Spear for your spuds
Taking cuttings from the garden can make your mint go a long way, writes David Overend.
Is it really worth the effort of taking cuttings or even entire plants of mint from the garden and potting them up to use indoors? Many thousands of people do so every year, so the answer is obviously yes, particularly if you are an avid fan of the plant.
You don’t need a huge container in which to grow mint (both outdoors and in), so you can pick and choose; perhaps an attractive terracotta pot or the very popular galvanised types for the modern kitchen to make them seem part of the decor.
New growth normally starts to appear in late February and by April there should be plenty of fresh shoots.
Pull up a clump of the tatty mint and get rid of all the old soil or compost sticking to its base. Pick a few of the best-looking roots and cut them into manageable pieces.
Then pop two or three bits into a pot of decent compost, water them and leave them on the kitchen windowsill. Within a few weeks there should be several shoots of fresh mint to enjoy with the new potatoes.
Constant cutting of many a herb will encourage fresh growth so it is often possible to sustain a steady supply of leaves to see the average person throughout the winter and into spring when plants outdoors should be starting to revive and throw out new foliage.
A word of warning: outdoors, mint (which, unlike many herbs, grows quite happily in damp soils and is quite at home alongside streams and ponds) can be particularly invasive, so it often makes sense to grow it in containers in the garden.
It also makes it a lot easier to tend, to pick and to move around to spots where it can enjoy the best of the weather.
In fact, it makes sense to grow many herbs, outdoors, in pots. Make the compost/soil a bit beefier because the plants will not be able to extend their roots in search of nutrients.
Make sure the container is relatively free-draining. Unfortunately, in a dry spell this means you’ll probably have to water your herbs, but they’ll repay you by providing scents and tastes to make your mouth water.