Herb Windowsill Boxes

Just got two really cool looking windowsill planters to plant some herbs in the apartment. Our windows are full, floor-to-ceiling numbers and we face west. The herbs should do great with that sun. The planters are a matte silver color, very sleek and fit perfectly side by side in the window. I will post pictures when I get them up and going — I’ve got to get some potting soil first. Meanwhile, the herb plants are resting happily (for the moment) in my bathtub. They will need some sun SOON.

Charlotte has a wonderful farmer’s market over by the airport. So far, I’ve gotten basil, thyme, oregano, rosemary and chives. I need a couple of more things to fill out the boxes — they are fairly large. I have everything that I cook with, except for mint, which takes on a life of its own. I have planted mint in a container out at my community garden plot. We have to pot anything that is “invasive” and that definitely includes mint.

Our friend Didier, who is French and quite a good cook, advised lemonbalm. He said he uses it all the time. Don’t know what for, but I got a plant and seeing that it is in the MINT family, I planted it in the pot with the mint outdoors. I will have to read what advice Mark Bittman has for lemonbalm in “How to Cook Everything Vegetarian”.

In a recent Tweet, Marcus Samuelsson advocated planting kitchen herb gardens and he mentioned borage as one of his favorites. I don’t even know what that is — and have certainly never used it. However, M. Samuelsson is my absolute fav of those celebrity chef types — I’ve been enamored with him since he was at Aquavit back in the early 90’s. He is SUCH an interesting personality. So — if I can even find borage, maybe I can see what M. Bittman has to say about it as well.