by Juliet Grossman

If you've ever considered creating a backyard herb garden, now is the perfect time to get started.

Gardening is a pleasurable and healthy way to get outdoors. A long list of herbs can be successfully planted year 'round, and more thrive in cooler late winter and early spring temperatures.

Herbs to consider:

• Get the kids interested in gardening with chives — they can be planted in any season, are easy to grow, and taste great paired with sour cream as an elegant baked potato topping. More adventurous taste buds will appreciate garlic chives.
• Parsley is another easy-to-grow herb ideal for beginners, and even the pickiest young palates can enjoy tasting the fruit of their labors.
• Add beauty, color, and fragrance to your back yard with aromatic lavender or rosemary. These wonderful additions to any back yard herb garden are very hardy and can be planted any time.
• Tea lovers, give lemon balm a try. This herb can be planted year 'round. As a bonus, it will draw useful bees and butterflies to your yard.
• Chefs who love cooking with an Asian flair can plant lemon grass at any time of year to have this delicious herb on hand any time.
• Got insomnia? Back yard-grown chamomile makes a delicious and relaxing tea, a time-honored home remedy.
• Home cooks who enjoy a variety of ethnic cuisines will want to plant cilantro. This zesty herb is an essential to many Mexican and Middle Eastern dishes.
• Arugula is a fantastic addition to a back yard herb garden for salad lovers. This spicy, peppery herb adds delicious "bite" to any salad mix. Get arugula started now, and you can enjoy it in salads all summer long.
• Do you always grab the black jelly beans? If so, experiment with fennel, which shares the same licorice flavor. Start fennel now, and this herb's hardy bulbs and delicate fronds will grace your garden for years to come. A few tablespoons of shaved fennel bulb is a delicious addition to a zesty Greek salad.

Herbs for Indoors

In addition to planting herbs outside, foodies should consider starting an indoor herb garden as well. A sunny kitchen ledge or countertop along a window is an ideal location for gardening indoors. Several delicious and unusual herbs may not survive a surprise frost or heat wave. Foodies can enjoy cooking with traditional herbs like borage, chervil, lovage, salad burnet, sorrel, and tansy, all of which are hard to find commercially. An indoor herb garden for your home might be the perfect solution!