On those foreign hillsides where wild herbs grow, they reproduce themselves naturally... When the plants' underground roots or rhizomes branch off and send up new plants, we say the plants have spread by their roots. A little farther along our hillside there is a colony of plants that multiply from their bases; every year each plant has a larger base with more shoots coming from it; we say these herbs multiply from their crowns. —Thomas DeBaggio, Growing Herbs from Seed, Cutting & Root

Dividing your herbs to multiply them is good for you (dividing gives you more plants, for free!) and good for the plants (dividing discourages disease by thinning foliage). The best candidates for division are the perennial herbs that die back in the winter and return, larger than life, in the spring. In the southern half of the U.S., dividing these plants now will give them time to settle in for vigorous new grown in the spring. In the north, you may want to mark the plants now (before their tops die back) for division in early spring.

Whenever you dig, you'll use a shovel and a sharp knife. Dig around the circumference of the clump, then lift the root mass out of the ground. Shake off the soil or wash it off with a hose. Pull the clump apart, or divide the mass into pieces with the knife, trying to keep a large root system with each division. (Sometimes a clump will yield a dozen or so new plants; the larger the divisions, the less transplant shock the plant will suffer.) Dig a hole for your new plant, put it in, and water thoroughly.

Herbs to Divide

Artemisia Bee balm Catnip Chives Day lilies Echinacea Lemon balm

Lemongrass Mint Oregano Sorrel Sweet woodruff Tarragon

More about Planting, Dividing, and Multiplying Herbs

• The Herb Society of America's Essential Guide to Growing and Using Herbs, Katherine K. Schlosser, Ed.
• Your Backyard Herb Garden, by Miranda Smith

Here's a tip for those of you who come to the dining table with garden-dirty hands: