All Things Minty!

I decided I wanted to grow some useful plants but I'm naff with veg so I thought I would give herbs a go, and where better to start than Mint.

so I bought loads of them

So far I have:

• Chocolate (Gorgeous after Eights smell)
• Ginger (Sort of a zingy smell)
• Spearmint (Just the usual minty smell)
• Black Peppermint (Very strong mint smell)
• Grapefruit (Sort of citrusy smell)
• Granada Orange (not managed to sniff this one yet)
• Almira Strawberry (Surprisingly very Strawberry scented)
• Apple (Not sniffed yet)
• Moroccan (or sniffed this one)
• Pineapple (quite a nice pineapple smell but I'm not convinced you'd know unless you were told)

The last 6 were bought on eBay as small plugs for a pound or so each but hopefully they will bulk up in the next couple of months and I can try them out in teas and other goodies, does anyone have any favorites?

You can see some of them to the left and a big pot of Ginger Mint in this photo along with some other bits I bought yesterday from a garden fair.

 

Think my mints dead, got left in the cold frame all winter without any water

 

I brought a cutting of my chocolate mint here with me when I moved last year ... just transferred it to a Quality Street tub so it can spread out a bit.
By the sounds of your collection, I need to spread my mint wings a bit further Ginger is sounding rather good

 

Oh no! I've got a terrible memory, can't tell you the things I've killed because I've forgotten to water the poor things...

Your more than welcome to a cutting later in the year if you remind me it smells lovely very zingy and the yellow variegation makes it a bit different.

 

I've popped you in my diary

 

Have you tried the Corsican Mint, Mentha requienii. A low growing ground cover variety, can be used in cooking too.

 

No I've not tried that one yet, I'm sure I will get round to it though!

Not strictly minty but I sowed some seeds I bought from Terroir Seeds in the US today "Lime Balm" it was a new one on me and I'd not seen it for sale anywhere although typically after I'd bought the seeds and paid I spotted a couple of specialist nurseries selling plant's of it here in the UK for around £6 + delivery but the seeds worked out at only a few pounds so it doesn't matter too much

Apparently it smells as the name would suggest like limes and much less like the kitchen floor cleaner smell of the common Lemon Balm

Sent on the go from my telephone

 

Well my mints are really coming along now I've rooted a couple of cuttings each of Chocolate and Ginger mint so one of the Ginger mints is your's M if I remember in a month or so



I've also just taken some backup cuttings of my thyme's, lemon and "B&Q" xD and also Orange, Strawberry & Moroccan mint

And hopefully my second go at sage will be better this time the last one snuffed it within a week!

 

You're a star ICR

 

Well done - you've achieved a garden miracle! You've got to be the first person in history to kill mint

 

Well it's another year and my mint is starting to come on a treat now and even my Lime balm seedlings survived transplanting so I will be potting those up tomorrow! Did you get around to sowing the seeds I sent you @"M" ?

I forgot to mention that I have just invested eleven whole pounds (Inc. delivery!) in this very enticing 18 strong mint collection, some really nice varieties of which I already have a few but it's cheaper to buy them again to have the other ones, I hope it get the ones I want...

http://plants-uk.co.uk/shop/herb-collections/ultimate-mint-plant-collection/

 

@Anthony Rogers my herb garden as it stands, they are all in pots mainly because I don't trust the cats... as you can see it's a bit bare at the moment but it will look lovely when the plants fill out again in a month or so.

 

Ah, the seeds! I put them away in a safe place for planting when I had my "mint garden" set up.
Only problem with "safe places" ... can I remember where that is?
I know they are in the same place as my cosmos/nigella/eccremocarpus and cobaea scandens seeds ... so at least they are not lonely
However, the ginger mint is coming back strong and vigorously (so I'm not a complete failure/waste of space )

 

Remember that mint is notoriously promiscuous. If you let them produce flowers, they will cross pollinate.

@longk, our @Zigs isn't the only person to accidentally kill mint. Ive done it. I think some types are indestructible, while others are more southern by nature.

 

Our soft southern pansy mints will kill any northern mints off just by being in the same pot

Seriously though, mints don't like each other, they'll try to out do the other variety.