MINT: The easiest herb you can grow!! (If I can grow it, you SURE can!)

in #gardening7 years ago

It is really hard to kill this plant, ya'll!

Mint is a fabulous beginner plant to start off with.
No matter what you are growing, a veggie patch, herb or flower garden, you should plant some mint as well!
That way, when your rosemary shrivels up and dies, or your tomatoes get eaten up by hornworms, rest assured, that mint plant will be thriving as if to say, 'LOOK! I am so green and healthy! Don't worry, you CAN grow things, don't give up!

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This is my Sweet Mint plant. I bought it at the store because I NEEDED to grow SOMETHING! Had the pre-spring itch, you know... It has taken off and even though I keep pinching off leaves to eat, it still looks great!

Why grow mint?!

Well, even if munching on leaves of minty freshness does not appeal to you, you should consider growing it due to its health benefits! You can eat the leaves straight off the plant, chop them into other foods, or make mint tea!
Mint can help with:

  • OBVIOUSLY it is a fantastic breath-freshener!
  • Aids in digestions! (This is one of the main ways we use it. My husband has digestive issues from time to time, and chewing a few leaves of mint helps him immensely!)
  • Help with nausea and headaches! That glorious minty odor of freshly crushed leaves helps relieve them right away.
  • Depression and Fatigue relief! The scent of the mint may be enough to rejuvenate your tired brain and give it the pick-me-up it needs.
  • Skin care! The juice from mint is a great skin cleanser! It can sooth irritated skin and help with infections and itchiness! You can even apply it to pimples to help with acne. The cooling sensation of the juice is also helpful with bugbites, and the anti inflammatory properties of it can bring down swelling.
  • It can help you lose weight! Mint is a stimulant, and when stimulating your digestive enzymes, it increases the amount of fats and nutrients being absorbed by your body, rather than storing the fat, contributing to weight gain.

Now you know you need mint in your life, right!?

Growing mint is easy!
Now, mint is an invasive plant, so honestly, putting it the in the middle of your flower bed will probably be a bad idea. Unless it is in a pot! They actually grow quite well in buckets with holes for drainage in the bottom.

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  • They like plenty of sunshine, but do fine in partial shade as well.
  • The thing about mint is it loves water! You will want to water it often.
  • If you are growing it in the ground, space your plants about 2ft apart.
  • Keep pinching off the ends of the stems to encourage growth of tender leaves and to keep the plant bushier.

That's about it!
Mint is super easy. It is not particular. You can mess up quite a bit and it will keep on growing chipper as can be!
Of course, keep an eye out for pests like aphids and flea beetles, but mint is so sturdy, it doesn't tend to have much issue with these.
It will send off shoots and try to spread right out of your container. You can let it spread, or cut these off if you like. If you cut them off you can root them into new pots and BAM, you have created new plants!

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There are MANY different kinds of mints to choose from!

  • peppermint
  • spearmint
  • chocolate mint
  • sweet mint
  • lavender mint
  • horse mint
  • cat mint

The list goes on... There are literally hundreds!
Personally, I think you should try them all!

Word to the wise:
I have heard, (but have not proved this true myself), that if you keep multiple varieties of mint together in one patch, they will eventually take on the flavors of the others. If you want to keep your flavors pure, you may want to keep them in different areas!

Now get out there and grow some mint!!

Thanks for reading, Steemians, be blessed!

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It is true about the taking on each others flavors. There are actually a lot of plants that you should not plant different varieties near each other. Squashes and cucumbers are two off the top of my head, would have to check my notes for the others. It has to do with cross pollination, which is in effect, making hybrid plants.

Also, just wanted to let you know, I will add your post to sotall.org in just a short while. I am tied up with a couple of things at this moment.

Good to know!
I know about cross pollination, but it seems like that would only affect the seeds produced by the pollination, not the plant itself! How strange.
I know peppers are like this. You do not want to plant spicy and sweet peppers near eachother or they will all end up spicy. (This one I DO know from experience.)
I wonder how it works!

Once the plant reproduces, you don't have pure (whatever type of)mint growing in that patch any more. It can be either one, or a sort of mixture of the two. Cross species pollination on these types of plants rarely produce seeds that are an exact match of either parent, but the are also not an exact mixture of the two. You never know exactly what is going to come up. But if you are talking about within the same year as planting, it is probably more of a smell issue. A large portion of our ability to taste comes from our ability to smell. Having two close together means you are smelling two different smells mixed. I am not the world greatest expert on this, but that is what I have been taught and it makes sense to me.

