Planting Peppermint

 

 

Spring is here and with it comes our trip to the greenhouse and any other store with a garden area.  The herbs are lined up and the first one we usually see is the peppermint with visions of tea made from our own special blend.  (Maybe I’m wrong but that is usually what comes to mind.)

You have your peppermint at home and want to get it in the ground as soon as possible.  Well here are a few ground rules.

Peppermint demands humus and moisture.  It also likes small amounts of broken down chicken manure.  I have a pile from last year I will be using in various areas.  It is time to clean out the chicken coops and get more of that good stuff (not a fun job.)

Peppermint planted among cabbage will repel the white cabbage butterfly.   If you plant it by chamomile the chamomile will benefit with more chamomile but the peppermint will have less oil.  Plant by shrubs as Peppermint drives away red ants from the shrubs.  I would recommend you plant it where it won’t get dug up every year and you will end up with a nice crop for years to come.

Peppermint is said to help you sleep, I combine it with chamomile in a tea I the evening sometimes to relax.  I have it all over my yard and haven’t bought mint for years.  Just remember they like water and have fun with them as there are so many fun types of mint.  Some of the mint I have is peppermint, spearmint, chocolate mint, pineapple mint and this is just to name a few.

I’ll do a blog on drying mint later, your house will smell like mint and the jars will fill up with your store for the winter.