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

Sue (not verified)

8 years ago

Very helpful! I just purchased a small plant from Walmart in memory of my Dad who use to grow mint for my grandmother's herbal remedies. I plan to let it grow as wild as it wants along my porch :)

Crystal (not verified)

8 years 1 month ago

Thanks to whoever wrote this, this truly helped me with my science proyect

Jeannette Kister (not verified)

8 years 1 month ago

I recently purchased a small mint plant from Walmart, I transplanted it from the original container to larger one and placed it outside. I live in TN. where it will get seaonal weather. I plan to plant it in the ground in a flower bed of it's own so it will have good drainaige. I have snipped top leaves and enjoyed the flavor in hot and cold tea, I am so happy to have found the mint and plan to buy more. Mint has been a favorite of mine for many years. God has provided us with so many natural herbs.

Donna (not verified)

8 years 1 month ago

Is there an author that can be credited for this article on mint that my daughter may cite in a research paper?

The author is 鈥淭he Old Farmer’s 蜜桃恋人鈥 and reference the page URL.

Tiffany (not verified)

8 years 1 month ago

So I'm going into my second fall as a first time planter. I did well this spring/summer harvesting a boat load of collard and cabbage. Now all these green eggs and green caterpillar like and moths have devoured them under leaves on top and literally the root and stem is mushed and stinks. I have chocolate mint by it the first time now I have regular mint and same thing has happened. Should I remove all that soil, plant something else or you have a better suggestion. Same is happening with my red Russian kale and curly kale. So depressing lol. I hear cold pressed neem oil. Just a farmer in need!!

Thanks in advance-

Cruciferae unfortunately are very susceptible to aphids, whiteflies, and lots of caterpillars. they aren't even worth planting in my area; you won't get to harvest much of anything. is it possible you area is also such a place?

chocolate mint might not have a strong enough odor, try spearmint or peppermint, they're more "smelly" ;)

Nicholas Hillyer (not verified)

8 years 2 months ago

Finely slice mint leaves and add to your salads.

Danielle Mccrory (not verified)

8 years 2 months ago

How much if at all,and when do you water mint plants that are wintering in pots in my greenhouse? *( I live in Northern Idaho,and cannot get into the greenhouse until March,due to snow)