Mint… it is delicious, and it gets around. It is a promiscuous plant, and don’t we love that? All it wants to do is spread the lurve…and plus it's great for cocktails.
It is hands-down one of the easiest plants to grow too. But don’t be tempted, like we have done in the past, and plant it directly into the ground. You see, it truly does love to spread the love and it will spread it and spread it and spread it. Like a goddamn wildfire.
So, like any plant that spreads, it definitely is one to contain in a pot or a raised garden bed with nothing else in it. Invasive in nature it will take over the space of whatever other plants grow, and no plants can handle that much aggressive competition.
How to grow:
You can establish a mint plant via various ways : growing from seed, dividing up established plants or from cuttings. But because it’s so evasive, we think the best way is to ask a friend for a cutting and place it in a glass of water on a windowsill after removing the majority of the leaves apart from a few on top, then wait for about a month for it to establish lovely white roots out of the stem. When those roots are approx. 5 – 10 cms long, place in a pot with good organic potting mix, and it will grow like mad if you remember to water it often.
Mint loves living in fertile soil in light shade conditions, which allows the roots to remain moist but not waterlogged. So, it also needs good drainage. It goes well in full sun but you need to keep the water up (especially in drier months), so we recommend it for a semi-shade position for it to really shine.
Keeping your mint plant bushy rather than leggy is easy. All you need to do is give it a nice trim with your scissors every few months to retain a rounded shape. You can use those cuttings in your meals or to give to friends to grow their own.
Even though it is a perennial we advise you to lift and replant your mint every 4 or so years to give it a rejuvenation. And keep an eye on it if it is sending runners out of the pot’s draining holes. If so, it might be time to repot. Mint is frost tolerant, but does die back over Winter, so you can trim it down if it gets leggy and lacklustre at that time of year and it will bounce back in Spring with some additional sprinkles of Munash Organic Rockdust and a good gulp of diluted Munash Organics Renew (our liquid feed fertiliser).
So many minty Choices…
Apart from traditional mint, there’s many others to consider growing. 600 varieties in fact! Pick your favourites and create a Minty Melange. Some to choose from include Spearmint, Applemint, Wild Mint, Peppermint, Water Mint, Pinneaple Mint, Chocolate Mint, Licorice Mint, Grapefruit Mint, Lavendar Mint, Pennyroyal just to name a few.
Minty Meals:
Mint is of course a winner in many many of our meals, especially a Sunday roast. You can DIY mint sauce, add it to Greek yoghurt with some berries, add to a fruit salad to make it pop, brew up a mint tea for digestion, whip up a minty salad dressing, add to smoothies, and goes well with any number of sweet and spicy dishes. So, get creative!
Nature’s Toothpaste:
It is also nature’s toothpaste (along with parsley), so if you’re heading out the door on a date or a special business lunch, pick a sprig for a chew to ensure 100% breathy confidence. How does it do this? Its magical properties fight off bacteria in your mouth which causes bad breath, and the chlorophyll present in mint helps remove the odour-causing bacteria from your teeth. And it leaves a delicious minty-fresh taste behind.
Heathy Benefits:
It is also known to improve cold symptoms, decreased breastfeeding pain, aids our brain function and indigestion, is super helpful to sufferers from Irritable Bowel Syndrome and is rich in vital nutrients for our health.
It also has to be said it’s an utter gamechanger in cocktails and mocktails, on cakes, or just a nice thing to have in your water jug for a crisp cool refreshing drink.
Did you know that mostly oil glands live underneath the mint leaves not on top? Test it out next time you are near your minty friend.