Growing Mint: Everything I’ve Learned About the Easiest Herb to Grow

Mint was one of the first herbs I ever grew, and it’s still the one I recommend to anyone who’s nervous about killing their plants. It’s generous, forgiving, almost impossible to kill — and it gives back far more than you put in. It’s also, quietly, one of the most confusing herbs out there: the names overlap, the labels mislead, and “mint” turns out to be a whole family of plants rather than one.

So this is my home for everything mint. Whether you’ve just bought your first pot, you’re trying to work out what on earth you’ve actually got, or you want to turn one plant into a windowsill full of them, start here and follow the links to whatever you need.

A note from where I’m growing: I’m based in Rome, where mint barely pauses through the mild winters and the real challenge is keeping the pots from baking out in summer. Wherever you are — a cold windowsill, a hot balcony, a shady patio — there’s a mint that’ll thrive for you, and I’ll flag the climate differences as we go.

New to growing mint? Start here

→ How to Grow Mint in Pots: The Complete Beginner’s Guide The full method, start to finish — the one golden rule (always grow it in a pot), how to water it, the harvesting trick that keeps it bushy instead of bare, rooting free plants from cuttings, and keeping it going for years. If you read one thing, read this.

Know exactly what you’re growing

Before you cook with any mint, it’s worth being sure what it actually is — because not all of them are equally safe.

→ Menta Romana: Is It Pennyroyal, and Is It Safe to Eat? I bought a pot labelled “menta romana,” turned the card over, and found it named as Mentha pulegium — pennyroyal, not spearmint. Here’s how to tell spearmint, pennyroyal and mentuccia apart, the one test that settles it for certain (the flowers), and why pennyroyal needs real care in the kitchen.

Mint by type

→ Start Your Herb Garden with Spearmint The all-rounder, and the mint to grow if you want one for the kitchen — sauces, tea, salads, mojitos. Easy, safe, and endlessly useful.

More coming soon:

• Peppermint vs Spearmint — which should you grow? (planned)
• Apple, chocolate and Moroccan mint: the fun varieties (planned)

Mint skills

→ How to Take Mint Cuttings (Free Plants in Two Weeks) (currently covered in the main guide — standalone deep-dive planned) The simplest propagation project there is: a sprig in a glass of water becomes a whole new plant. One pot can become five.

More coming soon:

• Harvesting mint so it gets bushier, not balder (planned)
• Overwintering mint: what to do when it dies back (planned)

When something goes wrong

Mint is easy, but a few things do crop up — here’s where to look.

Coming soon:

• Mint rust: those orange spots under the leaves (planned)
• Fungus gnats in your herb pots — for the tiny flies that appear when the compost stays too wet (links to existing guide)
• Why is my mint leggy, or trying to flower? (planned)

Using your mint

Coming soon:

• From pot to plate: simple ways to use a glut of mint (planned)
• Drying and freezing mint for winter (planned)

Grow along with me

Everything here comes from my own pots, experiments and mistakes — not rewritten generic advice. If mint’s your starting point, you’re in good company; it was mine too.

Over to you: what mint are you growing — or trying to identify? Tell me in the comments on any of these guides. If you’re not sure what you’ve got, describe the smell, the leaves and the stem, and I’ll help you work it out. Your questions are honestly where most of these articles come from.

And if you’d rather watch than read, I cover a lot of this over on the Amazing Herb Garden YouTube channel — come and grow along.