When growing herbs, the most important requirement is good drainage.  If your soil is heavy clay, you may want to consider building a raised bed.  I don't recommend adding sand to your soil because it would take a tremendous amount to make a real difference and more importantly, you can inadvertently accomplish the opposite result and end up with a hard layer of homemade cement.  

Add lots of compost to your planting hole and use it as mulch around each herb--but apply fertilizer sparingly.  Over-fertilizing encourages rapid plant growth at the expense of the essential oils, which are what give herbs their flavor and scent. 

Drying herbs is as simple as using the microwave.  Just lay a single layer of clean, dry leaves between plain white paper towels.  Place them in the microwave for one to two minutes on high power and then remove them and let them cool down.  If they aren't brittle you will need to rearrange them a bit and then stick them back in for another thirty seconds.  Just keep repeating these steps until your herbs are completely dry and crumble easily.  Don't try and speed up this process or the herbs may become overheated and start on fire. 

Annual Culinary Herbs 

1. Basil (Ocimum basilicum)--An herb or kitchen garden would not be complete without at least one variety of basil.  You can try a few new varieties every season and never come close to growing them all. There are purple varieties ('Dark Opal' and 'Purple Ruffles'), lemon ('Sweet Dani') and cinnamon flavored varieties and basils with extremely large leaves such as the AAS winner 'Thai Siam Queen' or the old favorite 'Lettuce Leaf.'  Just a breath of frost will turn basil leaves to useless black mush.  For that reason, don't get antsy and set your young plants outside until you are absolutely sure that it will not frost.  Like tomatoes, they will only languish until warmer weather comes anyway.

Herb Seeds and Plants The Cook's Garden

2. Cutting Celery (Apium graveolens 'Amsterdam')--A little known herb that I have found useful for cooking is leaf or cutting celery.  It is difficult to grow real celery in the North so this plant makes it easy to add the same celery flavor to soups and stews.  The dark green, glossy foliage dries easily and somewhat resembles flat-leaved parsley.  I have never seen cutting celery offered at nurseries, but it is easily started by seed indoors (see below).
3. Summer savory (Satureja hortensis) --This is called the bean herb because it is used so often in bean dishes. I think it tastes a bit like peppery thyme with a little sage kick at the end. It is one of the easiest annual herbs to grow. Just throw the seeds out when the ground warms up, and you will have more summer savory than you know what to do with. Plus, it is a reliable self-seeder, so you will have it popping up in your herb garden for many seasons to come.
4. Parsley (Petroselinum)--Connoisseurs prefer the taste of the flat-leaved Italian parsley (P. var. neapolitanum) to that of the curly-leaved parsley (P. var. crispum) more commonly sold in nurseries.  I am not that discerning so I still prefer to use the curlier type. The bright green foliage complements any nearby flowers and as an added bonus it is a host plant for swallowtail caterpillars.  A common fallacy is that parsley can not be transplanted and that it should be seeded where it will grow.  I won't go into all the folklore behind this gardening myth; suffice it to say that I have replanted many a parsley seedling with no ill effects (to me or the plant).
5. Sweet marjoram (Origanum majorana)---Marjoram is one of the traditional herbs used in "Bouquet Garni.(see below)" Usually grown as an annual, marjoram resembles oregano, but has a milder flavor.  Grow it just as your would most tender herbs--lots of sun and very good drainage.
6. Dill (Anethum graveolens)--I am not much of a "pickler" but I do include dill in my kitchen garden.  After all--what kind of a vegetable garden would it be without a few dill plants?  The seeds are a little strong for most dishes, but try using the feathery leaves on salads or in sauces.  'Bouquet' is a much fuller, more attractive plant then the common taller varieties. 
7. Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis)--I like to grow my rosemary in a container so I can move it into the house when cold weather comes.  It is not the easiest houseplant, but it seems to appreciate my "benign neglect" approach to plants that dwell inside.  Although a member of the mint family, do not over water rosemary or you will soon lose it.  

