Mint

Hi. The herbs that have grown well all year on my window are almost at their end. I do not have a compost heap as I only use a very small space for gardening, so composting it is out, but I do not want to waste the remainder of the herbs (mint mainly) still in leaf. At the same time it is time to clear the area to grow new things. What ae the best and most practical ways of storing this mint over the next few weeks and months, so I can use them for culinary purposes later? Thanks.

 

I'm pretty sure that you can dry mint. Maybe hung in bunches in the Airing Cupboard.:wink:

 

You can dry it, freeze in ice cubes or make mint sauce. For the latter all you need to do is chop, add some sugar, vinegar and simmer and then just decant into a sterilised jar.

 

Mint is perrenial, so if it is alive, why get rid of it? It will die off for winter, then come back with a vengeance next spring.

What else have you got growing?

 

Thanks. The Mint is growing on a small table before an upstairs window, there is nowhere else to keep it during winter. I have frozen some in jelly pots. Looking forward to the sauce idea.

 

My mint is outside in the ground, where it does it's own thing, so this might not work, but, I wonder if your pot could be put somewhere cold, and the whole pot wrapped in a plastic bag or something out of the way until spring. You could then bring it back out and lots of new growth might come from the established roots.

I've never tried that, I'm just thinking that if you could mimic what would happen to it in nature, where it would be outdoors in open ground and exposed to the cold, it might work. If it does work you'd get a better crop next year because it would grow back much quicker than growing it from seed.

I'll let one of the experts come and tell us if that's a daft idea though

 

I grow mint in a bucket sized pot in the garden. It died off and overwintered fine last year, to come back in full vigour for the warm bits of 2009. I just left it outside to fend for itself.

 

Ive always left my mint to fend for itself and its always done fine. Dies off in winter then goes mad in spring. Mine too is in a bucket sized container in the garden and i don't do anything with it except when the frosts have finished i cut back the dead bits.
I was once told that you're doing pretty well if you've managed to kill mint - its pretty tough. Even if the plant looks dead you can be sure the roots are planning their next move!!