Although fresh herbs are always preferable to dried, drying herbs is a way to extend your garden’s reach past the first frost.

At the end of the season, herb gardener Alexandra Basinski advises drying herbs in small bundles and keeping them in a dry place, like a closet or attic, so they don’t mildew. She uses a brown paper lunch bag to keep airborne dust from settling on the bunches.

“Turn the bag upside down, so the opening is at the bottom,” she says. “Cut a small hole at the top to fit over the sprigs. The hole at the bottom allows air to circulate, and the bag keeps any dust from resting on the herbs.”

Oven drying is another way to preserve your crop. Preheat the oven to 250 degrees. Then place a single layer of washed and dried herbs on a baking sheet. Turn off the oven, and put the herbs in to dry.

“This can take a day or two, depending on the herb,” Basinski says. Store dried herbs in a dry place, in an airtight container.

Although every chef prefers using fresh herbs, you can substitute dried at a ratio of 3-1: If the recipe calls for 1 tablespoon of fresh basil, use 1 teaspoon of dried, and so on.

While fresh herbs are almost always added at the end of the cooking process to preserve their color and delicate flavor at their peak, dried herbs need time for their flavor to seep into the dish, so they should be added more toward the beginning.