with most meats and fish. It's also fine with eggs and cheese and even used in baking, particularly biscuits.

SAGE

The leaves of this evergreen bush (which gets soft, purple flowers in summer) are strongly flavoured and known for the traditional sage and onion stuffing. Sage is also delicious with pork as it helps to temper the meat's richness, but another superb and often neglected marriage is with duck. Sage also works well with cheese but use it sparingly in salads.

BASIL

This annual loves full sun, and don't be tempted to overwater. Pick off the centres of new shoots to encourage growth. Basil's best partner is the tomato, hence its prolific use in Italian food. It's also good tossed into salads, particularly the famous Caprese.

ORIGANUM

This herbaceous perennial has long been valued for its medicinal properties but can be used with pasta, meat, vegetables, rice - in fact, almost anything.

THYME

Thyme can be used liberally with meats, fish, soups, stews and sauces. The only drawback is the woody stalks that remain after the leaves have cooked into the food.