It is May and my garden is full of herbs, mixed into just about every corner and group of flowers and vegetables. This year I am growing parsley, sage, thyme, cilantro, 3 types of basil, lemon balm, mint, lavender, tarragon, dill and oregano. Start picking as soon as the plants look robust enough to handle it. As they continue to grow you can harvest herbs more aggressively – just think of it as pruning! Tarragon for morning eggs, dill for pickles, coleslaw and salmon, basil with sliced tomatoes and pastas, mint and oregano with lamb, parsley in salads or sage leaves fried up in browned butter sauce. If you can grow it, do it!

I tend to pick more than I need and stick the extra in a water vase on the kitchen counter within easy reach. Herbs will have the best flavor when they are rested, so try for early morning harvests and pick more to dry before the hotter days of summer trigger flowering.