I appreciate your pearls of wisdom. Have a great day!

My biggest advice to anyone just starting out is to start small. Your garden will grow (pun intended!) with your experience no doubt. But small gardens are easiest to manage and learn from. Plus any mistakes are small and not costly in effort or money.

Other than that, have fun!

FataMorgana

Try to avoid the biggest beginner's mistake of all - killing your herbs with kindness. If you start with the popular Mediterranean herbs (basil, rosemary, thyme, sage, lavender etc) they will not appreciate pampering. Lots of sun, heat and regular watering, no over-feeding, and they'll be happy - as long as you provide excellent drainage which is essential.

A warning, however. Once you start growing herbs, there is a high risk of becoming addicted to it!!

Yes, grow herbs that you are familiar with and thoe that you will use, first. Also, grow just a little bit of them. For example, one rosemary, one thyme, one sage will do.
Maybe few more basils , parsley, cilantros, marjoram and chives.
the next season you can expand by numbers and varieties.
I have know and loved and used herbs most of my life but did not have a real culinary herbs garden before this past season. I learned that some herbs grow too big and are not suited for my small herbs garden. They were lemon balm, lemon verbena, lavender, shiso and stevia. So I had to transplant them elsewhere as border plants by the walkways.

The point is that if we go slow the costs will be smaller. I lost few sages and thymes because of poor drainage, although my garden soil is rich in organic maters. But the native soil being red clay(good for making bricks), I had to add sand to it and more compost and raise the bed higher. I also learned a lot from this forum and contributing members such as DaisyDuckworth, KSrogers and FattaMorgana and few others.
Thanks!