How to Grow Mint Plant - Harvest, Care & Maintain it Healthy

Looking for a perfect addition to your tea and drinks, then what goes better than mint? As it provides refreshing tastes to your drinks and is good to go with fruits, vegetables, and fizzy drinks well, especially in summers when you want to cool off your body as well. Thinking about planting a herb that provides good health benefits and is extremely aromatic? Then go for mint!

Mint is a most refreshing herb that is perfect for decorating your salads and compliments food very well. All you need to do is to grow a mint plant in the small container or pot of your gardener in your kitchen; it will also enhance the beauty of your kitchen. It is a fast-growing and spreading herb and can fill containers within a few days.

How to Grow Mint Plants?

It is an exquisite yet astonishing herb with thin and small leaves which become broader if the conditions provided are good and blooms with pink and white flowers. It provides a pleasant taste and sweet smell that can make a perfect addition to your garden. In this article, I will tell you my personal experience of growing mint plants in my garden along with the necessary care taken.

Growing Mint Plants

Mint provides a tasty addition to any food and drink, yet it is effortless to grow. There are multiple types of mint-like chocolate mint, spearmint, citrus mint, apple mint, Corsican mint, etc... All of them are so refreshing and give the perfect aroma and taste. There are two methods for growing mint in your garden, which I am going to tell you next,

Seedling

You can easily find out the seed of the mint plant from any seed store or nursery. They do have a lot of varieties available so that you can select according to your choice. The spearmint is mostly used in houses and for cooking purposes. Important steps for growing mint from seed are:

• Choose a location where sunlight is good, mostly in the morning time.
• Make the soil moist so that it is perfect for growing seeds and airy.
• Sow the seeds 2 feet away from each other so that every seed has space for proper growth.
• Sprinkle water on seed and provide good drainage as well.
• After a couple of days, you will observe the growth of the mint plant, which spreads throughout if not contained properly.

Cutting from Preplant

• You can use a runner for this process from any mint plant; make sure it has two nodes on it that can further sprout.
• Choose a location with good sunlight and moist soil with proper drainage.
• Water the soil so that it becomes softer.
• Take almost 6-7 inches of the root, leaving the stem upright.
• Burry the root in the soil till the stem.
• Water it after some days, and you will notice its growth.

Growing Mint Indoors

It is very easy to grow the mint plant indoors in any pot or bottle. Just like most people, I have planted one in my kitchen, too, like its beauty and pleasant smell will give you a soothing view within your kitchen. Following are the steps you will need to follow for growing it indoors.

• Select a pot you want to grow it in and check the drainage, providing indirect sunlight as it is enough for good growth.
• Place the runner at least 5 inches deep.
• The plant should be placed where the temperature is normal between 65F -70F.
• Keep the plant moist when it grows and brings baby leaves.
• Keep trimming and using the lush green new leaves as they will keep on sprouting.

Growing Mint Outdoor

A mint can be grown anywhere outside in any garden. You can grow it with your flower beds as it will enhance the beauty of your garden as well—some of the points that you should keep in mind before planting it outdoors.

• They grow extremely rapidly, so you need to put them in a pot or mesh that will constrain their growth.
• They cannot tolerate extreme temperatures, so put them in a little shade or where the morning sunlight can come.
• Soil should be healthy and nutritious for its rapid growth with a good drainage system.
• They will not allow other plants to grow and will spread like a weed, so for controlling them grow them in a pot and then place the pot in the soil.

Growing Mint In Pot

The mint plants can be grown in pots so that it becomes easy and convenient to transport them. There should be some steps that should be in mind before planting the mint plant in the pots, which include;

• Make the drainage hole so that the soil can remain moist and airy.
• Add soil with fertilizer in it, and half fill it.
• Place the seed or the runner cutting in it and immediately water that.
• Please place it in direct sunlight every day for a few hours.
• Keep trimming as it will help the herb flourish.

Where and When to Grow Mint Plant

Mint plants can be planted in containers or gardens, but they usually thrive in gardens with more space for growth. But before planting them in the garden, make sure to place them in a pot. Although they can grow in any weather, if you are doing it, select spring, or if you live in an area with summer, you can grow it easily. Make sure you provide optimum conditions for growth, and it will cover all the available land within no time. Also, if you've got pets you need to be careful of how your pet interacts with mint plants.

Conditions to Grow Mint Plant

For growing mint, you should check a few things to obtain a good quality of herb within a few days; the following measures should be taken for optimum growth of the mint plant.

• The soil should be fertile.
• Place the plant in pots with good drainage.
• Plants should be prevented from the extreme hot sunlight.
• Should be watered on time.
• Trim from the top for new growth.
• Place at the moist area.
• In perfect conditions, it will grow up to several inches.

Caring and Cutting of Mint Plant

The Mint plant is a delicate herb, yet it does not need much care as other ornamental or flowering plants require. Keep them under perfect conditions and let them grow; once they are grown excessively, you will need to do some cuttings and trimmings to keep them clean and avoid flowering of the mint. For this purpose, when you see the upper end of the plant growing, trim it from the top to increase its width. Also, make sure you give the plants proper light, water and temperature, otherwise mint plant might end up discoloring and dying.

Seeds of Mint Plant

The reproductive part of the mint plant is its flowering part which grows when the plant is fully mature. You can avoid its growth by trimming, but if you want to obtain seeds of mint, you can let it flower. These flowers are usually pink and white in color. Once the flowers have completely bloomed, they turn into pods containing seeds.

On drying, you can obtain these seeds by simply giving the jerky movements to the stems that had pods. You will notice small seeds dropping. Collect them if you want to grow the mint next season, or you can give it to your friend who is interested in gardening.

Soil

The soil required for the rapid growth of mint should be fertile and airy soil with good drainage as it will help the plant absorb nutrition and grow rapidly and effectively. Mint plants usually like soft soil but avoid excessive watering as well. Fertile soil with good conditions will help in the rapid growth of mint. Also, you can use fertilizers to make sure your mint plant grows healthy.

FAQs

Conclusion

If you are a mint lover and use it frequently in your drinks and salads, you certainly need to grow it at your own place then. I am glad that you came across this article, and it would help you learn how to grow mint plants at your home. I hope you can definitely grow it now if you have completely understood the method above. Enjoy your plantation!