Mint: varieties, growing and uses

How to create your own herb-growing space

Try five labelled pots rather than five plants together. Smell and choose without mixed runners. Compare using identical water glasses and leaf quantities. Chocolate mint names a fragrance association, not sweet chocolate milk without other ingredients.

Choose a suitable growing position

Put pots somewhere visited often but check drainage holes: pots on bare garden soil can still send roots out. Keep names visible as plants thicken. Separate pots per type reveal which recover quickly after cutting and which need longer.

From plant to kitchen

Not every flower must go. Let one pot flower for enjoyment and keep another for leaves. Cut young tips for gentle dishes and increase quantities to taste. Dry or rusty plants first need condition assessment; more fertiliser is no automatic answer.

Scent, flavour and use

Spearmint has the classic mint aroma; peppermint has a stronger cooling character. Apple and chocolate mint are chosen for their recognisable scent profiles, not actual fruit or sugar content.

Care, cutting and harvesting

Sun to light shade and sufficient moisture with drainage. Mint spreads by runners; also check roots growing out of drainage holes.

Remove old material and cut back during growth for fresh shoots. Divide an overcrowded clump; no fixed pruning day.

Take young tips during growth. Cut an established plant back if needed and give the new growth time.