Christopher Nolan’s Joker, played brilliantly by the late Heath Ledger, was chaos personified. “You know what I am?” He asked. “I’m a dog chasing cars. I wouldn’t know what to do if I caught one.” In many ways, an herb garden risks similar outcomes. So you plant your herbs, you grow them, and then what? What do you do now that you’ve caught the car?

Unlike the Joker, you better have a plan (also, the Joker always had a plan, that’s the point!). Italian oregano, for instance, is best used in sauces, oils and vinegars. You can make pizza, pasta or simply spice some eggs with it. Great! How do you store it? Drying seems to work. Dry some herbs and put them in jars, just like you find in the grocery stores. Casa Almanza did just that. After growing out some beautiful and fragrant oregano, we dried it, bottled it and made sure it was labeled clearly.

While best-laid plans may go awry, ours did not. Then again, it wasn’t really a plan … until it was.