As the medicinal culture, the representatives of the Labret were started to be cultivated before our era - dried fragments of mint were found in Egyptian tombs. Modern summer residents often use a gingerbread plant as a decorative addition in mixborders and rock gardens. But not everyone knows how to plant mint in a summer cottage correctly.
Features of growing crops
The plant is easily propagated by division of rhizomes. But it also gives seeds with which you can plant mint in the garden and even plant it at home.
Mint in the garden
In the open ground, most often you can see peppermint planting. It attracts summer residents with its spicy aroma. Therefore, the plant is used not only for medicinal purposes - along with lemon balm, mint was also used in cooking.
Note! The real decoration of rock gardens is a chocolate variety of culture. She also has high medicinal and nutritional properties. Fans of indoor plants should pay attention to the variety "Fun", adapted for growing in an apartment.
The culture is unpretentious and can develop in more than 10 years in one place, and at the same time it grows very quickly throughout the territory. Mint is a perennial plant species wintering in open ground. Only the root system remains in the soil, the stems die off to the cold.
Some summer residents prefer to change the location of planting vegetables. Therefore, mint is treated like an annual plant, every autumn removing bushes from the site and sowing in the spring in a new way, preventing it from reproducing independently.
Chocolate Mint
Flowering near the bushes is long - from July to the end of October. After that, mint seeds appear, which are collected and kept in a dark, dry place until spring. With the end of winter, you can immediately sow the crop on vegetable beds or flower beds.
Knowing how mint grows, the best option for breeding a crop for some regions is the seedling method.
Reproduction by seeds in the open ground
To grow mint from seed material should be prepared in advance to create comfortable conditions for development. Despite the fact that the plant reproduces well in the wild, the rules of agricultural technology applied in the garden will allow you to grow a beautifully flowering decorative shrub.
What you need to plant mint
Culture is unpretentious, but the soil is of great importance to it. The earth must be fertile, moisture-intensive, loose. Loams and sandstones without signs of bogging are best suited.
Important! The bed is prepared in advance - since the fall. During digging, a humus bucket is brought in for each square meter of the site. In the spring, a few days before planting peppermint in the country, earthen clods are smashed and the garden bed is leveled.
Where to plant mint
Despite frost resistance, culture loves light and warmth. Therefore, it prefers to settle in well-lit areas. Mint can normally tolerate a light openwork shadow. On plots, where the rays of the sun penetrate with difficulty, the plant looks inconspicuous - the leaves and flowers are fading, fading.
How to sow peppermint
Those in the garden know how to plant peppermint seeds in open ground. There are no special tricks here. All actions are reduced to compliance with the rules:
- in the excavated area, grooves are prepared with a chopper; they should be shallow (1-2 cm) so that small seeds sprout in a timely manner;
- the gap between the rows is maintained at 40-50 cm, so that later on the grown bushes do not interfere with each other;
- sowing is not necessary often, then less time will have to be spent on thinning.
The first shoots in the garden
When the seedlings appear, and 2 leaflets are formed on them, the extra seedlings can be removed, keeping the distance between the remaining about 35-40 cm.
Note! It is not worth throwing away the removed sprouts - they can be planted on another site (provided that the roots are not damaged).
How to fertilize mint
The first top dressing is made in the spring, when preparing the beds for planting. Use a set of mineral fertilizers (per 1 sq. M):
- 15 g. of nitrate, potassium chloride, superphosphate;
- humus - 3 kg;
- ash - 2 tbsp.
For the next 2 years, it is not worth adding organic matter or mineral water to the area sown with mint. Plants lack the nutrients available in the soil. In the fall of the 3rd year, rotted cow dung (per 1 sq. M 2 kg) is scattered on the bed (flowerbed).
Growing from seeds on a windowsill
Not in all regions the culture sown in open ground manages to gain a foothold in the area and adapt to winter. In order not to "puzzle" how to grow mint in the country from seeds, it is recommended to resort to the seedling method.
Mint on the windowsill
In this case, it is better to sow in early March, when there is still snow on the street. Neither seeds purchased nor hand-picked seeds need pretreatment. But it is important to know how to plant mint, because its seeds are small and fragile, requiring a delicate approach.
Landing algorithm
For growing mint at home, seedlings, containers and flower pots are suitable. Filling the container with a light fertile substrate, proceed to such actions:
- using a sharpened match or a toothpick, seeds are evenly distributed over the surface;
- then slightly pressed into the ground;
- irrigate the soil and seeds with warm water from the spray gun;
- the container is covered with a transparent film (glass can be used);
- put on a well-lit window sill;
Important! In the room it is necessary to maintain the air temperature of + 20-25 ° C.
