Mint

Great in plant pots or a windowsill herb garden.

Buy mint as a young plant in the spring. Be careful, it spreads fast so make sure to keep it away from other plants in its own pot. Plant in multi-purpose compost and give it plenty of water, especially in warmer weather.

When the plant stops flowering in the summer, trim the flowered shoots back to about 5cm above the level of the compost to keep the plant healthy. 

Top tips

– Harvest regularly to stop the mint becoming hard and ensure fresh new shoots keep growing.

– Mint can be picked between late spring and mid-autumn, and will die over winter.

– Best used fresh but you can preserve mint by picking the shoots, washing well, then chopping into small sections and freezing in as an ice cube in an ice cube mould. When winter comes you can carry on enjoying your home-grown mint by defrosting the mint ice cubes as and when needed! 

– Infuse in water to make your own mint tea or make a mint sauce for your next roast lamb. 

Key timings

Our experience

It turns out you can’t really go wrong with mint! As long as you water, trim and pick it regularly, it’ll be happy.