First, you have to think about the "herbs" that you(personally)
like and use , both fresh and in cooking , and then start the process. This will be the start. Later on you can consider adding
more to your collections.

Having said that, I(personall) consider the followings to
be basic, herbs:
PARSLEY, THYME, SAGE, OREGANO, CHIVES, CILANTRO, MARJORAM, TARRAGON, BASILS.
The secondary group may consist of:
LEMON BALM, LEMON VERBENA, LAVENDER, ROSEMAY, DILLS, FENUGREEK, SAVORY...etc.

Please not that my recommendatios are subjective and influenced by
my personal preference. You may have different taste and preference.

It can be fun to experiment with growing seed when you're a beginner, but it can also be incredibly frustrating! I suggest you take a visit to your local plant nursery and start off with seedlings (baby plants). This is a double advantage. First, your plants have a head start, giving you rewards sooner; second, you have the opportunity to taste and smell the plants before you buy. Slow-growing plants like Bay take forever to grow from seed - and rosemary can be a very slow starter, too.

One of the major gripes on this forum is the fact that there is very little regulation regarding the labelling of plants or seeds. Too often, you'll see a label on a packet of seeds saying 'French Tarragon', but you can be quite confident that it will NOT be French tarragon - because FT rarely sets viable seed! Similarly, the plant you buy may be Russian Tarragon (an almost tasteless weed), or even Winter Tarragon (which is a very fair substitute, actually, but not a tarragon).

Another example of fraud is peppermint. Peppermint is actually sterile, so it must be propagated vegetatively - by cuttings, layering or division. Yet people merrily continue to sell packets of seeds labelled 'peppermint'. It makes me grind my teeth!

So - while you're browsing amongst the plants, don't be afraid to pick off a leaf - crush it, smell it, taste it. With Tarragon, you should get an astonishing mouth-numbing effect (great for tooth-ache!). Taste the difference between spearmint and peppermint - there is no mistaking the differences with a taste-test!

Do some WWW-searching to learn the botanical names of edible herbs. For instance, there are hundreds of species of sage, but only a very few are edible - you'll be looking for Salvia officinalis.

For bay leaves, you'll be looking for Laurus nobilis, and no other.

You can be somewhat more confident that seeds bought in the herb/spice deparment in your supermarket are correctly labelled. Herbs like fenugreek, mustard, coriander (what you call cilantro), caraway, cumin etc usually germinate very well - and haven't been chemically treated like many propagation-purpose seeds.

You can also look out for fresh herbs from the fruit/vege section of your supermarket. You'll often get plants in small pots - these are usually fed with lots of nitrogen to hasten leaf growth, while the roots will be a bit pot-bound, but you can often get them to grow if you don't leave them too long before transplanting them. And in amongst the veges, you'll find onions and garlic and ginger and lemongrass. When planted, onions and garlic and ginger roots will grow; and if the lemongrass stems have even a tiny little root on it, that will grow, too.

With a lot of the herbs you'll end up with, you can collect seed from them, or take cuttings, and you'll end up with a perpetual supply.

Of course, you'll need to provide the right conditions for all your herbs, so it helps to know where they originated, and to copy as near as possible the conditions there (climate, soil, etc). Also learn about which plants are annuals, and which are perennials. Any good nursery should be able to supply lots of that sort of information on request.

Don't forget to browse through this forum, using the Search facility if you like. There is some excellent information to be found here.

I'm a bit surprised that there is not an exchange or wanted section associated with the herb forum. For example, with tomatoes I now have been able to locate varieties that I would never have found in any of the stores. I do have the basic, though I have never located a really deeply flavored thyme. prefer the flat leaved parsley. Have fenugreek seed, but have yet to ever find a use for them. Wonder whether they could be planted. Have a sage, but it is clearly not the standard long leaved variety. These are a round leaf and overwhelmingly strong. Picked a bunch of California bay laurel, only to learn that it is a strong neurotoxin. Was amazed to see pennyroyal right among the other culinary herbs, when it too has dire consequences for children and pregnant women. Essentially, I just want to locate and obtain those that are truly rich in the oils that make them so desirable for cooking. The nurseries, due to the economy, have really cut back on the range of offerings....and they are high! Maybe a swap of heirloom tomato plants for some herbs? Seems dirty old cash payments are frowned upon. Here in GA it would be nice to get them in the ground soon. Most of the seed racks have the same old varieties. Maybe a newbie here, but a LONG time herbalist..medicinal and culinary. Getting them started in a new location is indeed a job, but WELL worth it!

For new gardeners, I can't agree with Daisy more - seeds can be frustrating. I often suggest plants for newbie herb lovers and gardeners in general. But some herbs that are dead simple to start from seed include cilantro, calendula, lemon balm, feverfew, catnip, fennel, basil, dill, parsley, chives, onions, and certainly others that are escaping my thoughts at the moment.

Yes, care needs to be taken with herbs. Learning and educating yourself is a requirement for herbs. Even many culinary herbs have medicinal actions that many may not be aware of. The Internet, your library, and your favorite bookseller can all help you to become more educated.

Finally, you may wish to include some herbs that you are looking for on your "trade" list and some things you are willing to trade (like tomato seed you mentioned) for those. It is my understanding that those looking for trades here on GardenWeb make use of those as well as the forums for trading.

FataMorgana

There IS an exchange section on this forum. You'll find a link under the heading 'Messages' and next to 'On-Topic Discussions' on the main page, and it's called 'Exchanges'.

There was an herb seed swap that was announced here last year, though most of the traffic about it took place on the Exchanges forum. I got quite a few things from there last year (15 varieties of things, when I'd said, "please don't send me much"!), and I'm planning to share the wealth with some friends tomorrow at a little in-person seed swap.

I see what people are saying about starting with plants, and most of my current herbs started that way, but I have a certain fondness for seeds. When I was 10 or 12 years old, about 30 years ago, I decided that an herb garden was exactly what I wanted. I started a few things from mail-ordered seed, and the oregano in my garden today is a descendant of the plants I started back then (it traveled from my grandmother's yard, where I originally planted it, to my mother's yard, and then eventually to mine).

I think, for a beginner the herb seeds sold at garden centers should be sufficient.
As Daisy suggested it would be even better to buy seedlings or
small palnts. I would not take time and try to grow SAGE, ROSEMARY, LAVENDERS from seeds. But it is simple to grow things like
CILANTRO, PARSLEY, CHIVES, DILLS and MARJORAMS, for which you can. Just direct sow them early spring.
find seeds in most garden centers.

Thanks for all the great suggestions. Yesterday, I planted most of what I could find in seed form. Never have been able to do well with chervil. The summer heat seems to kill it quickly. Couldn't find it or savory anyway. With the 401K tanked, a huge number of meds after heart, strokes and spinal disease, the fixed income means I will just wait a while on the more esoteric that come only as plants. Wouldn't even know what to do with fenugreek or the more exotic herbs. DO love good mint in my soutern style iced tea when it hits 100plus degrees! God Bless.