Many gardeners value spearmint for its unique aroma and pleasant taste. In addition, its fresh leaves contain a sufficient amount of life-giving vitamins necessary for the human body.
Features of garden mint
Garden mint is a perennial whose height depends on current development and growing conditions. Its size reaches from 30 cm to 1 m. Its stems are straight and flexible. The leaves are ovate-shaped with serrated edges. Unlike traditional peppermint, this variety has a slightly sweet aroma.Its flowers are white or pinkish.
Under what conditions does it grow?
Fragrant mint develops in one place for more than one year. But if the site is not dug up periodically, the perennial will gradually degenerate and disappear. Growing mint does not involve any particular difficulties, since this perennial is unpretentious to external conditions.
Planting dates
Mint is a frost-resistant perennial, so it is planted in autumn, early spring or summer. Selected seeds are sown in early spring so that the samples do not freeze over the winter. When sowing seeds in summer, there is a risk that young seedlings will not have time to get stronger by autumn, before the onset of the first cold weather..
The vegetative planting method is implemented in late spring, when the selected material has matured.
Stem and strong root cuttings are planted at any time of the year - spring, summer or autumn. In the northern parts of the country, perennial planting is completed in August, while there are reserves for further rooting.
Seed preparation
Collecting ripe seeds from a plant is an activity that requires some effort. Artificially grown perennials will not produce a mother plant in the end, but only a sample used by breeders to breed a hybrid.
It is for this reason that it is recommended to purchase ready-made mint seeds in specialized stores. Such samples produce stronger, better seedlings.
How to prepare a bed
Life-giving mint is undemanding when it comes to soil compositions; the ideal soil for it has the following qualities:
- easy;
- porous composition, with free access of air to the roots;
- wet but not waterlogged;
- loamy composition, but not sandy loam.
An increased lime content in the soil will not create problems for the intensive growth and development of traditional mint, but only a weak aroma will emanate from the foliage. Dense clay soil, where water stagnates, should not be used for planting mint. Even competent care according to all the rules will not save the perennial.
Before planting mint, the site is prepared in the following way: weeds are removed, dug up, and fertilizer is applied. The perennial responds well to organic matter and life-giving minerals.
The height of garden beds is determined by the type of soil. If the soil composition dries out quickly, it is better to make them low. High beds are made to provide moist soil and protect the roots from rotting.
How to sow
First, sow selected seeds in prepared pots, you need to grow seedlings and plant them in open ground. Sow ready-made seeds for seedlings in February. For this purpose, they are scattered over the surface of a box with high-quality peat. After this, the box is tightly covered with film and placed in a lighted place, but not close to the window.
Small sprouts will appear in 15 days. After this, the boxes are completely opened and placed on the windowsills. Full-fledged perennials grow indoors in 2 months. When sowing seeds, they produce tender young greens, which cannot be said when propagated by cuttings.
Watering rules
Mint loves moisture, so it is provided with moderate watering, avoiding stagnation of moisture. In times of severe drought, almost daily watering is required. In addition to irrigation, regular spraying of the bush is required.
Loosening and weeding
Do not forget about regular loosening and weeding of young mint. Weeds must be removed constantly and the sprouts must not be allowed to thicken.Regular loosening of fragrant mint is extremely necessary, because it delivers additional oxygen to the roots.
Diseases and pests
When growing mint, you need to be on guard, since various diseases can attack it all the time. In almost all perennial growing areas, its common disease is rust. This destructive fungus develops due to high humidity. You can overcome dangerous rust with preventive spraying.
Often the perennial suffers from powdery mildew, when a white coating appears on young stems. Pollination with ground sulfur helps to cope with the disease.
Anthracnose appears as brown spots on the affected perennial foliage. Spraying with Bordeaux mixture will help save beautiful mint.
Leaf spotting is brownish spots on the leaves with black dots and a dark rim along the edges. A solution of Bordeaux mixture, which needs to be sprayed on the foliage, will help eliminate this problem.
To prevent the spread of diseases, timely preventive measures are taken: replant the plant, burn the affected parts.
To avoid powdery mildew, the crop is cut in July, before the spread of the destructive disease begins.
In addition to diseases, unprotected mint is attacked by dangerous pests. A perennial in the southern region suffers from a mint mite that feeds on the sap from the top of the plant. The life-giving mint is saved by treating all material for initial planting with acaricides.
Cicadas that suck the juice from the leaves cause a lot of trouble to the plant. Spraying with strong insecticides eliminates this problem.
Harvest and storage
In the first year of active growing season, life-giving mint gives a good harvest.If mint is to be consumed fresh, then fresh leaves are picked from the stem. When fresh, it is added to various soups, meat, cooked seafood, and pea soups. Heat treatment removes the freshness from the mint, so it is added at the end of cooking.
To prevent the cut stem from quickly withering in hot weather, it is wrapped in damp gauze and placed in a refrigerator.
Life-giving mint tolerates drying well. The medicinal crop is collected for drying in July-August, at the beginning of lush flowering; at this time, the foliage has the best composition of essential oils and nutrients. Cut young stems are dried in neat bunches, leaves and inflorescences are torn off, and ground into a fine powder.
