Mint

Mint is one of the most welcome herb that we use in many dishes and also for the well known healthy tea that we drink on the cold winter evenings.

Mint is a hardy herbaceous perennial that can be grown in a sunny place, in poor, moist soil. It may become invasive, so it is better to plant it in sunken containers to restrict its growth. Start doing this in spring.

For this type of planting you can use large pots, old buckets or heavy-duty plastic bags but don't forget to make drainage holes at their base. Dig a hole large enough so you can sunk in your container, place the container in the hole after you made the drainage holes then fill the container with a loam and compost mixture. Lift and divide the plants keeping young, vigorous pieces, then plant them in the containers, firming in well. Add enough compost to conceal the pot's rim and then water well. Replant and replace the compost in the containers every spring because if not replenished, nutrients are quickly depleted and the plants may deteriorate.

Another way is to grow mint in pots, right at your back door, so it will be to your hand whenever you need it.

If you choose to grow mint directly in the soil in your garden, keep it under control by lifting and dividing it before it become too large and takes over your garden. Make sure you remove as much as possible of the roots that are spreading out from the plant, because if they are left in the soil they will continue to grow. New small divisions can be replanted in the same place or elsewhere in the garden.

Mint can be propagate by stem tip cuttings in spring or summer, by division in spring or autumn, or by sowing seeds in spring.

Harvest mint by picking leaves before the plant flower and dry or freeze them for later use.