Seven Easy Herbs - Mint

Mint, the forever plant

Kitchen gardens filled with herbs delight gardeners of all ages and for many, the joy of simply walking outside to harvest fresh, herbicide-free herbs for a recipe goes beyond satisfying. Herbs introduce children to both gardening and cooking, possibly encouraging them to eat healthier but also to explore their garden. Some herbs are food sources for butterfly caterpillars.  Many tend to attract bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds. Seven commonly grown herbs reward chefs and gardeners with their ease in growing and their fresh flavors.  

Attracting Bees

Mint, the groundcover

Once you plant mint in the ground it will be difficult to remove. Underground runners send this plant all over your garden, but it’s one of the first herbs to appear in early spring. Mints grow best in cooler seasons and prefer shady areas. It’s a groundcover that fills spaces where nothing else grows. It’s a container plant for locations that require well-mannered plants. 

The Escape Artist

After the great escape you may never be rid of it. In my hot climate (Houston, TX) this grows best in January - May and returns with a vengeance in the late fall. In my Illinois home it grew all summer in a shaded garden and along the driveway. If ignored, and not deadheaded, this sent up shoots of fragrant lavender flowers that drew millions of bees. I always allow this to happen in remote gardens.

Mint playing with snapdragons

Mint grew insanely in that Illinois garden. In Houston my mint began growing in a container and I failed to monitor the plant. It escaped.  This is considered a hardy perennial in most plant zones. It likes organic soil and gardeners with sandy soil might have difficulty getting this established. (Consider a container planting.)

Mint is a wanna-be groundcover with survival strategies designed for taking over gardens. For that reason, this is likely the easiest of all herbs to grow. If you have a large shady area and you don't mind it being overrun with mint (because nothing else will grow), this is a plant to consider - especially if your plant zone isn't extremely hot. 

• Germination from seed is unreliable, but small plants quickly spread.  • Mint roots where the stems touch the ground. It sprouts from runners. The runners expand this almost as aggressively as bamboo.  • While this grows best in moist, rich slightly acidic soil in shaded gardens, my experience is that if you give it a garden it will take over in all but the harshest conditions.  • Harvest with scissors or Zyliss Herb Snippers (the design makes it easy to scrape leaves off the square-shaped stems).

My mint garden in Illinois was along the driveway where it received minimal moisture, nearly full sun, and the soil was wretched. The plant took over my driveway strip and encroached on my neighbor's yard.

There are a variety of mint flavors. The peppermint (Mentha x piperita) and spearmint (Mentha spicata) are the most popular for tea, mint julep and mohitos. Most grow in hardiness zones 3 to 8, but check varieties sold by local plant stores. I’m in zone 9 and I’ve no problem growing spearmint. 

From Garden to Kitchen

Mint in early spring

In the spring fresh green leaves appear. Snip the stems herb snippers, about an inch or so above the ground and remove the leaves for your recipes. These are refreshing with a little fresh lime juice in bubble water.  Another favorite use is to combine a tablespoon into plain yogurt with a diced garlic clove and one quarter of chopped (peeled) cucumber. This serves as a refreshing topping for a burger made with ground lamb, or as a vegetable dip. Every spring I search for new recipes that use mint.

The remaining seven easy-to-grow herbs are: oregano, basil, sage, thyme, rosemary, and parsley. Not all are grown as perennials. I’ll have more to say about these later.