How to grow your own mint!

Before you have a Mojito, you have to have mint! A small package of mint costs $3.00-$4.00, which if you love Mojitos as much as we do, it gets expensive! Mint has a lot of other great uses around the house as well. There are also several different flavors such as lime and chocolate! Here are some easy steps to growing your own mint. Just be careful, it WILL take over your garden!

Step1

Choose a site where mint can roam freely without disturbing other plants in your garden. It's happiest in partial shade and in moist, moderately rich, slightly acid soil, but it will grow in any light from full sun to full shade and in any kind of soil you happen to have.

Step2

Buy mint plants at the nursery for planting in early spring, as soon as the ground can be worked. (Mint does not grow well from seed.)

Step3

Plant mint in its ideal conditions if you want a vigorous ground cover. To contain its enthusiasm, give it a less-than-perfect home (for instance, full sun and soil that's on the dry side).

Step4

Set plants 12 to 18 inches apart, depending on the variety. To control their rampant ways, plant them in bottomless containers sunk into the soil. Clay drainage tiles, about 10 inches deep and 6 to 8 inches across, are ideal.

Step5

Keep the soil moist until the plants are established.

Step6

Pinch stem ends off each spring to keep plants bushy. At the end of the gardening season, prune plants back to near ground level and top-dress with compost.

Step7

Harvest sprigs as you need them throughout the growing season.

You can also grow your mint indoors, in a large planter.

resource: eHow