Tasting mint is just like as breathing a fresh air, reminding us to candy can during the free days, delicious and refreshing drinks and even clean mouths. Mint is a wonderful plant which is also best considered as herb. Some people love mint more than they actually need for a regular basis.
What about growing mint yourself now? Is it possible? Why not? The simple guidance on how to grow mint from seeds we are going to share now will enable you to grow the herb easily and simply especially indoors and in pots.
Wondering how? Here is what you check out!
How To Get Mint Seeds
Nowadays, everyone can get anything easily. If you start gardening from seeds yet you don’t know how to get the seeds, think simple. Purchase it!
To have the most successful mint-planting and harvesting, the best way to do is to find the right seed. The best seed type is usually available in the store that specializes to sell seeds for gardening. Find it in your local store.
This way, consider purchasing the seeds from a reputable companies as well as at reasonable prices. Keep in mind that quick delivery is also a must. Amazon is the best place to purchase anything online. It is a trustable online store.
Recommended Types of Mint To Grow
There are commonly five types of mint that are highly recommended to grow based on its easiness to grow and care. Those are peppermint, spearmint, chocolate mint, lemon balm and apple mint. These are all offering the greatest amount of benefits.
Peppermint
Peppermint is the common type of mint that is easily grow in the world. Most grocery store sells this mint. For the health benefits, peppermint is great for cold and flu, digestion, blood pressure and blood sugar. Peppermint comes with the strong smell and high oil concentration.
Unlike other types of mint, peppermint is not aggressive, making it good and proper enough to grow in pots.
Spearmint
Like peppermint, spearmint is also a famous type of mint that is almost easy to grow on the globe. You can also easily find it in your local grocery store. Spearmint offers a great use for gas, diarrhea and gall bladder problems.
This mint grows 12 up to 24 inches high and wide. Different from peppermint, spearmint is really aggressive. You need a larger pot to grow it well or a garden bed to plant it.
Also read: How to Grow Long Stem Roses
Chocolate Mint
In addition to the tips on how to grow mint from seeds, chocolate mint can be well-chosen for seedling. Chocolate mint is one of the mint types that becomes a favorite option for the Caribbean Island, the southern part of the U.S. This mint is usually used by the gardeners to add flavor to both alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks.
Chocolate mint enhances not only bile flow but also easy digestion. Further, the mint is good to use as essential oil and ingredients to make ice cream. Chocolate mint is favorable for its attractive, fragrant and extremely easy to grow. Like other type of mint, this one is recommended to grow in pots or raised in garden beds.
Lemon Balm
For most gardeners around the world, lemon balm is also the most widely grown. It is just perfect to help solve the digestion problem, cramps, headache and even toothache as well as colic.
This mint is easy to grow aggressively. You can start planting it in a pot or container. You can also spread its seed to your garden bed.
Apple Mint
Though apple mint is not as popular as other mint types, it is extremely easy to grow. It is mostly used for salads, jams, potpourri and tea. Further, apple mint is not as aggressive as spearmint. It would be beautiful to grow in hanging basket but pots are also good to use.
How To Grow Mint Indoors
There are several things you need to prepare along with the seven basic steps on how to grow mint from seeds indoors. Follows each step carefully to grow mint well in your indoor garden.
Things To Prepare
Prior to start planting the mint, prepare mint seeds, pot/container. Soil, water, usual type of gardening tools and fertilizer. This way, you can optionally use compost instead of chemical fertilizer. Just make sure that these materials are ready whenever you need to reach them.
Steps
1. Planting preparation
Prepare your pot or container that provide a good drainage. The ideal mint pot/container should be 10 inches deep or more and 8 inches in diameter. Pick up the square pot with 6 inches wide and 20 inches deep.
Put the soil into the pot and locate it in an east-facing window either in spring or summer. Later, locate it in west-facing window both in the fall to the winter. This way, mint doesn’t need too much direct sunlight. Notice, it can grow well in a situation with the low-lights. This herb will thrive indoor when your home temperature is around 60 to 75 F.
2. Prepare Your Seeds
Preparing seeds doesn’t always require you to soak them. You may do it but you don’t have to. However, if you want to germinate the seeds fast, soaking is recommended just the night before planting. Soak them in a warm water but not so hot. You know the hot temperature will just damage the seeds.
Finished soaking the seeds, you need to leave them in a paper towel and plant them in the following day.
3. Plant the Mint
Simply and directly, plant the mint into the soil in the pot. Plant them ¼ inch deep into the soil and bring it to receive sunlight for germination. Due to the tiny size of the seeds, you can just spread them evenly but make sure you keep them 6 inches apart once they grow.
