It's fun and smart to grow your own herbs. And if you are engaging in this delightful activity, have you noticed this is the time of year when they go crazy?

So if your herb garden is producing more than you can use (or if you've become attached to a seasonal herb you'd like to have all year round), you may want to consider drying them.

While this does change the flavor, it's not necessarily for the worse. And remember, you can count on your own air-dried herbs always being superior to the dried herbs you get in the store.

This said, here are 4 tried-and-true tips to air-drying your herbs at home:

1. If necessary, remove the leaves at the bottom of the stems, then use a twist-tie or rubber band to bundle them together. You probably shouldn't bundle more than five or 10 stems (depending on how dense the leaves at the top are) to ensure they dry properly.

2. In a dry, warm (well-ventilated, not humid) location, hang them upside-down. It's best to keep them in a place that's out of the way of foot traffic (high up if possible) to ensure they aren't destroyed while they're drying.

If you don't have a place in your house that's dark enough, you can use a plastic sandwich bag over each bundle, piercing it with holes so air can get to it (bonus: this also keeps the dust off).

3. Allow them to dry for one to three weeks or until they crumble easily between your fingers.

4. Once they're fully dried, you can pull them down for storage. If desired, crumble or crush them. You can place them in air-tight jars, but my favorite storage method is to use vacuum-sealed bags - they really lock in the flavor.

The dried herbs will keep for around six months, depending on what they are. But that's about as long as you should keep most of the herbs you buy in the store, so it's a win-win!