Plant a Container Herb Garden Burpee Plants and Seeds

Perennial Culinary Herbs

1. Chives (Allium schoenoprasum)--Onion grass is one of the easiest and most low-maintenance of the hardy culinary herbs. It blooms in the Spring with lovely little purple flowers and is wonderful chopped and sprinkled on top of many dishes. It isn't fussy about soil or light so it can be located almost anywhere. There is also a garlic flavored variety which has white blossoms in late summer. I use both around the whole perimeter of my herb gardens where they make a very tidy edging.
2. Oregano (Origanum vulgare)--The best oregano for cooking is Greek oregano, unfortunately; it isn't hardy here. I grow the common oregano wherever I need a flowering groundcover because it has very aromatic leaves and small purplish flowers the bees love, almost all summer long. You can use it on your pizza and other dishes, but you may want to grow some of the Greek variety in a pot on your deck for those "special" Italian dishes.
3. French Tarragon (Artemisia dracunculus)--I've had good luck with my tarragon. It is often rated only to zone 5, but mine has come through five winters here in zone 4 in good shape. Tarragon has a licorice smell and taste and is best known for its use in salad vinegar. When picking out your plant at the nursery make sure you crush a small leaf and smell it. There is a wide difference in tarragon plants so if you find it hard to catch a licorice fragrance, it may be an inferior type--or even Russian tarragon which has no flavor at all.
4. Winter savory (Satureja montana) --The perennial version of the bean herb (see summer savory above). They both have a peppery flavor which is good in both stews and soups. The perennial savory is harder to find in nurseries, you may have to order it from one of the herb catalogs (see below).
5. Lemon Balm (Melissa officinalis)--This is a member of the mint family--but isn't invasive like its relative. I rarely have a plant make it through the winter but I've included it on this list because it always abundantly self-seeds. The leaves have a wonderful lemon smell and taste and you can use them in almost any recipe that calls for lemon juice. My favorite use is several leaves in iced Earl Grey tea.
6. Garden Sage (Salvia officinalis)--Sage is temperamental in the North.  Sometimes it will come back for few years and then one spring--no sage.  Worth replanting when necessary, garden sage is a very attractive two to three foot, gray-green plant best known for its use as a stuffing herb.  If you have never used fresh sage, it is worth growing just to see the difference it makes in your favorite sage recipes. 
7. Mints (Mentha)--Most of the mints are very hardy with the exception of the variegated varieties, such as pineapple. Always plant your mints either in a bed by themselves or sink an old pot or can up to its rim and plant your mints inside. They will cross-pollinate so if you have a variety that you really like--don't plant other mints nearby. I found a wonderful new mint last summer called 'Chewing gum,' which has a nice spearmint fragrance and taste and hasn't proven to be too invasive--yet!

*Note:  Bouquet Garni is used to garnish (garni) soups and stews.  Use string to tie 4 sprigs parsley, 2 sprigs thyme, 1 bay leaf, and 1 sprig marjoram into a bundle.  Add one bouquet for every two quarts of soup about 20 minutes before the soup is done.

Medicinal Herbs Video
Learn about medicinal plants and what they can do, but please check with your doctor before self-medicating.

Herb sources:

Renee's Garden Seeds
7389 W. Zayante Rd.
Felton, CA 95018
1-888-880-7228 or FAX 1-831-335-7227
www.reneesgarden.com

Burpee

300 Park Avenue
Warminster, PA 18991-0001
http://www.burpee.com

The Cook's Garden

Park Seed Co.
Cokesbury Road
Greenwood, SC 29647-0001
http://www.parkseed.com

Herb info:

• Growing Herbs (Minnesota Extension)
• Preserving Herbs by Freezing or Drying (Minnesota Extension)
• Richter's Herb Infosheets
• GardenWeb Herb Forums
• Common Herbs and Their Uses (Richters)
• Henriette's Culinary Herb FAQs
• Botanical.com
• Gardening in the Cabbage Patch (Alaska herb gardening)