I really like learning to cook dinners from other countries, especially a few of the best Mexican meals. How about you? Like me, you grow a lot of the ingredients if you start your own themed kitchen herb garden.

Just about any plant you’ll need for your flavorful dinnerscan be raised in your herb garden.

You do not need a special spot for your themed kitchen herb garden. You can cultivate them in containers or in your usual garden bed.

Here are some recommendations on raising your own themed kitchen garden:

• Asian: From Thai and Vietnamese to Indian and Chinese, Asian cooking has so many tastes and spices to choose from. Some wonderful herb plants to plant in your Asian-themed garden are lemongrass, cayenne pepper, cardamom and anise. Try the licorice taste of anise in your next Indian meal, or try its warm sweetness in your baked goods. You can brew it with your tea as well as add it to your cookie dough for a special treat. Although it was once pretty popular in American cooking, it kind of died out, but in the last few years has made a resurgence in the kitchen.

• Mexican: Not a week goes by when I don’t chow down on a Mexican meal. Some spicy beans and rice or nachos can quickly hit the location. The best Mexican recipes usually include these: Cayenne pepper, Cilantro and Garlic.

• Italian: What is your favorite one? Mine is baked ziti with grilled herbed chicken. The best I ever had was my mom’s which included all these fabulous herb plants: basil, fennel, parsley, garlic, marjoram, oregano, rosemary and thyme. The oniony taste of garlic makes it a perfect addition to most Italian meals. You can add it to your mashed potatoes and even roast it with some olive oil to eat it by itself. Be aware, the longer you cook it, the milder the flavor becomes so don’t overcook it!

• Middle East: Foods from the Middle East and north Africa are only growing in popularity these days. The tastes are so varied and the ingredients are so out of the norm for most of what I usually have in my recipes, including chick peas, figs and couscous. These herb plants are often to be found in the recipes for Middle Eastern meals: cardamom, garlic, parsley, rosemary and saffron.

• German: You can have your own Oktoberfest any time you like if you’ve got all the right German herb plants. For authentic German dinners, experiment with these herbs: chives, dill, horseradish, sage and thyme. As a relative of mustard, horseradish is a condiment herb that you can use for extra flavor. It can also open up your sinuses! Use it to add an extra twang to beef, fish, cream cheese spreads, potato salad, mayonnaise and meat loaf.

One of the awesome things about herb gardening it that herb plants are like a gift that keeps on giving. When you remove a few leaves from your sage plant, it will grow back. Oftentimes it will grow back bigger and fuller than it was before.

Good luck with your herb gardening. Be sure to let me know how your herb garden grows.

Here is more information on Fresh Herb Gardening. Here is a website with a free mini-course dedicated to Herb Gardens.