蜜桃恋人

How to Grow Mint Plants: The Complete Guide

Mint is an easy herb to grow in your garden and can add flavor to every meal.

Botanical Name
Mentha
Plant Type
Herb
Sun Exposure
Full Sun

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Planting, Growing, and Harvesting Mint

Catherine Boeckmann

Mint practically grows itself! This herb adds flavor to foods and tea and is also useful for aiding digestion. All you need to do is confine mint to keep it from spreading. See tips on planting, growing, controlling, and harvesting mint.

About Mint

Mint is a perennial herb with very fragrant, toothed leaves and tiny purple, pink, or white flowers. There are many varieties of mint鈥攁ll fragrant, whether shiny or fuzzy, smooth or crinkled, bright green or variegated. However, you can always tell a member of the mint family by its square stem. Rolling it between your fingers, you鈥檒l notice an aromatic scent and think of candy, sweet teas, or even mint juleps.

As well as kitchen companions, mints are used as garden accents, ground covers, air fresheners, and herbal medicines. They鈥檙e as beautiful as they are functional and foolproof to grow, thriving in sun and shade all over North America. Since mint can be a vigorous spreader, you must be careful where you plant it.

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Planting

  • Mints are vigorous perennials that thrive in light soil with good drainage.
  • Ideally, they prefer a moist but well-drained site, something like their native habitat along stream banks.
  • Most will grow in sun or partial shade; the variegated types may require some protection from direct sun.
  • For growing outdoors, plant one or two purchased plants (or one or two cuttings from a friend) about 2 feet apart in moist soil. One or two plants will easily cover the ground. Mint should grow to be 1 or 2 feet tall.
  • Mint is a vigorous grower and needs to be contained, or it will send out its runners and spread all over your garden. The key is to contain the plant鈥檚 roots. Whether it’s in the ground or above ground, plant mint in a pot; we suggest each mint is planted in a 10-inch pot that has drainage holes. You can then sink this pot into the ground or another larger container of soil. 
  • If you are fine with mint becoming a ground cover and understand that it may become invasive, plant in its own raised bed or separate area.
  • In the garden, plant mint near cabbage and tomatoes鈥攊n pots, again, in order to prevent it from spreading and stealing nutrients from your crops!

Check out this video to learn more about how to grow mint. 

Growing

  • Minimal care is needed for mint. For outdoor plants, use a light mulch. This will help keep the soil moist and keep the leaves clean.
  • Indoor plants should be watered regularly to keep the soil evenly moist.
  • At first, mints develop into well-behaved-looking, bushy, upright clumps, but they soon set out to conquer new territory with horizontal runners and underground rhizomes. Unless you block the advance, a peppermint plant can become a sprawling 4-foot giant in just 1 year. It鈥檚 not the stuff of horror movies, however. Mints benefit from picking and pruning. They are shallow-rooted and easy to pull out, so there鈥檚 no reason to worry as long as you provide physical barriers such as walls, walkways, or containers.
a basket of freshly picked mint
Photo Credit: Juta/Shutterstock

Types

  • Apple/Pineapple Mint: Mentha suaveolens
  • Corsican Mint: Mentha requienii
  • Pennyroyal: Mentha pulegium
  • Peppermint: Mentha x piperita
  • Citrus Mint: Mentha x piperita var. citrata
  • Spearmint: Mentha spicata

Harvesting

  • Frequent harvesting is the key to keeping mint plants at their best. Young leaves have more flavor than old ones, and mint can be harvested as soon as it comes up in spring. Although fresh is best, and sprigs should be kept in water for a few days, mint leaves can be frozen or air-dried in bunches.
  • Right before flowering, cut the stems 1 inch from the ground. You can harvest one mint plant two or three times in one growing season.
  • You can also pick the leaves as you need them.
  • You can grow the plants indoors for fresh leaves throughout the winter. If you want to dry them, it鈥檚 best to cut the leaves right before flowering. Store the dried leaves in an airtight container.

