Start small. Start with a few plants that you know you'll use or enjoy. Learn with those. You can always grow your gardens and interest from there.

If you are new, start with plants except for a few like cilantro, parsley, and dill that are best to direct sow. Seed starting can be frustrating to new gardeners.

I'm absolutely sure there are local nurseries nearby. Check your local advertisements and listings. Ask gardeners where they shop. Local nurseries as a rule have more selection and more knowledgeable staff. There are also many fine mail order places but I would suggest those if you can't find specific varieties locally.

Easy herbs to grow - dill, basil, garlic, chives, cilantro, oregano, sage, thyme, rosemary, chili pepper, lavender, mint, lemon balm, and more.

FataMorgana

First suggestion: More reference material :~). Try going to your local public library and checking out a book: Southern Herb Growing by Madalene Hill, Gwen Barclay, Jean Hardy. I did this several years ago when I had just started attempting herb gardening, and found it really useful. Practical information for people who want to grow herbs by people who live in the South and have learned to overcome some of the challenges we face :~).

I live in Rockdale County, Zone 7B. I have perennials Rosemary, Thyme, Mints, Oregano, Sage, French Tarragon, Chives (common and garlic). I grow lots of annual basils and have grown dill, which re-seeds. Have herbs both in ground and in containers. Easy herbs for me (other than annual basils), meaning they need little to no attention are Rosemary, Thyme, Oregano and Chives. Mints are easy, but you need to keep them cut back when they start spring growth and keep them contained or they can become invasive. Rosemary is very easy to grow in our zone as long as you keep it protected from winter wind from the north. Our short snow and ice storms have not bothered it, but all of the bushes are protected from winter winds coming from the north. I have tried, but no longer bother with parsley because it is so inexpensive and readily available in our area.

Growing up in Georgia, with my Mom's cooking which was 100% Southern Style, I had no experience with using fresh herbs. I found a cook book at Oxford Book Store in Atlanta several years ago that calls for fresh herbs (mostly) in it's recipes: Prevention's Low-Fat Italian Favorites, by Jean Rogers (Editor). Delicious, simple, easy to prepare recipes. We have completely worn out our first copy and are on our second. It's worth the $8.00 to purchase it from Amazon if you can't find it at the local library.

Hope you have lots of fun, and good luck with your new herb gardening effort.

Hi
Im new here and by no means am I a expert. LOL However what I'm doing seems to work here.
I use 5 gal. buckets for my herbs. I take and drill large drainage holes in lower sides and bottoms. Use about 2 inches gravel in the bottom and then place compost/good planting soil in the bucket all the way to the top. I water them well and they are doing great. Everything else this year sucks!

MMMMM Nothing better than to step outside into the herb garden and grab a handful of......whatever!
I often just grab a few fingerfuls of any and all of the herbs and either chop them up with a knife, or buzz them with my herb buzzer! (kind of a mini food processor)
Basil and stevia are annuals, mint you DON"T want to plant in the ground! Actually, I went from a 3x3' "herb garden" to ripping all of that out cause I couldn't tell what was what after it all grew crazy!
I now have a mostly container herb garden that is beautiful, just fine for the 2 of us and in control!
HTH Nancy

FataMorgana - Thanks! I know there have to be more local nurseries...just haven't found them yet. I know of a couple but haven't been really impressed with them so far this summer. Spring may be better and I'm definitely watching and searching and asking around to find a good place. I did grow Cayennes, jalapenos, fajita bells, and red bell peppers this year in my veggie garden and I'll definitely be growing those (and maybe some other peppers!) again next year. I'm reading everything I can find but I'm just in information overload right now. I love reading your posts on this board and appreciate you sharing your vast experience and answering questions from dumb newbies! :)

Opal - I'm at the corner of Henry/Rockdale/Newton county so right down the road from you! If you have any suggestions for local nurseries, definitely let me know. Send me an e-mail if you'd like to have a gardening buddy close by! I need to do an Amazon order when I get my paycheck this week anyway so the books you mentioned are definitely going on my list.

Shenanigans - Thanks! I've grown watermelon, cantaloupe, several different kinds of peppers, corn, tomatoes, basil, cucumbers, blueberries, and strawberries in containers this year so I'm "comfortable" with container gardening and will probably stick with mostly containers for herbs next year. It's so much easier (to me) to give everything exactly the environment it likes and keep it under control and be able to move it if necessary (and no digging in baked GA clay!)

NancyJane - Thanks! I've heard that about mint. I have a tendency to go way overboard with things but really, I don't need a huge herb garden...at least not until I figure out what I'm doing. It's just fascinating though!