AMONG the most drought-resistant of all garden plants is the common thyme, a superb herb with beautiful lilac flowers.
It makes a great ground cover and can even be planted in crevices between courtyard pavers.
Here is a plant that never needs feeding and will thrive for years in its own sunny corner.
However, even if neglected, thyme - and there are many varieties - is a plant that cannot be ignored.
Just two or three plants will provide a constant source of leaves for the kitchen.
Every now and then I cut ours back hard and store the prunings in a paper bag to dry off, out of the sun.
Fresh herbs are lovely and tasty, but when leaves have dried (never in the sun), flavours become about three times stronger.
After cutting our thyme plants almost to the ground, I give them a good drink and off they go again.
Sometimes pieces can be separated.
Make sure a few roots are dragged out of the ground when pulling a plant apart and you can harvest lots of new plants from an established clump.
Herbs are just ordinary plants with an interesting difference.
Most contain essential oils with an extra-strong pungency.
These powerful flavours are the means by which they survive in the wild. For most browsing animals, a few nibbles are enough.
Yet many herbs are also a valuable source of vitamins, minerals and other nutrients.
This is because they develop strong searching roots able to penetrate deep into the subsoil to bring up minerals long leached out of reach of most other plants.
This deep-rooting habit means that most herbs need full sun and perfect drainage.
Even in fairly hungry, gravelly or sandy soils, they need little feeding, apart from an occasional dressing with dolomite limestone.
If we make the mistake of feeding culinary herbs with high-nitrogen fertilisers such as poultry manure or fish emulsion it will weaken flavours.
Over-fed herbs also become soft and prone to insect attack or diseases.
The common sage can be a very attractive addition to the ornamental garden, especially when in flower.
It is also another herb that prefers hungry, exposed conditions.
Just a few sage plants are needed to supply most kitchen needs.
The half-metre-high plants need little care, apart from cutting a couple of stems down to the ground occasionally during summer.
This is a good way to stimulate replacement shoots.
Around April, sage clumps can be cut back to within 100mm of the ground, just before they start to die down for winter.
Don't waste the pieces. Sage leaves are easily stripped off for drying and it is wise to store a good supply for use through winter and spring.
For years I've been growing the very attractive purple-leaf sage.
The leaves produce the same, pungent, aromatic flavour, but the plant, with bright-purple new leaves, makes an outstanding addition to a sunny ornamental border.
Most culinary herbs, especially when dried, need to be used sparingly when added to dishes.
However, you can go berserk with parsley.
It is hard to use too many parsley leaves and they are brilliant as flavouring for salads, sauces, casseroles, soups and omelettes.
Parsley seedlings are cheap to buy and available almost all year.
I prefer to use the plants as bright-green, weed-suppressing borders in the flower garden, even light shade.
Luckily, parsley plants drop seeds freely so there are always new plants.
However, when it comes to starting new plants from seed, some people still find it hard to get parsley seed to germinate. The trick is to sow the seeds just below the surface, then pour very hot water over to soak the seed-bed.
I keep a flask handy when sowing.
Apparently the sudden influx of high heat followed by an equally sudden cooling does the job of breaking seed-dormancy and initiates germination.
Autumn is a perfect time to start your own herb garden.
If kept together in one bed, make sure the plants receive full sun, mulch them with pebbles or even road-metal chips.
Never use an organic mulch as the dark, damp conditions can cause many herbs to rot close to the soil.