4. Water the Mint
Water the mint is a must-do things after the plantation. Water them in the morning. Water at the base since it may develop fungal disease if you water through the leaves. Watering the herb will keep the soil moist.
5. Take Care Of Your Mint
Just because mint needs no fertilization doesn’t mean that you don’t give them fertilizer. You can still fertilize it with the balanced fertilizers at a half strength once in several months.
Keep in mind, never let your mint to produce a flower. This is because flowering can change the plant’s hormones, making the mint tasteless. Every time you find a flower bud, remove it.
One more; trimming the mint regularly is a good way to promote its growth.
6. Harvest Your Mint
It takes 70 days for the mint plant to reach its maturity. However, harvesting is always possible once you see the leaves in abundance. It is recommended that you harvest the mint leaves in the morning since it would be more flavorful. The younger the leaves, the more fragrance.
Simply use scissors to cut the mint leaves off their stems. Remember, don’t harvest this herb more than 1/3 of the plant. Don’t cut them deeply either more than once. Harvest only in its growing season.
7. Enjoy the Mint
Believe it or not, it is just excellent to add mint to so many kinds of food and drink. This way, the mint can be a great addition to hot or cold tea, alcoholic drinks, pasta dishes, salad and roasted meat.
Is your mint producing more leaves than you need? Don’t go too panic! Harvest them and store them in the fridge. Freezing the leaves in water and pop them into your drinks to add such a slight fresh taste.
Also read: How to Grow Shallots Indoor and Outdoor
How To Grow Mint In Pot
how to grow mint from seeds in a pot is as difficult as you imagine. Considering that mint is an attractive and useful herb along with the incredible fresh aroma, most gardeners plant it indoors in a pot or container.
Growing mint in a pot is a great option if you want an aggressive natural plant while you don’t have space for raising herb garden. Potted mints can be placed nicely on a rack in your kitchen, making it reachable whenever you need the leaves to add flavor to your food and drink.
How To Take Care of Mint in Pot
Growing mint from seeds in a pot is always possible though the seeds germination is undependable. If you want to make a trial, make sure that your indoors potted mints receive enough sunlight and warmth.
If you don’t prefer planting from seeds, there is another option. You can easily purchase a small mint plant at a nursery that focusing on selling herbs. In general, this is the easiest way of growing mint plant in pot.
Here are the steps to do so:
- First, fill the pot or container with a quality potting mix. This way, any types of pots are possible as long as they are designed with a good drainage hole in the bottom. Further, the pots have at least 12 inches in diameter.
- Second, mix fertilizer with the soil before the mint is planted.
- Plant the mint plants every spring.
- Don’t overfeed the mint growing in pot since too much fertilizer will diminish the mint flavor.
- Once the mint plants are planted safely in the pot, locate the pot in the area where the plants receive enough sunlight and warmth. This way, mint will be fine with the kittle shade but grow well in sunlight.
Potted mints are usually dry since the soil is also dry. However, it will not lead to the drought since it last only for a short periods. If you plant to grow the mint in a hot summer day, make sure you check the pot regularly during the dry weather.
- Pinch the tips of the mint daily for a fuller growth promotion. If you see the plant spindly, trim it. This way, trimming the potted mint plants safely above the soil is recommended.
- Remove the flower bud every time you see it. Letting the flower to bloom will just decrease the mint quality and potency.
How To Harvest Mints
Now that you know all about how to grow mint from seeds  including the mints types, how to grow it from seeds in pot and other related information, it is the time to note how to harvest mint. Will you harvest the mint leaves every time you need them? It is possible but other recommendation is also possible to try.
Harvesting mint leaves must know the size of cutting the leaves out of stems. For the bigger harvest, it is suggested that you harvest the leaves when you see a flower bud. Or, when you smell the flavor intensively, cut them about the first and the second set of mint leaves.
In the process about, remove the yellowing yellow leaves which are just lower. This is aimed to promote the busier growth. Thus, harvest the mint leaves every season. This recommendation is considered typical for herb like mint.
Problems When Growing Mint
There are definitely some problems when you are growing mints either in a pot or in a garden bed. Considering that mint is a rugged plant, the young leave is vulnerable to blackflies, whiteflies, spider mites and snails as well as slugs.
Final Words
Conclusively, mint is one of the incredible plant to grow for your herb. Mint does not only taste good but also offers some big benefits especially as a flavor addition to food and beverage. It contains medical properties, too. Further, its smell will be able to help repel the attracting bees and pests.
Mints is easy and simple to grow from seeds indoors. It is even the easiest herb to grow in pots. Hopefully, you could enjoy this tutorial and successfully grow the plant indoors. If you find this information helpful, just don’t hesitate to share it with your friends or relatives.
