Giving Mint Room to Grow in our Garden
In the life cycle of raising mint in the garden, there are a few moments when a gardener can say “I have a little mint” with a straight face. Far as I can tell, those minutes occur just after planting the mint in your garden.
Mint is so easy to grow. It’s a beautiful plant with a bushy habit and there are nearly limitless varieties to choose from. Mint is hardy and comes back more abundantly every year in our garden. Our harsh New England winters don’t seem to bother it at all.
Of course, mint will take over a planting space if you give it free rein. It will overpower a garden bed or planter and suddenly you’ll only be growing mint there. So, when we built our duck house several years ago, my son helped me make a planting bed edged with granite stones with the purpose of planting mint and a few other herbs there.
When we first planted the bed, the mint was planted in equal measure with chives, lavender, rosemary, and thyme. This bed gets full, blistering sun most of the day and the herbs loved the bright sun and summer heat. As the years march on, there seems to be more and more mint and less of the other herbs and it is now mostly a mint garden with three or four varieties blended together.
I could remove some or most of the mint to give the other herbs more space, but I have chosen to leave the mint alone and plant the other herbs in an equally sunny spot in our garden. The mint is happy there and it is contained within the bed’s borders. It looks so pretty against the rustic wood of the duck house every year.
I love having mint in our garden, especially when the long stems are dancing in the breeze on a sunny summer day and the light fragrance floats in the air. I tuck a few leggy stems into bouquets of flowers I bring into the farmhouse. The fuzzy leaves are such a nice contrast to peony blooms, sunflowers, or other cutting flowers I like to grow in our gardens.
This summer, I’m trying to make delicious use with as much of our fresh mint as I can. I’m working on a new recipe for mint chip ice cream and a dog treat for our beloved Penny Lane.
The easiest way to enjoy fresh mint’s flavor is in a simple syrup. It comes together in minutes and adds a delicious flavor to sliced berries, iced tea, lemonade, or cocktails. I love the earthy flavor this syrup adds to my afternoon iced tea. I hope that you will too.
Mint Simple Syrup
Ingredients
- 1 cup water
- 1 cup sugar
- 2-4 sprigs fresh mint including stems and leaves
Instructions
- Place the water and sugar in a small saucepan. Place over low heat and stir the sugar and water to help prevent the sugar from settling on the bottom of the pan and burning. Warm the pan, stirring occasionally until the sugar has dissolved and the liquid is clear.
- Remove the pan from the heat. Add the mint sprigs, stirring lightly to help infuse the syrup with the oil released from the mint leaves as they warm. Allow the liquid to cool to room temperature. Remove the spent mint leaves and stems before transferring the syrup to a container with a tight fitting lid. The syrup can be kept in the refrigerator for several weeks.