Spearmint (garden): variety description, cultivation and care with photo

Many gardeners value spearmint for its unique aroma and pleasant taste. In addition, its fresh foliage contains a sufficient amount of life-giving vitamins necessary for the human body.

Features of garden mint

Spearmint is a perennial, the height of which depends on the current conditions of development and cultivation. Its size reaches from 30 cm to 1 m. Its stems are straight, flexible. Leaves are ovate with serrated margins. Unlike traditional peppermint, this variety has a slightly sweet aroma. Her flowers are white or pinkish.

In what conditions grows

Fragrant mint has been developing in one place for more than one year. But if the site is not dug up periodically, then the perennial will gradually degenerate and disappear. Cultivation of mint is not associated with certain difficulties, since this perennial is unassuming to external conditions.

Crop 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 is ripe.

Planting of stem and strengthened root cuttings is carried out at any time of the year - in 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 mature 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. Similar samples give stronger, good seedlings.

How to prepare a garden bed

Life-giving mint is undemanding 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.

High lime content in the soil will not create problems for the intensive growth and development of traditional mint, but only a faint aroma will come from the foliage. Dense clay soil, on which stagnant water is observed, should not be used for planting mint. Even competent care according to all the rules will not allow saving the perennial.

Before planting mint, the site is prepared in the following way: remove weeds, dig up, fertilize. The perennial responds well to organics 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. For damp soil and protection of the roots from decay, high beds are made.

How to sow

To begin with, selected seeds are sown in prepared pots, you need to grow seedlings and plant them in open ground.Ready seeds are sown for seedlings in February. For this purpose, they are scattered over the surface of a box with high-quality peat. After that, the box is tightly covered with a film, placed in a lighted place, but not close to the window.

Small sprouts will appear in 15 days. After that, the boxes are fully opened, put on the windowsills. Full-fledged perennials grow in room conditions in 2 months. When sowing seeds, they give tender young greens, which cannot be said when propagated by cuttings.

Irrigation Rules

Mint loves moisture, so it is provided with moderate watering, avoiding moisture stagnation. At the time 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, to prevent thickening of sprouts. Regular loosening of fragrant mint is essential, because it delivers additional oxygen to the roots.

Diseases and pests

Growing mint, you need to be on the lookout, because various diseases can attack it all the time. In almost all areas of perennial cultivation, its common ailment is found - rust. This destructive fungus develops due to high humidity. You can overcome dangerous rust with the help of preventive spraying.

Often a 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. Sprinkling with Bordeaux liquid will help save the beautiful mint.

Leaf spot - brownish spots on the leaves with black dots and a dark rim around the edges. To eliminate this trouble, a solution of Bordeaux liquid, which needs to be sprayed with foliage, will help.

To prevent the spread of diseases, take timely preventive measures: replant the plant, burn the affected parts.

To avoid powdery mildew, crops are harvested in July, before the disease spreads.

In addition to diseases, dangerous pests attack unprotected mint. A perennial in the southern region suffers from a mint mite that feeds on the juice of the top of the plant. Rescues life-giving mint treatment with acaricides of all material for primary planting.

A lot of trouble is delivered to the plant by cicadas, sucking the juice of leaves. Spraying with strong insecticides eliminates this problem.

Harvest and storage of crops

In the first year of active vegetation, life-giving mint gives a good harvest. If fresh mint is supposed to be consumed, then fresh leaves are plucked from the stem.Fresh, it is added to various soups, meat, cooked seafood, pea soups. Heat treatment removes the freshness in the mint, so it is added at the end of cooking.

So that the cut stem does not quickly wither in hot weather, it is wrapped in damp gauze and placed in a refrigerator.

Life-giving mint tolerates drying very well. The medicinal crop for drying is harvested 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 cut off, ground into a fine powder.