No Mint seed again this year?

[Gary350]

There use to be Mint seeds for sale in all the seed racks in all the stores but no mint seeds again this year & none last year. Everyone sells, peppermint, spearmint, lemon mint, red mint, basil mint, Korean mint, black mint, pineapple mint, more.

I use to buy MINT seeds they smell so good from 10 feet away planted around the patio it keeps mosquitos again wife is a mosquito magnet she needs to keep mosquitos away.

Last year I planted peppermint it does not grow large and has no smell and they are growing back this year still can not smell it even 1 ft away. Do any of the other mints have a strong smell?

[applestar]

Mint is easy to grow roots from almost any stem piece except maybe the very tip of new growths, and, once rooted, will spread by underground stolons.

If you don’t get much freezes during the winter to slow them down, you will need to be careful that they don’t take over once established. Mint is usually recommended for container growing.

I have peppermint, “chocolate” (pepper?)mint, spearmint, applemint, and orangemint (which is relatively new).

Applemint has large rounded fuzzy leaves and smells the sweetest, but peppermint and spearmint and Kentucky julep (spear)mint are distinctive, and suitable for different uses.

I’m not sure my orangemint smells particularly citrusy, and “chocolate” mint I think refers to particularly dark almost brown stems and is really just a version of peppermint (which has maroon stems).

I want to get the Mojito mint which is a hybrid and needs to be grown from cuttings (purchased as cutting-grown plant)

I think if you can find fresh unwilted sprigs in grocery stores or farmers markets, they would grow easily.


I also grow lemon balm which has spread by seeds and has been growing between the bricks of the patio, but originally planted under and behind the children’s swing set to help repel mosquitoes as they played it as I trampled around pushing their swings, etc. Citrusy/citronella fragrance when I step on them.

Lemon balm tea is supposed to be good as calming tea (nerves and stomach), but I like the flavor of lemon verbena tea better for drinking.

Lemon verbena doesn’t survive the winter here so I have it in a container to overwinter inside. The sharp lemon fragrance is probably closer to real lemon.

—-

Mint likes water, lemon balm seems to be able to handle drought.

For the scorching hot/dry piece of front lawn forming a rectangle next to the driveway and in front of the front porch, I have been slowly coaxing a patch of creeping mother of thyme to grow. It’s a respectable sized are almost fully covering the intended area. it’s wonderful to step and walk on, releasing the thyme fragrance, and pretty when in bloom, and most of the time, doesn’t grow tall enough to be caught by the lawn mower even at lowest setting. and is drought tolerant and stays dark green even when the lawn grass shuts down from drought.

I think this patch keeps away the mosquitoes as well, but DOES attract bees and wasps when in bloom.

[Gary350]

Mint is easy to grow roots from almost any stem piece except maybe the very tip of new growths, and, once rooted, will spread by underground stolons.

If you don’t get much freezes during the winter to slow them down, you will need to be careful that they don’t take over once established. Mint is usually recommended for container growing.

I have peppermint, “chocolate” (pepper?)mint, spearmint, applemint, and orangemint (which is relatively new).

Applemint has large rounded fuzzy leaves and smells the sweetest, but peppermint and spearmint and Kentucky julep (spear)mint are distinctive, and suitable for different uses.

I’m not sure my orangemint smells particularly citrusy, and “chocolate” mint I think refers to particularly dark almost brown stems and is really just a version of peppermint (which has maroon stems).

I want to get the Mojito mint which is a hybrid and needs to be grown from cuttings (purchased as cutting-grown plant)

I think if you can find fresh unwilted sprigs in grocery stores or farmers markets, they would grow easily.


I also grow lemon balm which has spread by seeds and has been growing between the bricks of the patio, but originally planted under and behind the children’s swing set to help repel mosquitoes as they played it as I trampled around pushing their swings, etc. Citrusy/citronella fragrance when I step on them.

Lemon balm tea is supposed to be good as calming tea (nerves and stomach), but I like the flavor of lemon verbena tea better for drinking.

Lemon verbena doesn’t survive the winter here so I have it in a container to overwinter inside. The sharp lemon fragrance is probably closer to real lemon.

—-

Mint likes water, lemon balm seems to be able to handle drought.

For the scorching hot/dry piece of front lawn forming a rectangle next to the driveway and in front of the front porch, I have been slowly coaxing a patch of creeping mother of thyme to grow. It’s a respectable sized are almost fully covering the intended area. it’s wonderful to step and walk on, releasing the thyme fragrance, and pretty when in bloom, and most of the time, doesn’t grow tall enough to be caught by the lawn mower even at lowest setting. and is drought tolerant and stays dark green even when the lawn grass shuts down from drought.

I think this patch keeps away the mosquitoes as well, but DOES attract bees and wasps when in bloom.

