The Best Herbs to Grow for Cooking

A few pots of herbs by the kitchen door earn their place faster than almost anything else you can grow. They are pricey to buy, go limp within days, and a single supermarket packet costs more than a whole packet of seed. Here are the culinary herbs genuinely worth growing in the UK, and which ones to start with.

The everyday culinary herbs worth growing

These are the herbs you will actually reach for most weeks. Grow the ones you cook with, not the ones that sound impressive.

Basil — the one most people miss from a windowsill. It is a tender annual that hates cold and wet, so keep it indoors on a bright sill or in a warm, sheltered spot from June. Pinch out the growing tips often to keep it bushy. Brilliant for pasta, tomatoes and pesto.

Parsley — flat-leaf for cooking, curly for garnish. It is slow to germinate (be patient — three to four weeks is normal) but then crops for months and even sits through a mild winter. A proper kitchen workhorse for sauces, stocks and salads. See our full parsley guide.

Chives — a hardy perennial that comes back every spring with zero fuss. Snip the grassy leaves for a mild onion hit in eggs, potatoes and dressings, and the purple flowers are edible too. One of the most forgiving things you can grow — more in the chives guide.

Mint — vigorous, hardy and almost impossible to kill. So vigorous, in fact, that you should grow it in a pot to stop it taking over a bed. Lovely with new potatoes, peas, lamb and in tea. Our mint guide covers keeping it in check.

The Mediterranean trio — rosemary, thyme and oregano. These woody perennials want sun and free-draining, gritty soil, and they shrug off drought once established. They live for years and need little watering, which makes them ideal for a sunny spot or a pot of poor soil. See growing Mediterranean herbs and the dedicated rosemary guide.

Coriander — the divisive one. It is quick and easy but bolts (runs to seed) in hot or dry spells, so sow little and often in cooler conditions and don't let it dry out. Worth it if curries and salsas are on your menu — full advice in the coriander guide.

Easiest for beginners

If you have never grown anything, start here. These are the herbs least likely to disappoint in a first season.

• Chives — sow once, harvest for years. Hardy and unbothered by neglect.
• Mint — buy one plant, keep it watered in a pot, and it does the rest.
• Parsley — slow to start but very reliable once up; happy in part shade.
• Basil — easy on a warm windowsill; just keep it off cold sills and out of the rain.

Rosemary and thyme are also tough as old boots once established, but they are slow from seed — most beginners buy a small plant instead. Coriander is the one to leave until you have a season under your belt, simply because it bolts so readily.

Annual vs perennial herbs

It helps to know which herbs come back each year and which you re-sow, because it changes how you plan.

• Perennial (grow once, harvest for years): chives, mint, rosemary, thyme, oregano. Plant these once, ideally in their own permanent pots or a sunny corner, and they reward you for seasons to come.
• Annual (re-sow each year): basil, coriander, dill. These complete their life in a single season, so sow a fresh batch each spring — and with the fast ones, sow little and often for a steady supply.

Parsley is technically a biennial: it crops generously in year one, often overwinters, then runs to seed the following year, so most growers treat it as an annual and re-sow.

A kitchen herb shortlist

If you want a no-fuss starting line-up that covers most everyday UK cooking, plant these five:

Add coriander and thyme once you are confident, and you have a kitchen garden that handles almost anything you cook.

These herbs need very little kit — a few pots, peat-free compost and a sunny sill or doorstep. For the wider list of what is genuinely worth buying when you start out, see our starter buying guide, or browse the full herbs section for a guide to each one.