A pot of rosemary beside the kitchen door does two jobs at once. It saves you a trip to the herb bed when the roast potatoes need a sprig, and it releases a cloud of scent every time you brush past it with a basket of washing. Even the smallest back yard, courtyard or cottage garden can carry a handful of pots, and herbs are among the most forgiving plants you can grow in them. Get the drainage and the watering right, and you will be cutting thyme for years rather than buying those sad little supermarket pots that collapse within a fortnight.

Why the back door is the best spot in the garden

The strip of ground beside a back door is usually sheltered, sunlit for part of the day and, crucially, walked past several times daily. That footfall matters. Herbs need picking to stay bushy, and a plant you pass on the way to the bin gets pinched far more often than one languishing at the end of the garden.

Walls and fences also store warmth, releasing it slowly overnight, which softens the worst of a frost and helps tender herbs ripen their foliage. There is a trade-off: that shelter can also trap rain shadow, so pots there may dry out faster than you expect. Grouping them together helps, as the plants shade one another's compost and create their own humid microclimate.

Choosing the right herbs for pots

Not every herb enjoys the same conditions, and mixing them in one container is the most common mistake. Think of three groups:

• Mediterranean woody herbs — rosemary, thyme, sage, winter savory and oregano. They want full sun, free drainage and lean soil. Overfeeding makes them soft and tasteless.
• Thirsty leafy herbs — mint, parsley, chives, chervil and basil. They prefer richer compost and more consistent moisture.
• Mint, specifically — always on its own. Its runners will colonise every pot you give it, strangling anything in the way.

Good varieties for a small display include a compact rosemary such as 'Miss Jessopp's Upright' if you want a neat vertical shape, French thyme for a finer leaf and gentler flavour than common thyme, and Moroccan mint if you plan to make tea. Garden mint is hardier and better for lamb and new potatoes.

Compost, containers and drainage

Mediterranean herbs rot rather than freeze in a British winter, so drainage is everything. Use a soil-based compost mixed with roughly a third horticultural grit by volume for rosemary, thyme and sage. A peat-free multipurpose compost is fine for mint and parsley, but add a handful of grit to the bottom layer regardless.

Choose pots at least 30cm across for rosemary and sage, 20–25cm for thyme, and 25cm for mint. Terracotta breathes beautifully and suits a cottage look, but it is vulnerable to frost cracks and dries out quickly; glazed or frost-proof stoneware is more practical if the pot will stay outside all winter. Whatever you choose, make sure there is a decent drainage hole, and stand every pot on feet or tiles so water never pools underneath.

Planting and the first few weeks

Plant in spring once the worst of the frost has passed, or in early autumn while the soil is still warm. Set woody herbs so the top of the rootball sits just below the rim, then top-dress with a centimetre of grit. That grit mulch keeps foliage off damp compost, suppresses weeds and deters vine weevil from egg-laying.

• Water in thoroughly, then leave rosemary and thyme alone until the top 3cm of compost is dry.
• Keep mint and parsley consistently moist, but never waterlogged.
• Do not feed for the first six weeks — fresh compost holds plenty of nutrients.
• Snip out flowering tips on basil and mint to keep leaves coming instead of flowers.

Watering, feeding and trimming through the year

From April to August, give mint and parsley a dilute liquid feed every fortnight. Rosemary and thyme need feeding only once in late spring, if at all. In a hot spell, pots may need water daily, but always check first by pushing a finger into the compost — a wet rosemary in July is more likely to die than a dry one.

Pinch out growing tips regularly, never taking more than a third of the plant at once. Cut thyme back lightly after flowering, but stay out of the old woody stems, which rarely reshoot. Rosemary is best trimmed straight after flowering, shaping gently rather than hacking. For mint, shearing the whole plant down to 5cm in midsummer provokes a fresh flush of tender leaves within a fortnight.

Getting them through winter

Come October, move pots closer to the wall for shelter and raise them onto feet so they are never sitting in standing water. Reduce watering sharply — once a fortnight is often enough, and less in a wet winter. A cloche or a layer of dry bracken around the pot helps, but do not wrap plants in plastic, which traps damp and encourages grey mould.

If a hard frost is forecast, shift the most tender pots into a cold porch or unheated greenhouse and bring them back out once it passes. Rosemary is the fussiest of the trio, so give it the most sheltered position you have. With a little attention to drainage and a sharp pair of scissors kept by the door, your pots will reward you with scent, colour and a constant supply of cuttings for the kitchen.