Quickly dried in a dehydrator and then packed in home canning jars. Use the Food Saver canning jar attachment and place a lid between the top of the jar and the attachment. Connect the vacuum line from the FS device, and pull a vacuum. After a couple of minutes, pull the vacuum line from the top of the adapter and it will force the canning lid to get pulled onto the jar, sealing it. You now have vacuum packed herbs and they keep a long time, except cilantro. I have a lOT of dill weeed that is now 2 years old and its still as viable and fresh smelling and tasting as if it was done last week. Still a nice bright green color too. Check the HARVEST forum for further info on the FS jar adapters, as they have both regular and wide mouth jar types. When I need some, I just remove the lid and take what I need, then reseal it under vacuum again. I do this with gratd cheese to, and it keeps many months in the fridge without any mold issues. There, I use the plastic vacuum canisters that Food Saver sells.

I get the impression (correct me if I'm wrong!) that you are looking at your herbs rather like a lawn - keep them all at a uniform height so they look neat and tidy. Well, it isn't like that. There's not much about herbs that is neat and tidy! For the most part, you will cut back your herbs when you harvest them for eating. You can do that pretty much at any time you like, but don't take more than one-third of total growth at any one time, then wait until the plant regenerates before doing it again. You can take whole sprigs cut pretty much to the ground, or you can take tips, or you can take individual leaves. You can harvest many times - not just once a season. Parsley and chervil - take the oldest leaves first. Coriander - take any leaves you like while you can - once they turn feathery and the plant bolts to seed (guaranteed to happen soon now you've got warmer weather!) just let it self-seed and forget harvesting until the next generation comes up). Summer savory - take whole sprigs and remember it's an annual, so harvest while it's still around. Oregano - it'll run wild if allowed to, so harvest whole sprigs any time. It's up to you whether to freeze or dry your herbs for storage. My personal preference is for freezing. Chervil particularly doesn't hold its flavour well when dried.

IE; drying herbs, it depends on what you are using the herb for. If you are using them medicinally, you want to retain as much of the essential properties as possible, so drying under open shade with good ventilation, and spreading out the herbal material is important, especially under humid conditions. An unventilated greenhouse in summer would be too hot, and evaporate many of the important medicinal components. For medicinals, its also important to tincture or store the dried material ASAP after drying, to avoid further degradation. Properly dried herbs should be a nice dark green color, smell green and lovely...the dried herbs in stores are usually poor in comparison. If you are using hebs for culinary purpose, all the above holds true for best flavor, but you have a bit more leeway, they'll still have flavor, but you may need to use more. For herbal oils, you want your herbs to be thoroughly well-dried to reduce pathogens. garlic is a nice addition as well, for flavor, but also to kill bad buggies. Hope this helps!

I've got rosemary, oregano, thyme, and mints in pots too. All of mine do fine through the winter (I'm in s.e. Wake Co). I can harvest from rosemary and thyme throughout the winter and a sometimes a little oregano (but I usually just use it dried because it's easier). My mints are in pots sunk in the ground to attempt to contain them and they die back during the winter. I usually keep my pots in a somewhat sheltered spot up against the house to keep them a little warmer. If it gets really cold (teens - low 20's) I throw a floating row cover over them. I'd just dry the sage. It takes up less space that way. And sage holds it's flavor well dried. I save freezer space for basil, cilantro, parsley, and chives.