Fragrant herbs make sense for gardeners who cook

THE ESSENTIAL culinary herbs are ideal for growing in pots, raised beds or sunny corners close to the kitchen door. Herbs are ancient in origin yet modern in their self-reliance, because most are drought-tolerant and prefer lean soil and little fussing. Choose herbs you're most likely to cook with, keep the aggressors confined to containers, and pinch, sniff and clip often. Your meals and your garden will be the richer for it.

Some culinary herbs are perennial, others annual, and a few I plant just for the delight I take in their looks or perfume. I always grow lemon verbena for its bright, intense scent, even though it's not much of a looker and I haven't found too many practical uses for it other than floating a few leaves in ice tea.

These nine herbs, however, are all so useful that once you have them growing near your kitchen, you'll wonder how you ever cultivated a garden or cooked a tasty meal without them:

• Rosemary, a centuries-old symbol of friendship, is as beautiful in the landscape as it is aromatic. Nothing is more striking than a sea of rosemary blooming blue in springtime, but a single plant in a pot will keep your kitchen well supplied. Rosmarinus officinalis 'Arp' is one of the hardiest kinds, important to consider if you lost rosemary in last winter's deep freeze; R. 'Mozart' is small and semi-prostrate, ideal to drape over the sides of a pot.

• Chives are eager perennials, with pretty, edible flowers. A little chive hedge makes a handsome edging for an herb or ornamental bed. When the plants flop over, just cut them down and they'll burgeon back in no time.

• Dill (with its elegantly feathery looks) and cilantro are both annual herbs that tend to bolt, so plant them early and cut them often. Look for the "nonbolting types" (as much of a misnomer, I'm afraid, as "deer-proof plants"), which do go to seed a little later in the season, anyway.

• Oregano is a semi-evergreen woody plant, with edible flowers and a spicy taste. Sicilian oregano (Origanum x majoricum), which is a little sweet and not too hot, is among the tastiest.

• Mint comes in so many intriguing flavors (chocolate, spearmint, pineapple, peppermint . . .) and is the easiest plant ever to grow. Just put it in a pot and keep it well-watered. But never let it loose to rampage through your garden.

• Parsley has more vitamin C than oranges, so it's worth planting every year. If it gets too rangy, just pull it out and start over. Curly-leaf parsley is compact and pretty, ideal for edging.

• Thyme is said to be as important to cooking as salt, and should be used as freely. Common thyme (Thymus vulgaris) is the culinary species, a tiny-leafed, ground-hugging perennial that bees love.

• Basil is an annual as evocative of summer as tomatoes, and just as sunshine-dependent. Last summer my basil was a discouraging sight; it damped off in the August rains. In the hopes of a pesto-filled freezer this autumn, I called up "Basil Bob Frause," who raises enough of this pungent herb on his Langley farm to supply the local restaurants and grocery store. "The idea is to grow enough basil to pay for the rest of my garden," says Frause, who sows seeds of Genovese, or sweet basil (Ocimum basilicum) directly into the soil "never earlier than May 1 or later than May 15."

Frause has been working his farm for 34 years, enriching the soil with manure and compost, so he doesn't need to fertilize his 70-foot rows of basil plants. His secrets for basil production? "Good, fluffy soil, sun from morning 'til dark and regular watering." When the plants get about 6 inches high and set buds, Frause starts snapping off the top third of the leaves to keep the basil growing. Never let it bloom. The plants branch where he snaps and keep producing foliage into September, growing a foot tall and bushy.

Always pick basil leaves in the afternoon when they're dry, for even a little dampness turns the leaves black. Frause advises that Thai and cinnamon basil are both delicious, but trickier to grow.

Valerie Easton is a Seattle freelance writer and author of "A Pattern Garden." Check out her blog at www.valeaston.com.