Fresh herbs are summer’s natural flavor boosters for food.

Of course, you can buy fresh herbs year-round at the grocery store. But if you grow your own parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme this summer, you’ll probably discover, like cookbook author Lynn Alley, that your garden will inspire your cooking in new ways.

Alley’s new vegetarian cookbook, “Cooking with Herbs: 50 Simple Recipes for Fresh Flavor,” is full of tips for growing herbs as well as using them.

Her passion for herbs was ignited when she worked at an herb nursery in southern California years ago, leading tours and teaching herb cooking classes. It profoundly changed how she cooks.

“Rather than choosing main ingredients around which to build a dish, I chose my herb or herbs from what looked good on any given day, then built my dish around them,” Alley writes.

When we talked on the phone with Alley at her home in San Diego, she confirmed her love of herbs by mentioning her favorite salad.

“There’s nothing I like better than parsley, freshly picked from my garden, with lemon juice, olive oil and salt — and I only grow the curly kind of parsley. I don’t like Italian parsley. I know it’s supposed to be the choice of gourmet cooks, but I love that wonderful mouthfeel of good old conventional American parsley,” she said.

In “Cooking with Herbs,” Alley’s chapters on soups and salads, main dishes, breads and spreads and small indulgences (herb-infused sorbets and cheesecakes), all begin with a basic template recipe that can be changed by adding any herbs that appeal to you.

Basic polenta, for example, goes Italian with the addition of fresh basil, marinara sauce, ricotta and Parmesan cheeses, or it can have a Southwestern flair if you incorporate cilantro along with tomatoes, onion, avocado, black olives, queso fresco and a squeeze of lime juice.

An herb, by definition, is the “fragrant leaves of any of various annual or perennial plants that grow in temperate zones and do not have woody stems,” according to “The New Food Lover’s Companion,” by Sharon Tyler Herbst and Ron Herbst.

Spices, on the other hand, are “seasonings obtained from the bark, buds, fruit, roots, seeds or stems of various plants and trees,” the Herbsts write.

“I think we’re way under-using fresh ingredients from gardens, and especially herb gardens,” Alley told us.

To remedy that, she suggests planting some containers of herbs this summer or designating a spot in your garden for a patch of herbs.

“Ask yourself, what are you most likely to use and enjoy? My favorites are parsley, chives, basil, oregano and cilantro,” she said.

Alley is an organic gardener who recommends well-drained soil, amended with plenty of organic matter before herb seeds or starts are planted.

Herbs are either annual or perennial (see “Annuals vs. perennials”), so it’s good to know which herbs will only live for a year (annuals), and which will come back next year (perennials).

“It may be useful to place the annuals and the perennials together in different areas of the garden,” Alley writes.

She notes in her book that most culinary herbs originated in the Mediterranean regions, so they grow well in full sun. For optimal growth, make sure they get at least six hours of direct sunlight every day.

If you’re planting herbs in containers, don’t forget to feed them.

“You must fertilize herbs in pots because they can’t keep reaching out roots to new soil and nutrients. Fertilize lightly every month or so during the growing season, using an organic fertilizer,” she writes in “Cooking with Herbs.”

If you haven’t cooked much with fresh herbs and are more familiar with dried herbs, just remember the three-to-one rule of thumb: three times as much fresh as dried because dried herbs are more concentrated.

If a recipe calls for one teaspoon of dried oregano, triple it and use one tablespoon of fresh oregano, since three teaspoons equal one tablespoon.

To avoid overdoing it with fresh herbs, just season with a light touch.

“Start out with a small amount. You can’t easily remove an herb from a dish. Start with a tablespoon and your chances of success are much greater than if you put in a quarter cup and can’t easily take it out,” Alley said.

Alley gives oregano and dill starring roles in her “Greek-Style Rice Salad with Dill Dressing” (see recipe).

“It’s really, really good. I like it as a main dish salad, and serve it over some romaine lettuce leaves,” Alley told us.

She said that her “Curry-Cilantro Cream Cheese Spread” (see recipe) is great on crackers, or would make a delicious grilled sandwich spread.

“If you don’t like cilantro, leave it out or use chives instead,” Alley said.

Alley’s “Savory Tomato Sorbet with Oregano” is unusual and would be memorable at a dinner party (see recipe). She serves it as a between-course palate cleanser or as a “sort of gazpacho slush” on a hot day.

“It’s so unique and so delicious, if I do say so myself. If you don’t like cumin, try basil. Try dill or tarragon with it. Tomatoes are so versatile. Try chives, or you could even use parsley,” Alley said.

Just try more fresh herbs in your cooking this summer. Snip them fresh from your garden, add them to dishes at the last minute, before serving, to enjoy their full aroma and taste, and even bring them inside for a fragrant decoration. Just get hooked on herbs like Lynn Alley.

“At the height of the summer season, I love making bouquets of fresh herbs to place around the house as flower arrangements,” she said. We guess that if they’re made of parsley, they can double as a snack.

Annuals vs. perennials

Annuals

Basil

Cilantro

Chervil

Dill

Perennials

Chives

Lavender

Mint

Oregano

Rosemary

Sage

Tarragon

Thyme

Parsley is a biennial. It produces seeds in its second year and then dies.

Marjoram comes in both annual and perennial varieties.

Cooking tips

• Wash herbs off in the garden, let them dry, then cut them.

• Use a very clean, sharp knife for cutting herbs. Cut them cleanly; don’t mash or bruise them or they’ll oxidize quickly.

• To remove small-leafed herbs such as thyme, or woody leaves such as rosemary, run your index finger and thumb down the stems.

• To “chiffonade” (cut into thin strips) herbs such as basil or mint, stack the leaves and roll them into a cigar shape, then, using a very sharp knife or a pair of sharp kitchen scissors, cut thin slices crosswise. A fresh herb chiffonade (“Schiff-on-ODD”) is a great finish for a dish.

— Source: “Cooking with Herbs: 50 Simple Recipes for Fresh Flavor,” by Lynn Alley, Andrews McMeel Publishing, LLC, 2013