Making a Mint Garden (and Very Minty Tea)
By Margaret Gilmour
Right outside my back door grew two pots of mint: peppermint (Mentha piperita) and curly spearmint (mentha spicata v. crispa). For several years the mint has continued to thrive, but this year I knew they needed transplanting—their root-bound bodies were gasping for air.
My mint has been confined because these fragrant, leafy herbs are greedy neighbors in any garden setting—mint known for quickly and effectively taking over an area unless they are well-managed and supervised. Which means lots of pruning during the season, and splitting before the next.
But, because I like the mint right outside my door for easy picking and for its welcoming fresh scent, I decided I would keep it simple and continue to ban the mint from my perennial bed, and instead plant a mint garden where the mint can grow with abandon.
Even with the desert-dry ground making digging an almost impossible task, I put my shovel to the cracking, rocky soil and dug up a small, well-contained bed butting up against the stucco side of my home. Then I liberated my mint from their imprisoned quarters, planted them with some compost and dragged the hose over to soak the parched earth awhile. And, just to make sure they understood their new boundaries, I edged the mint garden with a few bricks.
I think the mint patch may need a small, staked Tiki torch or, even better, a humming bird feeder as an accent. Perhaps I’ll find something this weekend to add the finishing touch.
There are about 25 species of mint, and maybe as many as 600 varieties, including spearmint, peppermint, chocolate mint, pineapple mint and Bergamont orange. For now I am content with my two varieties, and even though I am curious about the other types, I am not sure my two plants would allow room for a third. (You know how territorial mint can be).
Peppermint is known for its digestive qualities and ability to soothe an upset stomach. I haven’t chewed on a piece for that reason, but I love to stuff a bunch of just-cut leaves into a cold glass of iced tea, or chop some to sweeten a dish of ice cream or cookie recipe. I’ve also mixed peppermint and spearmint in a drink and enjoyed the contrasting flavors.
Spearmint is best for savory dishes like lamb, or spicy salads like Tabbouleh. It’s also great mixed in with warmed potatoes and other veggies, and makes a great garnish if you need a little something extra to add to a plate.
Inspired by my mint garden, I happened upon this recipe for cool and refreshing Very Minty Iced Tea, and made myself a glass and one to share…with you. Since we’re in for more hot and steamy weather this weekend, enjoy.
Very Minty Iced Tea (from MNN.com)
This syrup can be used for mint juleps as well as for iced tea. For a less intense version, strain out mint leaves as soon as the syrup has cooled.
(Made with garden spearmint, but you can mix in other mints too)
Ingredients
1 cup sugar
1 cup water
A generous handful of chopped mint leaves
Unflavored iced tea
Fresh mint sprigs, for garnish
Directions
Heat sugar and water in a nonreactive saucepan until sugar dissolves and mixture is clear. Add chopped mint leaves and cook a minute or two longer. Remove from heat and let cool completely. Cover and place in fridge for at least three hours. Strain out the mint leaves and store syrup in the fridge in a glass container for up to one week.
Add 1 tablespoon (or to taste) of syrup to each tall glass of iced tea. Garnish drinks with fresh mint.
R-P Nursery Garden Goodies Giveaway (herbs + solar stake)
With the help of R-P Nurseries in Kennett Square, we’re celebrating the 40th anniversary of Earth Day this week with a giveaway of garden goodies to brighten your outdoor space and make it a little greener.
After all, R-P Nurseries is into “making your world greener, one plant at a time.”
And they’d like to give you a basket of delicious green herbs. Three plants, in fact, of your choosing, just in time to flavor up your spring dishes. Toss in a solar garden stake that’ll light up your walkway, patio or garden beds after being charge by the sun during the day, and your landscape is definitely a bit greener. Brighter too.
At 150 years old, R-P Nurseries is the oldest family run nursery in the U.S. They opened in 1866 as The Rakestraw-Pyle Company (a.k.a. Willowdale Nurseries) when William Rakestraw and Josiah Pyle founded the company that over the years grew from tree experts to landscaping and grounds specialists.
Then in 1984, William Rakestraw’s great-great-great nephew, Richard Pratt, and his wife Kathy, took over renamed it R-P Nurseries. That same year they added a gift shop, and a year later they opened the Garden Center, where you can pick up a selection of plant material and flowers from natives to exotics. And they still sell a large variety of hard-to-find trees.
And lots of herbs: parsley, thyme, chives, for example. Win this basket and you can have some too, along with a wrought-iron solar stake in the shape of a flower. Just enter our garden goodie contest and make your landscape a little bit greener.
Many thanks to R-P-Nurseries for their generous support and contribution.
Here’s How to Win (for locals only):
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Here’s How to Enter:
Leave your contact information: Name (first name only is fine if that suits you) + a valid e-mail address (which will is not seen by others).
We will contact the winner by email. The contest is open until 7:00 a.m., Wednesday April 21, 2010. Any entries received after that time will not be accepted.
Winner will be notified on the week of April 26th. Only one entry per person. Multiple entries will be discarded. Contest open only to U.S. residents with a U.S. mailing address. Winner will be selected using Random.org and notified by e-mail.
Giveaway: Garden Bon Bons
By Margaret Gilmour
For Valentine’s Day, we’re sharing our love for truffles. We’re wild about the handcrafted kind. That’s Garden Bon Bons, of course.
These little darlings aren’t to eat, they’re for play. They’re candy that you’ll cherish planting atop soil and watch grow…either next week on your sill, or, later, outdoors in a pot.
Created by Moulton, an online store passionate for one-of-a-kind, quality garden tools and accessories, these bon bon balls of clay are made of organic compost and a seed, each one hand rolled with care before getting bundled in a package for you give to your sweetheart, or to keep for yourself.
Seed balls are a centuries-old, sustainable planting technique, the Native Americans typically using coin-sized balls of clay, compost soil and seed. The compost provided much-needed nutrients for seeds planted in poor soil conditions, and the clay kept insects and small animals at bay.
But these garden bon bons are even better: They come wrapped with love, topped with a bow. All for you, our devoted readers. You simply:
• plant them right away, or store them like any other seed;
• place atop a pot of soil (the clay and compost provide the bon bon with nutrients), no need to bury them; and
• add a bit of water to the bon bon and soil, just as you would any seed, and give it plenty of sunshine and adoration.
Love these truffles, and they will love you back:
Italian Herb Selection Garden Bon Bons
Eight garden truffles in this herb collection, two each of Basil, Parsley, Chives and Thyme. Think of all the meals you can flavor up.
Herbal Tea Selection Garden Bon Bons
There are eight garden truffles in this handcrafted herbal tea selection – two each of Borage, Chamomile, Lemon Balm and Stinging Nettle. Delicious fresh or dried and tossed in salads or teas. (more…)
OLS | From The Garden
By Leslie Kedash
This past weekend was unusually busy for our family and, late Sunday afternoon, I checked the vegetable garden to see what dinner options were available.
I picked a few zucchini, pinched off some basil leaves and gathered a few eggs from the hens, all just enough to make this simple pasta dish.
Perfect for a stormy summer night, this stove-top recipe is convenient to have when the power goes out…. which it did this past Sunday evening. Photo by candlelight.
