Where am I going wrong with mint?

[Meltimi]

I like to put a few leaves of mint into cold water - for me it makes drinking water more palatable. Problem is I can't seem to grow a constant supply of mint leaves. Mint plants from the supermarket only supply the number of leaves I purchase them with. They don't florish. Same with mint plants I buy from garden centres.

Where am I going wrong? And what should I do?

Mine has done much better this year since I moved it to a more shaded location. And are you repotting into a larger pot or planting into the ground? Im assuming it is outside, I don't think mint would do well indoors.

Mint normally grows like mad, where have you planted it OP?
A large pot is best as it’s a thug. I planted it out and have mint everywhere now. It dies back in the cold so you won’t have it all year round unless it’s a mild Winter.

Supermarket herbs are grown several plants in one small pot. You need to repot them in separate pots with fresh compost. The roots will be all tangled together so you have to gently tease the plants apart as best you can
I've rescued several this way. Currently have basil and mint flourishing on my kitchen windowsill

My garden mint, in a large pot flowered and went scabby. As the flowers died off it had another spurt, probably because of the weather, and I cut the flowers off and it 's doing ok.

I grow mine in an old sink, so it doesn’t spread (it will take over in open soil). Every couple of years I take it out, replenish the soil and thin it, I just lay a few runners in three rows, and off it goes. Mint likes some shade, not full sun.

I can't grow mint in my garden and neither can my neighbour. I've never had a problem before! We wonder whether it is anything to do with backing onto a railway line. Are you near a railway?

You need to cut it back aggressively at times. Which means i fyou want constant mint, you need a much larger plant (or a couple) so that you can rotate when you're cutting it back. Supermarket mint, in a small pot, simply won't cut it.

I've never grown it inside but outside, it does also very much die back in winter so that's another consideration that perhaps means a couple of medium sized pots inside are a better choice.

Also, some supermarket herbs in pots are better than others. The gardeners I know all swear that waitrose ones are better than any of the others.

This. Split the supermarket mint into 10 or more separate plants and repot them. Then keep them watered while it is warm and they get established. Keep them on a window sill or in a greenhouse and don't let them dry out. Water once a week in winter.

I took pity on one that was reduced to 25p in lidl recently, and i have three sound little plants now!

I have killed countless mint plants. I'd love a little home grown herb garden but sadly my fingers aren't green.

Mint is really easy to propagate, cut a piece or two off and pop into a jar of water. Pot it when it's got roots (don't let the roots get too long and lanky, they won't adapt to soil)

What are you doing to them at the moment? Where are they and what are they in?

Once you do get a plant established, don't pick individual leaves to harvest, cut off a stem an inch or two down, just above a pair of leaves. This will encourage the stem to branch and you'll get two stems where there was only one.

I can't grow mint either, everyone says it's a thug and will take over but mine just sits there looking sad for a few months then dies ! I've tried small pots, big pots, in the ground, indoors, but nope !

Really? I grow mine in a pot on concrete to stop it from taking over, but it managed to send shoots along the gap between the concrete slabs. Is it in a large pot in a bit of shade, with a fair amount of water (but not wet feet) and some good compost?

I’ve got mint my son planted during lockdown, it grows like a weed

Wow. I'm amazed at all these mint failures. It really is a thug. Unless you are keeping it in a small pot instead of putting it into the ground or into a large container, I can't think why it might be, although the likeliest problem (esp this year) is underwatering.

Don't even try to grow the supermarket mint. They aren't designed to flourish long term. And itf you go to the garden centre, don't choose one of the fancy obscure mints ('pineapple mint' and so fortth). Just get bog standard culinary mint.

Make sure that it is in a large enough container - possibly a huge container sunk into the ground, so that it can have the coolness of being planted at depth, but faces some obstacle preventing it from running riot in your garden). Don't let it dry out completely.