Plant of the Week: Mint
Friday March 28, 2008
Mint tends to be either loved or reviled, in the garden. Mint plants grow easily; often too easily. On the plus side, there aren’t many culinary herbs that will grow in shady areas and mint will sprawl pretty much anywhere. If you have room to let it roam, many mints make attractive and highly fragrant ground covers. However there are ways to get around mint’s aggressive nature. Some of the mint plants, like chocolate and pineapple mint, aren’t very cold hardy and die back in winter. And even if you only have room for a pot of mint on the back steps, it is such a versatile herb, being both sweet and savory, you’ll appreciate having it handy. All this adds up to plant of the week status for growing mint.
Photo Courtesy of Dan Shirley / stock.xchng. Used with Permission.
Comments
One more tip for growing mint: to avoid sprawl, plant mint in a plastic pot and sink the whole pot in the garden. You get the natural look without the disadvantages!
Barbara – thats a great suggestion! I’ve definitely done that before.
I also never thought of using mint as a lawn replacement but thats a great idea! I think our grassy areas are too small (i think it would creep into the beds to easily) but I’m going to recommend it to a friend of mine who is try to patch his large lawn. thanks!
A friend of mine recently gave me a pot of chocolate mint. I want to try to prepare something in the kitchen with it, any suggestions? This is my first time using fresh herbs. Thanks
I’ve used it mostly in desserts. I especially like it dried, crushed and mixed in with anything banana, like banana pudding or bread. I also read that it gives a nice twist to mint juleps.