As a culinary herb, mint is a versatile addition to any kitchen. However, finding mint in their garden is not what most gardener would want. Mint grows like a weed, and once it crops up in an area, it can be invasive, choking out other plants.

For beginners the mint is really easy to grow due to its invasive quality. Mint is virtually impossible to kill. It is not frost-hardy, and it will appear to die off with the first hard frost of fall. However, the mint has quite an extensive root system that is hard to kill, so you may be surprised to see shoots of mint just grow out of nowhere next spring. Mint will grow in full sun or partial shade.

Grow Mint Herb in Pots

Because of the invasive nature of the root system of mint plants, many gardeners prefer to grow mint herbs in containers or in a small planting bed that is surrounded by paving or concrete. However, if you do have a place where you don’t mind your mint growing wild, that would be good.

Harvesting Mint

The advantage of growing a great deal of mint herbs in your herb garden is that, when harvest time comes, you will have abundant amounts of mint herbs available at your fingertips. Besides, every herb gardener knows that harvesting mint is one of the most pleasant gardening chores you will ever have to do, because of the fragrant aroma that emanates from these plants as you work among them.

Growing Catnip

The herb mint commonly known as catnip is actually cat mint, or nepeta. Scientist believe that a cat has to inherit its’ susceptibility to catnip, so cats that love catnip will love it all their lives, while other cats will just ignore it. It’s either all or nothing at all with catnip. If your cat happens to love catnip, you should choose to plant it in the ground rather than in a pot.

Cats love to roll in catnip and strip the leaves from the stems with their teeth. A potted plant is likely to topple over under this attention, but putting a plant in the ground will give cats the leverage they need to enjoy the herb mint known as catnip. Whether you plant spearmint, peppermint, or catnip, growing mint is fun and gives a beginning gardener a lot of confidence. Why not plant some herb garden plants today?