Our garden is a very happy place for cooking herbs - at least the damp winter-hearty ones like thyme and sorrel. It's usually too damp and cool in our little patch for warm weather herbs. It's like they don't drain enough or ever get warm enough to grow. This summer we planted basil in our new greenhouse - and now we have more than we can eat. The same holds true for purple shiso, which we bought as a young plant at our local farmer's market.