Propagating Mint

The best way to propagate mints is by taking cuttings from those that you like best. It鈥檚 easy鈥攖ake 6-inch cuttings of rooted stems and plant them horizontally in the soil. Mint stems will also root in a glass of water. Start with a small cutting from an established plant. Any gardening friend will give you a cutting of a favorite mint.

propogating mint cuttings
Photo Credit: Joannawnuk/Shutterstock


 

Gardening Products

Wit and Wisdom

鈥淚f any man can name … all the varieties of mint, he must know how many fish swim in the Indian Ocean.鈥  鈥揥alafrid Strabo (c. 808鈥849)

Pests/Diseases

Recipes

Minted Fruit Mold
Mint Lemonade
Cilantro and Mint Sauce

Cooking Notes

Serious cooks generally prefer spearmint for savory dishes and peppermint for desserts. Try apple or orange mint for a delicate mint taste in fruit salads, yogurt, or tea. Mint lurks in the background in Middle Eastern salads, such as tabouli, and does well with lamb. It also goes with peas, zucchini, fresh beans, marinades for summer vegetables, cold soups, fruit salads, and cheese.

mint_ice_cubes_full_width.jpg
Credit: Anna Shepulova/Shutterstock

Tip! Make flavored ice cubes by freezing trays of strong mint tea, then use the ice cubes for your drinks!

Herbs
About The Author

Catherine Boeckmann

Catherine Boeckmann loves nature, stargazing, and gardening so it鈥檚 not surprising that she and The Old Farmer鈥檚 蜜桃恋人 found each other. She leads digital content for the 蜜桃恋人 website, and is also a certified master gardener in the state of Indiana. Read More from Catherine Boeckmann
 

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Comments

Mamontostado (not verified)

9 years 6 months ago

I have both spearmint and peppermint. I tried both cutting from their mother plant and placed it in a container with water. The spearmint grew roots 2days but the peppermint still haven't 5 days now. I just planted the spearmint that has grown its roots to a soil and container and doing fine.

Thank you! After some research, it looks like I have a spearmint plant. So hopefully they will grow in another day or two.

Remy (not verified)

9 years 7 months ago

. This is the first time I am trying to grow mint and I have some questions:
When does it flower? Do I need to cut off the buds?
How long does it take to grow more than a foot?
I'm guessing I cut down the central part a bit to encourage thickness?
How big does it have to be to make tea from it? I always find the basic care for plants but I can never find answers to those specific questions. Can anyone help?

I planted spearmint for the first time and have been pinching off pieces for tea for several weeks. The spearmint is much hardier looking than the mint. I'm going to grow some indoors this winter.

Going Crazy (not verified)

9 years 7 months ago

I planted some mint in a container in my garden several years ago. Had the top of the container sticking out of the ground an inch or two to prevent the shoots from going over the top and spreading. It THRIVED!! Too much! It gets sun all day than shade in the evening. A few years ago it started invading the rest of my flower garden. I'm going crazy trying to get rid of it. Any suggestions as to how I can get rid of it without completely up-rooting my whole flower garden to do it? If I have to I'm willing to start over just to get rid of it at this point! It's preventing my other flowers from thriving and flowering. Thank you!

Hi, Crazy: Welcome to the Minter's Remorse Club, although it does sound to us as though you still retain some measure of sanity -- which you will need. A lot depends on how big an area you are talking about. Unfortunately, flower gardens are especially difficult to fumintigate (we just made that word up, so don't go looking for it). Short of just pulling everything up, the way to start is around the edges of your plot, or even around edges of specific mint colonies beyond which you are sure that it has not spread. Start killing all the way around the edge. You can apply boiling water; or a 5:5:2 mixture of vinegar:water:dish soap; or even newspapers or flagstones to block light. Give it a day, then start pulling up, being as careful as possible to get everything. The problem is the rhizomes, which spread laterally and look like white shoelaces or pieces of spaghetti. You need to get every bit. When you start your next session farther inside your perimeter, recheck where you did before, clawing up the soil again to make sure you didn't miss anything. Work your way inward in each area. It's a long, long process, but you certainly get to know your garden well! Good luck!

E.Rob (not verified)

9 years 7 months ago

I am interested in growing some peppermint next to my house; however, I do not want it to get out of control. Several times you have suggested planting the mint in containers. Are there a certain type of container to use for this? Thanks!

It's best if the container or does no have drainage holes. If it does have holes cover them up with plastic or duct tape from the inside. Plastic or ceramic pots work well. Fill with dirt and plant the mint. Then bury the container in the garden bed.

Kayleigh (not verified)

9 years 7 months ago

Hello, I have two organic mint plants I bought today from my local farmer's market. They are in the little plastic black boxes still. What is the best way to grow them indoors/outdoors? (So they can be indoors because it gets veryyyy dry and hot here during the days, but winters freeze)

Plant the mint in a container that you can move indoors when it gets too hot outside. Mint is perennial and will survive cold winters.