- every day, the shelter is raised for 15-20 minutes so that the seedlings are not barred and rot;
- when airing, check the condition of the soil - it should be slightly moist.
After 2-3 weeks, seedlings will appear. After waiting for the first pair of these leaves, they make a pick. Taking pots with a diameter of at least 8 cm, young sprouts are planted in them in groups of 3-5 pcs.
When up to 5 pairs of leaf plates are formed on seedlings, mint is planted and cared for in open ground. If heat has not yet stabilized outside the window, then it is better to transfer seedlings to the beds in late May - early June.
In order for adaptation to take place under new conditions without problems, seedlings temper. A week before the relocation, the room temperature is gradually reduced. From the 4th-5th day, containers with sprouts are taken out for several hours to fresh air.
Peppermint seedling care
Perennial grows well in natural conditions, without requiring special care. If you want to have a beautiful flowerbed in the garden, then you should pay maximum attention to the seedlings. Mint grown from seeds requires more time and energy to take root in a permanent place than when propagated by layering or cuttings.
Features of mint care
| Modes | Description |
|---|---|
| Watering | Peppermint does not like drought, it withers away from the heat, loses its color. At high temperatures, watering is carried out daily in the evening. The amount of water should be moderate - waterlogging is more dangerous for the root than drying out the soil |
| Top dressing | Frequent fertilizer mint is not required. It is enough to feed the plant every 3-4 years, alternating organics with mineral water. Rotted manure is best applied in the fall, nitrogen-phosphorus complex - in the spring |
| Pinch | This is an indispensable element of agricultural technology, allowing mint to form in a beautiful branchy bush. The tops pinch when the plant reaches 15-20 cm |
| Loosening | Carried out regularly, providing air access to the roots. The procedure is taken after watering and top dressing. |
Additional Information. If a summer resident does not know how to grow mint in a hot summer with limited water supplies, it is worth resorting to mulching the area with wood ash and compost. This will become an additional top dressing for the flowerbed.
Timely weed removal is an important point in agricultural technology. They will not pull beneficial substances and moisture out of the ground. In addition, weeds contribute to the movement of pests, carriers of infections.
Diseases and Pests
Not only weeds provoke the development of diseases, but also the thickening of the beds. Therefore, seedlings need to be thinned in a timely manner so that the bushes develop freely and cannot shade each other.
Important! Do not plant a spicy plant close to other vegetable and flower crops so that their pests do not migrate to mint. The optimal distance is 60-80 cm.
Among the insects that are attracted by the ethereal smells of the culture, aphids, slugs, whiteflies, weevils, spider mites can be distinguished. Some from the site are collected manually, while others have to use insecticides.
The main disease that affects peppermint is powdery mildew. From it, plants are saved by a solution of colloidal sulfur (1.5%).
Important! If you plan to use green foliage as a seasoning or medicinal raw materials, you can not treat the bushes with insecticides and fungicides.
Mint Harvest
To add to teas, salads and other dishes, mint leaves can be torn throughout the season. Fresh herbs are perfectly stored for several days in the refrigerator.
It's time to harvest
Harvesting herbs for storage are engaged in the period of budding. At this time, the maximum amount of essential oils accumulates in the plant. When harvesting, the following rules are followed:
- no need to break off the bushes under the root - it is better to pick off individual leaves or cut off (pinch off) apical branches, this stimulates the development of new shoots;
Important! For harvesting grass and drying choose dry cloudless weather.
- the collected raw materials are laid out in 1 layer on clean paper in the shade of trees, under a canopy or in the attic with good ventilation;
- when the mint is dry, it is ground into powder or packaged as is.
Mint is stored in a cool dark place in a hermetically sealed container (wooden or glass). In this form, the raw material will retain its properties for 2 years.
For the entire growing season, summer residents manage to collect 3 harvests of mint greens. The last call should be no later than mid-August, otherwise the plant will not have time to accumulate nutrients for wintering.
Not knowing how to grow peppermint from seeds, it will be difficult for a summer resident to provide the culture with proper development. If you want to get a quick easy result, then it is better to propagate the plant by dividing the rhizomes or cuttings. In any case, it’s easy to take care of the culture.
Fragrant Tea with Mint