Yes, I meant the plant itself. According to different internet articles, the mints will take on the flavor of their neighbors. Pollination non necessary. I have not tried it to see how true, or how close the plants need to be.
The only thing I have done is plant peppers too close together. I had heard you should not do that, but I didn't care, partly because I kind of didnt believe the flavor of the pepper could change just by being near another variety, and party to see if it were true.
Sweet varieties that I had successfully grown before to be sweet were spicy! Not as spicy as their jalepeno and cayenne neighbors, but definitely had a kick!
Interesting stuff! Im sure there is some deep-down biological reason for it all, but I do not know what it is!

I attempted mint for the first time last season... I didn't have luck. I ended up planting more. But this year I WILL PREVAIL! I will grow mint and spearmint. I will be the Mint Queen!

WHAT?! You managed to kill it?!
What on earth....
Better luck this year! Did you try from a plant or seeds? I find it much easier starting off with an established plant. The seeds can be tricky...

LOL- yeah I know!
I started from seed. I will be doing it again this year

If you start with one small plant it will eventually take over your whole yard. I picked up a few small ones for Free at Walmart at the end of planting Season and now my entire yard is covered in Mint.

That's brave of you, LOL!
I have not had luck with the seeds, but then again, I only did a couple of half-hearted attempts. I was impatient and just went to the store and bought a couple plants, and it was so much quicker that I forgot about trying the seeds anymore.
Lazy of me... I know. ;)

Do you have cats? Some cats love it (and will kill it) some cats hate it and wouldn't touch it with a 10 foot pole.

I love mint, and agree with you totally about it is hard to kill. It spreads like wild fire at my old house! I pull up the root, and next summer, I got more than I need. I have tried it in container once I moved to the condo, but it didn't grow too healthy.

I also love chocolate mint, and I made tea with it! It was definitely the best tea there is with a touch of honey.

Ooo! I love chocolate mint also! Had a plant in my herb bed until the goats ate it...
Ill have to get another one and put it in the greenhouse. 😁

I have never heard of mint varieties taking on the flavors of others planted near them, I am going to have to test this when spring comes! My father gave me a valentines day gift one year of a potted mint mix. Chocolate mint and mojito mint. I planted these tiny little tendrils outside in a contained bed (between our house and the concrete walkway and thank goodness I did because they have taken over! Both varieties are trying to find any way they can to traverse the walkway and get to the other side! Its amazing how much these two mint plants have grown. Our bees love them!

Fantastic!
What a nice gift!

If you test it out, I'd love to find out if it is true or not! :D
I only have one variety of mint right now, but I think when I get more, I may have to test this as well!

I always have mind in my garden! I love a fragrant garden and it is nice when you brush against it or the dogs walk over it, the minty smell gets released. I am struggling though with white fly
I am definitely following you hope to learn much more. Thank you so much =)

Thank you for the kind comment!
An organic way to get rid of pests like those is to mix water with a little soap and neem oil in it. Shake well and spray down the plant. White flies are such pests!

Yes they are a pest. I will definitely try your mixture. Thanks!
I would really appreciate it if you could find a little time to go have a look at my blog. I am rather new here and would love any comments or suggestions.
Warm regards

Sure thing. :)

I somehow managed to kill an established mint plant that was in a pot. Don't ask me how. On a positive note we have catnip that is STILL alive from last spring. One single stem survived our week of freezing temps

What?! You managed to kill one?!
LOL
I gave an established plant to my neighbor and she killed it too. Im not sure why, but I suspect the pot was too small...
Catnip is on my list of things to grow! Maybe this year...

Yah.... I have no idea how I did it. That was a few years back. Hoping to put in some window boxes this year and I'll try again!

Bah ha ha, good luck!!

Keep a close eye on it, they like to creep and pop up everywhere ;) But I love mint! I have a patch that spread to an area that gets moved. Every time I go over it the aroma wafts up into the air and my nostrils 😍

Have you ever heard of Purple Dead-Nettles?

Yes! When I was a kid, this plant was everywhere! At the time, I did not know what it was, or I would have grazed on it non stop...
Yes, it can get out of control easily.
If it does, you can yank it up and feed it to rabbits, chickens and goats though! Gives them minty-fresh breath! ;)

I started with just a little plant by my porch, now it’s here and there all over my front yard. My favorite thing about it is when we mow or even just walk over it, the smell gets all stirred up in the air!

Yes! My grandma used to have a huge wild patch of mint near her house, and we would love to run through it for this reason! ♥

Yes, awesome. I Love Mint and my entire yard has been overtaken with Mint. It spreads like crazy. I love going for a walk and the whole yard has the beautiful scent of Mint.

Haha!
I had a huge mint bush in a fenced off area of our yard. It was spreading willy nilly!
We decided to take down those fences though, and the chickens and goats have made it their mission to destroy it.
They were successful. :(
It would be cool if it would spread over the yard, but those pesky critters wont let it.
That's okay, my greenhouse mint will survive!

I will definitely grow this when I have my own house! Maybe it'll help my nausea and headaches!

Great idea! You can even grow it indoors in a pot. 😁

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