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

Judy A. Smith (not verified)

10 years 1 month ago

I have had my mint plant for two weeks. I keep it indoors in damp soil with lots of light. All of the leaves are turning brown and dry. What is wrong and what do I do?

You gave it to much sun think about the shady places that later in the day will get sunny.

I grow mine outside for now (will take them indoors as it gets cooler) & they're doing great. I only water them once a week though. Maybe you're watering them too much if the soil is always moist.

Hi Judy,
Make sure the pot has drainage holes and water when the soil has just started to dry. Also make sure that you use a well draining potting mix. Move the pot to a spot that is not in direct sunlight.

Ahmed Ebeid (not verified)

10 years 1 month ago

Hi,

I have a pot containing a very dense network of mint roots lying a bit deep beneath the surface of the soil, although some of the roots point straight up--I shook the surface layer of the soil up a bit to see how they're doing.

My question is what can I do to have that network give off stems and eventually leaves? Because those roots have been dormant for a little over a year now, although they used to support a shrub with branches so long and entangled I had to cut it off completely.

Thank you

Nidhi Shah (not verified)

10 years 1 month ago

Hi,

I have planted mint reading all your instructions but its not growing fast. Since a month its has the same set of leaves.

Please advice me what can be wrong with it.

I also found some powdery mildew two days ago and am spraying the solution of vinegar and water to get rid of it.

I use vinegar as an herbicide, I would spray vinegar and anymore of your plants.

Danny Peace (not verified)

10 years ago

sorry I would NOT spray vinegar on anymore of your plants

Rani von Wurttemberg (not verified)

10 years 1 month ago

For mildew, may I suggest a mild solution of baking soda with a drop or two of Dawn liquid soap. I have never tried vinegar.

Hi, Nidhi, Powdery mildew thrives in hot, humid conditions. It's best to avoid watering from top down (including leaves) to reduce humidity. We are not familiar with a vinegar remedy for mildew. We do advise removing infected parts and spraying with a solution of 1 teaspoon baking soda in 1 quart of water. Or use a fungicide. Certainly spreading mildew could be harming your plant. Then again, a month is not a long time to let a plant get established.
Because the vinegar may have permeated the plant and the soil, you might (might) try replanting it. After only a month, it may not yet be "at home" in its pot. This could be risky, but the plant might need a fresh start.
If the plant fails to thrive after a period of time, start again, consider the weather (per above), water only after it dries out from the previous watering, and give the plant time. If at all possible, try a disease-resistant plant.
We hope this helps.