MINT
Mint is a perennial herb with around 25 species including spearmint and peppermint. The different species are all very similar and most require the same growing conditions. They are all aromatic and have square stems. My brother and I like mint laced water. We throw a bunch into the pitcher of water. It goes well with adding a couple of slices of lemon.
Mint is used in drinks and cooking such as in lamb dishes. It is used in cosmetic and medicinal products.
Mice dislike the smell of peppermint. Maybe restaurants should place pots of peppermint in their kitchens and back alleys.
Mint leaves are serrated, elliptical and opposite (2 leaves arise from the stem at the same node on opposite sides). Mint plants have tiny purple, pink, or white flowers.
Mint plants are easy to grow and it is not that easy to kill them. They grow in both shade and full sun, in moist but well-drained, soil. Add compost or fertilizer around once every couple months into the soil, not on the leaves. Water mint around once a day or every two days to keep the soil moist. Touch the soil to check whether it is moist.
Mint can grow vigorously if you do not give them a haircut. If left unattended, they can sprawl 4-feet wide in just 1 year. This will not be so much an issue in an urban setting as planting in the pots will constraint them. An idea is to plant mint in hanging pots due to it being a spreader plant.
You can Grow Mint in many different ways
You can take around 15 -20 cuttings from the mother plant. Cut the stems below the node (node is where the leaves emerge), around 4-5 inches from the top. Then, remove the bottom leaves by cutting them off with a pair of scissors or just pull them off gently. Place the cuttings around 1-2 inches deep into the soil (I buy organic soil from the local gardening shops and mix it with homemade compost or store-bought fertilize), so that the cuttings remain intact. Make a hole and insert the cuttings into the hole. Repeat with the rest of the cuttings. Add water to the soil. Keep the pot in the sunlight, but not direct sunlight. Water daily and new growth will appear in around 10 days. In about 30 days, you will have a full-grown pot of mint.
The second way to propagate mint is to root the cuttings in the water. Place the above cuttings into a glass of water and then place the glass by the windowsill in the bright sun. In a few weeks' time, you will see roots. Then, plant them into the soil.
The third way is to transplant a bunch of stems with the roots intact (trim off the tops a bit) from your current pot and then plant them into a new pot of new soil with compost. The plant will grow faster as the roots are already fully formed. However, this method is messy and especially since mint roots can spread out, you can end up having soil everywhere by the time you are done.
Lastly, you can sow organic mint seeds in seedling trays or in a pot. I add the seeds on the top of the soil mix (store-bought organic soil mixed with home-made compost or store-bought fertilizer) followed by watering the soil to make it moist and then covering the sowed seeds with more of the soil mix. Place them in sunlight for about 4 hours a day and then in the shade ensuring the soil is always moist. I have seen growers cover the seedlings with a recyclable plastic to keep the moisture in. Mint plants are fast growers. In about 10 days, you will see new sprouts. But they sprout at different rates so be patient as some will sprout later. Once you see there are 2-4 leaves in about 30-40 days, you can plant them into containers.
Harvesting
The younger leaves have more flavour than the older ones, so harvest them then. You can harvest mint plants 3-4 times in one growing season. You can also just pick the leaves as you need them.
Mint leaves can keep when frozen and dried. We dry them in our food dehydrator speeding up the process compared to air drying in our humid climate.