Mint: the most spirited herb
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PHOTO BY JEFFREY LEE
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by RAND B.LEE
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I'm convinced: Mint has got to be one of the most
versatile herbs around. Indoors, you can use it to
deodorize a room, wake up your skin, freshen your breath,
create delicious hot (and cold) teas, lend zest to
vegetable dishes, and spruce up otherwise-ordinary salads,
juices, spreads, fruits, etc. And outdoors-in the vegetable
garden—mint's highly aromatic foliage acts to repel
ants, white cabbage moths, and other pests ... thereby
ensuring healthy crops of cabbage, tomatoes, broccoli, and
brussels sprouts.
No herb or vegetable garden should be without at least
one of the 40 or so sweet-smelling members of the
mint family (genus Mentha). These plants are simply too
useful—and too easy to grow—to pass up!
WHERE TO OBTAIN MINT
If you live in the country, chances are good that you have
mint on your property already. (if you don't, your
neighbor probably does. Ask for a few plants or
cuttings.)
Mint can also be purchased from most any plant shop,
nursery, or mail-order herb outlet. (I've had particularly
good luck with Well-Sweep Herb Farm, 317 Mt. Bethel Rd.,
Port Murray, N.J. 07865. Their service is fast and their
prices—I think—quite reasonable. Send 25¢
for a catalog.)
HOW TO START A MINT BED
When transplanting mint, dig the herb up carefully—so
as not to make hash of its roots—and leave a little
soil attached to the plant's base. (You won't have to dig
very deeply, since mint grows close to the surface.)
Choose a spot in your garden that's partly shaded and
moderately fertile . . . then put the plants in the ground
about a foot apart, firm the soil around them to its
original level, water thoroughly, and keep the
area moist. (Mints generally prefer damp places and won't
produce strongly scented leaves in dry soil.)
Soon, your transplants will begin to send out
runners—or stolons —both under and
over the surface of the ground, much like strawberries. And
before you know it, the empty space between the parent
plants will be filled by dozens of new herblets. (Don't be
afraid to uproot stray stolons if the plants begin to get
out of hand. When I was little, my mother used to yank the
weedlike foliage out of the ground by the handful ... and
the hardy herbs always grew back.)
HOW TO GROW CUTTINGS
To propagate mints from cuttings, all you have to do is [1]
detach a three-inch-long piece of stem from a parent plant,
[2] remove the leaves from the lowermost inch or so of the
slip, and [3] place the scion in a glass of water on a
window—sill. In about a week—when the cutting's
roots are half an inch long—the young mint will be
ready to go in the ground. (Plant it in the manner
described above, to a depth of 1/2" above the tops of its
roots.)
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