Garden Mint Guide

Mint, with its bright, pungent, awakening flavor, is one of the easiest and fastest herbal plants to grow. Peppermint has many uses. Its fresh green leaves can be added to: salads, ice cream and hot tea. It is a low-calorie and flavorful addition to a simple glass of still or soda water. Mint is a perennial plant and once you plant it once, it will become a permanent resident of your garden. Growing mint will also benefit you and your loved ones.

Useful properties of mint

Mint is a real storehouse of vitamins and minerals for human health. It contains: vitamin C, various B vitamins, magnesium, calcium, betaine, oleanolic and ursular acid. It can help in: preventing colds, stabilizing the heartbeat, relieving various spasms and pain, maintaining water balance, dulling hunger, improves digestion, soothes and relaxes.

Growing mint in a pot

There are three ways: 1) If you want to grow mint from seeds, then you have to be patient, because the seeds sprout slowly and not in the best way; 2) Growing from the shoots of the stems, they will take root much faster and go into growth; 3) You can also transplant the mint plant from the open field into a pot. It follows from this that growing mint on a windowsill is no more difficult than growing other crops within a room. Your main task is to provide it with sufficient light, optimal air temperature and not overdo it with watering. Before wintering, you need to cut the stems very short so that it is at rest.

Also make sure the plant is away from items that could dry it out, such as a heater.

Growing mint and outdoor care

Mint grows well in sunny and partial shade. The soil for growing mint outdoors should be rich in trace elements and slightly damp. In general, mint can adapt to many types of soil, but its leaves will have a better flavor if fertilized periodically. Cutting the leaves frequently will keep the mint attractive. As with other flowering herbs grown solely to harvest their leaves, their flowers should be harvested as they emerge to stimulate stronger and stronger growth. Weed and unwanted grass around the mint. Otherwise, weeds can reduce yields and affect the aroma of the leaves.

Mint pests

This plant with a pleasant aroma also has lovers from the world of insects. For example: 1) A mint flea or a jumper beetle are small beetles (about two centimeters in length), beige, they eat the delicate tissues of the leaf plate, but do not bite through the lower epidermis, their "bite" is round or slightly uneven. Mint is a great danger to young plants. They are activated during dry and hot weather, then mint may have a lack of moisture and it is most vulnerable. Such an attack can lead to stunted growth or death of the plant; 2) The mint leaf beetle is a very small bug (it grows one millimeter in height), has a bright green color with a brown tint. This type of pest prefers essential oil crops such as mint, melissa and other plants of this family. Their activity begins in the spring, at temperatures of fifteen degrees.They intensively feed on the juice of the mint foliage, which leads to the drying of the leaves: 3) The mint mite is the most dangerous pest for the mint plant. It is very small in itself, about fifty millimeters in length. It feeds on the sap from the tops of the plant, while feeding it produces a special liquid secretion, which leads to the death of new shoots of the plant. Vigorous activity begins in mid-May, it spreads very easily with the ground. For prevention purposes, the soil is dug up in the fall.

Growing mint and possible diseases

Diseases in mint are also present. For example, it can be: 1) Rust is a fungal infection, its development is promoted by high humidity, low air temperature, and an excess of nitrogen in the soil. Brown blotches appear on the lower part of the leaves, which then turn almost black. You can fight with the help of periodic spraying and prevention; 2) Powdery mildew - manifests itself as a white bloom on the leaves and stem of the plant, in the second vegetative stage of growth. As a result of its development, black spores appear on the plant. This disease develops due to wet and cool growing conditions. You can fight by spraying and digging the soil in the fall; 3) Verticillium wilt or wilt is a disease caused by a pathogenic fungus, which is strengthened in the root hairs. The leaves of the plant begin to turn black and it gradually dies. Control measures: observance of crop rotation, complete destruction of roots from the ground after harvest, replanting after a few years and only vilto-resistant varieties; 4) Anthracnose or white hazel - a fungal-type disease, manifests itself in the form of brown spots on the leaves, you can fight by spraying; 5) Spot or septoria - the disease manifests itself as brown spots with a black rim and a coating in the form of black dots on the leaves. Spraying; 6) Microplasma - a disease of the root system. Infected plants have growth retardation, changes in leaf color, and cessation of root development. It is required to destroy the infected plants, and transplant healthy ones to another place.

How to collect mint

Cut off the leaves and tops of the crop when the mint plants begin to bloom. Use fresh leaves straight away or freeze them to maintain a vibrant color.

How to dry mint

To dry the mint, you can hang a small bunch of stems upside down with a string or just evenly spacer on paper. That the stems and leaves are dry enough can be determined by their fragility.

How to store mint

After drying, the leaves must be separated from the stems. It is recommended to store them in sealed bags or containers.

What about catnip?

Catnip is a slightly different plant, albeit from a related family. It grows in much the same way as the herbal mints described here, but it tastes much more appealing to your cat than it does to you. Mint can be dried or used fresh. Many species of this mint are grown in the garden for their attractive blue-purple, white or pink flowers.

Popular outdoor mint varieties

Apple mint (Mentha rotundifolia) - combines the fresh apple-mint flavor, which is to be expected from its name;

Chocolate mint (Mentha Chocolate) - has a delicate chocolate taste and aroma;

Growing mint in the open field: photo

Lemon mint (Mentha piperita citrata) - contains citrus echoes in its taste and aroma;

Peppermint (Mentha x piperita) - found in many varieties;

Field mint or meadow mint (Méntha arvénsis) - does not have a pungent odor and cooling taste;

Japanese mint (Méntha japonica) - considered the rarest species of this family, used in cosmetology and cooking;

Curly mint (Mentha spicata crispa) - no cooling effect;