The Best Way To Grow Mint Plants In Containers

The Best Way To Grow Mint Plants In Containers are also very tricky. They can grow out of control and creep into your other plants if you’re not pruning regularly. I highly recommend using separate pots to plant your mint. They also will grow back every year!

Planting Your Mint Plant in Containers or Pots

Best Way To Plant Mint Seeds In Containers

Plant your mint sees 1/4″ deep in a miracle Gro water control type soil mix. Keep them in a warm place indoors by a window. If there is a draft you may want to use heat mats for them. Do not soak the soil. Keep evenly moist. Overly wet leaves and soil will cause fungal diseases if you’re not careful. Mints are very aggressive plants and can take over very easily. Start planting your mint at the end of winter and move or transplant outdoors in early spring.

Caring For Your Mint Container Plants

• Harden them by placing them out just during the day to start your seedlings in the pots.
• Full sun is recommended but they will grow in the partial shade just as nice.
• Don’t overfeed or fertilize. If you add too much your mint plant may not taste as strong as it would if you just did basic care. Water and feed once every 4-6 weeks.
• Pinch back the leaves on a regular basis. If you see a flower then you waited too long and your plant could just go to seed right away.
• Keep them fairly moist and use soil that can help with overwatering or underwatering like Miracle-Gro.

Best Way To Grow Mint Plants In Containers Video

The Best Types of Mint Plants To Grow In Containers

• Chocolate Mint – Smells like chocolate, great for teas
• Peppermint – Strong Mint taste
• Spearmint – Great for Salads or teas
• Orange Mint – Another great one for teas, and is very tangy
• Pineapple Mint- Tastes sort of sweet, and smells like pineapple and mint
• Apple Mint – Combines the two flavors of apple and mint together

Pests and Diseases to Look For

Look for small orange spots called rust on the leaves. Remove these allow the plant to dry out before watering again. If your mint plants get stressed they could hinder spider mites, whiteflies, aphids, and mealybugs. To prevent these you should keep pruning your mint plats throughout the summer. They are great at keeping some insects away but they can also hinder others.

Harvesting Your Mint Plant

Once your stems are about 6 maybe even 8″ long you can start harvesting those ones. Do not harvest more than a third of the plant at once. They will go into shock and stunt the growth of your plant. Once you do notice the season is ending and your leaves are smaller, the stems get longer. Trim your plants back to one third at this time to encourage new growth.

Storing Your Fresh Mint Leaves

To make your leaves last longer, you can wrap them in a slightly dampened paper towel and wrap the leaves up into it. Place in a Ziploc bag but do not do it up all the way. You want some circulation or otherwise, it will wilt and turn moldy.

Drying Your Mint Leaves

Wash your leaves and drain them on a paper towel. You can dry them naturally or you can use a dehydrator or even your oven if you do not have one. Place the leaves on a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Heat the oven to 170 degrees or your lowest temperature. They should be dried within 2-4 hours.

Freezing Your Mint Leaves

I love using the ice cube method for mint. After washing and taking out all the leaves that are damaged. You can chop the mint and place in ice cube trays. Add enough water to cover them and freeze. After they are frozen you can place them in a freezer bag for use later on.

Nutritional Benefits of Mint

Mint is very rich in nutrients like Fiber, Vitamin A, Manganese, Folate, and Iron. Some of the health studies done proved that mint plants have menthol compounds that have been known to relax the muscles in the digestive tract and even alleviate IBS. It has also been known to help with brain function improving memory. Also, there are quite a few homeopathic remedies to relieve cold symptoms and improve breathing. Some methods of use are:

• Applying it to the skin can reduce pain.
• Eating dried mint leaves can eliminate bad breath.
• Inhaling certain essential oils with mint can improve brain function and cold symptoms.

Taking capsules or herbal supplements containing mint has been known to alleviate IBS.