Which mint has the strongest smell that keeps away mosquitoes?

[pepperhead212]

Last fall I started some "spearmint" seed, that didn't even have the same aroma as the spearmint that almost covers my mint patch. I was hoping that it would be something different, to the point that it wouldn't attract aphids (the problem I have with regular spearmint, but not peppermint, for some reason). It didn't attract them, but I wouldn't even have guessed it was mint, if blindfolded!

[Gary350]

Last fall I started some "spearmint" seed, that didn't even have the same aroma as the spearmint that almost covers my mint patch. I was hoping that it would be something different, to the point that it wouldn't attract aphids (the problem I have with regular spearmint, but not peppermint, for some reason). It didn't attract them, but I wouldn't even have guessed it was mint, if blindfolded!

The peppermint that I planted last summer had no smell at all unless you pull off a leaf then bub the leaf very hard in your hands to extract some juice. Mint that I planted years ago had a very strong mint smell from 10 feet away, the seed package only said, MINT. Several years ago there was only 2 or 3 kinds of mint but now there are 30 different mints.

[pepperhead212]

Getting that peppermint to grow in the winter, in the hydroponics, I used to have to go to an Asian market, and buy a small pack, then root some. Now, I finally got some to settle in in a small section, on one end of the spearmint, which is stronger. Here it is about a week ago, in a section totally surrounded by concrete, and it grows with very little work. I just put up 3 lines of irritation, for when it gets dry, but that's all I do. It chokes out almost everything.
Mint is growing fast! Some of it is 6 inches tall already, and it is filling out the area, as usual. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

And here's what it looked like in early June last year - the ones at the very bottom with the rounded leaves are the peppermint, in both of them.
A little bit of mint, 6-10 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

[applestar]

Mint flowers are bee magnet, which is probably why they say mint crosses very easily. I’ve never tried to save seeds because mint is said not to grow true from seeds ands that it’s always better to grow them by cuttings from parents with known characteristics.

The mints I have are grown from small plants bought at garden centers and plant sales, and the more aromatic of those are from sellers proclaiming to be “Herb merchants” which is why I’m not sure if name of variety alone is enough to claim which smells the most.

But out of the ones I have in my garden, applemint probably is the strongest.

[Gary350]

I am ordering several varieties of seeds to plant all in the same location. We will see that happens. Korean mint sounds good.

https://www.ebay.com/sch/I.html?_from=R ... s&_sacat=0

[applestar]

My understanding is that Korean mint is a kind of anise hyssop but bigger and more intense — so if you like licorice flavor….

I’ve tried regular anise hyssop and I couldn’t like it, so this one which is supposed to be stronger won’t be good to me, I think.

[Gary350]

My understanding is that Korean mint is a kind of anise hyssop but bigger and more intense — so if you like licorice flavor….

I’ve tried regular anise hyssop and I couldn’t like it, so this one which is supposed to be stronger won’t be good to me, I think.

The AD says, Korean mint attracts humming birds & honey bees. It will be nice to have humming birds, our 2 humming birds feeds are not having much lunch attracting hummers. Bible says, hyssop has blood cleaning powers.

[imafan26]

I grow mint. I grew applemint from seeds. It does have an apple smell. Chocolate mint has a strong smell expecially if you brush the mint. In fact most mints smell the strongest when the leaves are brushed or bruised. I don't smell any of my mints when I pass by them unless I am up close or I brush or bruise the leaves. I have peppermint, spearmint, pineapple mint, chocolate mint, and apple mint. I grow them in bowls on stands because they will get out of control if I don't. In fact, I have a couple that are trying to make a break for it , so I have to cut them back soon.

I have more herb bowls out of the picture to the right I have another spearmint an an oregano. The peppermint is looking sad, I may have to replace it.

I regularly have to divide these bowls or the plants will choke themselves.

[Gary350]

Chocolate mint has a strong smell expecially if you brush the mint. In fact most mints smell the strongest when the leaves are brushed or bruised. I don't smell any of my mints when I pass by them unless I am up close or I brush or bruise the leaves.

I have noticed the same thing, we have very gusty wind in TN when mint gets blown around then it is easy to smell from 10 ft away. Peppermint I planted last year has almost no smell, beat it with a stick no smell, mow it with lawn mower not much smell.

[pepperhead212]

I was never crazy about some mint that I grew years ago, that had an anise aroma, so maybe that was that Korean mint/anise hyssop. But it's not the anise flavor I didn't like, as I love Thai basil! And the experience I had with chocolate mint was that it got weaker every season it came up, and eventually, there was no chocolate at all. That said, the spearmint is my favorite, and the flavor is best in the SE Asian dishes I use it in; Indian dishes are OK with the peppermint I grow in the off-season, but spearmint is still better, IMO.