How to Grow Mint

Whether you are wanting to start a medicinal herb garden, grow a seasoning for your lamb roast, or simply want fresh mint for your mojito, you’ll love growing mint as a beginner.

Mint has been known to boost immune systems, improve digestive and mouth health, manage stress, improve brain function, ease colds, along with a whole heap of other health benefits. It’s also packed with Vitamin C and B6, Iron, Calcium, Magnesium, and Potassium and it tastes great.

It’s super easy to grow too, in fact sometimes a little too easy!

When to grow mint

Mint enjoys a milder climate and likes a lot of water, so it tends not to do so well in the extremes of summer or winter preferring spring and autumn/fall. It’s a perennial plant so although it may die back during summer and/or winter, it will regrow again once the weather is more suitable. To extend the life of your mint during these times, you may like to grow it in a pot that can be moved inside during colder months or to a cooler spot in the height of summer.

Mint varieties

There are a few different mint varieties that you might like to experiment with:

· Spearmint – the one most of us know as mint, a very common variety

· Peppermint – ideal for teas, salads, sauces, and more – a distinctive taste

· Catmint – heat-tolerant, attractive to bees and cats as well as culinary and medicinal uses

· Korean Mint – flowering variety that attracts bees and has a liquorice/mint flavour

· Pennyroyal – low height ground cover which is highly aromatic and said to be a good insect repellent

How to grow mint from seeds

Mint loves rich soil that is moist and perhaps slightly acidic but it’s not overly fussy. It transplants very well so is ideal to plant in seed trays before planting out into larger pots or garden beds.

Seeds should be sown around 5-6mm or quarter of an inch deep and kept moist until they germinate after 10-14 days. Ideal soil temperatures for germination is 13-18°C or 55-65°F.

Raised garden beds are perfect for growing mint in – it ensures good drainage, and you can keep it contained. Birdies garden beds [in Australia get 5% off using discount code SSMEbird] are Mark’s raised beds of choice. Mint loves full sun or partially shaded spots as long as it gets around 6-8 hours of sunlight a day.

How to grow mint from cuttings

Mint propagates exceptionally well from cuttings – simply pull out a stem of mint ensuring you keep a root or two attached and place it in a jar of water and watch how quickly the roots develop.

Once you see a good amount of root growth, they are ready to plant out just as you would a seedling.

How to grow mint from seedlings

Mint seedlings are easily transplanted. Simply prepare your garden bed or pot with soil and be sure to space plants out as these babies have a tendency to spread out! Lightly water the seedling in with a seaweed solution such as the Plant Doctor’s Seaweed Secrets (use SSME10 for 10% off your order) to minimise transplant shock.

Mint doesn’t require more than a regular water to keep it alive and healthy although it’s great to give it a small feed of fertiliser once a year to give it a little boost but don’t overdo it or you could end up with leggy plants!

How long does mint take to grow?

Mint is a fast-growing plant and will be full sized in 60-90 days depending on your variety.

When to harvest mint

Once you’ve got enough leaves for what you need without completely stripping the plant, you can start harvesting – this could happen in a matter of a couple of weeks if conditions are right.

In fact, it’s good for the plant if you regularly pick the top off the end of the stems as this will generate new growth and encourage the plant to become bushier rather long and spindly. This will also stop the plant from going to seed.

Mark’s top tips for growing mint

Mint can become very aggressive and take over a garden bed. Grow mint isolated in a container or raised garden bed where it can’t invade surrounding areas. In warm climates mint might go dormant and die back completely during summer (this is normal) as it will reshoot again in autumn. You may also want to check out Mark’s video “5 tips How to Grow a Ton of Mint in one Container or Garden Bed” for more tips.

How did you go growing mint?

Mark and the Self Sufficient Me team love hearing about your growing success so leave a comment and a photo below to let us know how you went growing mint.

If you had some trouble growing mint or simply want to pick Mark’s brain about your self-sufficiency goals or projects, you may want to consider becoming a patreon for exclusive content and email access for less than a restaurant meal each month!