Mint is an easy herb to grow in your garden and can add flavor to every meal.
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Planting, Growing, and Harvesting 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.
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.
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.
Tip! Make flavored ice cubes by freezing trays of strong mint tea, then use the ice cubes for your drinks!
Catherine Boeckmann
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I recently (about a month ago) planted a sweet mint plant in my medium-sized window box alongside my small pepper plant and English thyme. It's grown very fast, and seems to have settled on a height of about 12 inches. However, I've noticed the past few days that several of the leaves near the bottom of the plant are turning brown around the edges. I live in Colorado, and the past week or so has been very hot (low 90's F) in addition to being dry, so I've taken to watering the window box twice a day. My window faces SW so the plants get sun mostly in the afternoon. Is this just an overwatering problem or something else? And should I trim off these brown leaves or the entire lower stems?
It’s hard to know, but it could be the excessive heat. They prefer temperatures around 60 to 80F. When such days occur, it might help to provide a little shade. Mints do like moist soil, but not overly so. During hot days, it may appreciate watering twice a day, but check the soil first to make sure that it isn’t soggy. Overwatering often appears on the plant as yellowing wilting leaves that feel soft, and also soggy soil. Underwatering, the leaves are crisp and brown, with dry soil. If the plants are very crowded, your mint might also be under stress, as the roots like to spread. Also make sure they haven’t been overfertilized, which sometimes turns leaves brown.
You can trim off just the browning leaves.
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Our mint was grown outside. In the fall, we mowed it over in the fall. It cleaned and freshen the lawn mower. It always came back vigorously in the spring. No matter how cold or how much snow.and was 6 inches tall during the summer months. We never covered it with mulch or anything else.
I'm planning to plant then next year. Now they are in container and planning to take them indoor around Oct.. I live near Great Lakes, near Wisconsin & Illinois border. It gets chilly during winter. Are you from that cold part?
I lived with mint out at my parents' home (zone 5) and now mine for decades.
I live in zone 4 - 5 depending on which map I look. None of the mints have had any issue with the cold. They are snow covered all winter
My issue/problem. The different mints must of cross pollinated and do not taste the same
I love eating fresh spearmint and getting the taste in my mouth. Not anymore. I had a hard time finding seeds for edible plant. Will start from seed for the first time
I bought mint about three weeks ago and planted it in a big pot then put it in my kitchen window, it's growing nice but there's some powdery mildew on almost all the leaves.
Please can you advise me on what I should do to stop it.
Thank you very much
Sadly, powdery mildew is difficult to control, not least because, apparently there are several types (species) of it. It may have developed at the source鈥攖he (likely) greenhouse in which it was grown (forced, possibly) and prepped for sale. One source suggests that while in a greenhouse, mint plants are constantly 鈥渨ashed鈥 with overhead irrigation. Once that ceases for more than a few days, the humidity of that environment opens the risk of mildew. (It can not germinate when plants are wet.) Why are you only seeing it now, you might wonder? Well, it can take up to a week for it to develop into a visible colony. You can try removing the infected plant parts. Increase air circ around the plant. However, we must advise that survival rate is low, success with mint indoors will be a challenge. Your best bet is to grow it outdoors in the ground or in a pot, in season. It is a perennial, but like most perennials, it goes dormant鈥攁nd it will go dormant; you can not fool Mother Nature. We wish we had better news…
I have always used store bought milk and put it into a spray bottle and every evening at sundown I would spray it onto my plants. Works wonders. I use it every year in my pumpkin patch as well and have saved many plants that already had the powdery mildew. Definately give it a try!
Would love some advice. I went away for a few days and my mint died. Should I keep on watering it now throughout the winter? I live in a hot climate so winter isn't super rainy at the moment.
Thanks in advance
