A mint plant with bright green, toothed leaves
How to grow

Mint

Takes a hard frost. A perennial for zones 4 to 9. Plant out up to 4 weeks before your last frost. First harvest 30 to 60 days from planting.

Photo: “Mint plant” by Mokkie, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (cropped). The cropped version is shared under the same licence.

  • Full sun to part shadeSome afternoon shade is fine
  • 12–24 in apartRows 24–36 in
  • 30–60 daysFrom planting out
  • pH 6.0–8.0Soil pH
  • 1–2 in a weekEven watering
  • HardyTakes a hard frost
  • Zones 4–9Comes back each year

Your dates

Put in your ZIP code to see when to start, plant and harvest mint where you live, from your own frost dates.

Look up the frost dates for this ZIP code
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From seed to harvest

  1. SowSeed goes inWeek 0
  2. SproutFirst shoots showWeek 1–2
  3. True leavesFirst real leavesWeek 2–3
  4. Thin or plant outGive each plant roomWeek 3–4
  5. Leaf growthLeaves fill outWeek 4–6
  6. HarvestReady to pickWeek 5–8

How to plant and grow

  1. Plant divisions

    Mint from seed often does not come true. Plant divisions or rooted cuttings in early spring, before new growth starts.

  2. Contain it

    Mint spreads hard by underground runners. Grow it in a pot or a deep sunken container and trim runners at the rim.

  3. Sun and moisture

    Give full sun to part shade and rich, moist soil. Water 1 to 2 inches a week in summer, but avoid soggy soil.

  4. Harvest often

    Start cutting once plants are 3 to 4 inches tall. Frequent cutting brings fresh, flavorful growth.

  5. Cut back hard

    Cut stems near the ground just before bloom, up to three times a season. Leaves dried then have the most oil.

  6. Divide and renew

    Divide clumps every three to four years in spring or early fall to keep them vigorous.

Common problems

Orange rust pustules covering the underside of a mint leaf
Photo: “Puccinia menthae a1 (2)” by Jerzy Opioła, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (cropped). The cropped version is shared under the same licence.

RustDisease

What you'll see: Orange to rusty-brown powdery bumps on leaves and stems, turning black late in the season. Badly hit plants yellow and drop leaves.

Prevent

  • Grow resistant varieties.
  • Clear and destroy infected tops and debris after harvest, including asparagus ferns in fall, and remove wild asparagus nearby.
  • Water at the base and avoid crowding.

Organic options

  • Sulfur, started when rust first shows.

Conventional options

  • Myclobutanil or propiconazole, if the crop is on the label.

Bee caution: Don't spray open flowers. Spray in the late evening, when bees aren't flying.

A winter squash fruit pitted with sunken anthracnose spots
Photo: Scot Nelson from Honolulu, USA, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons.

AnthracnoseDisease

What you'll see: Sunken spots: tan to dark brown on cucumber and melon leaves and fruit, small purple-edged spots on raspberry canes. In wet weather the spots can ooze pink spore masses.

Prevent

  • Grow vine crops in a new bed each year and clear plant debris after harvest.
  • Water at the base, not overhead, so leaves stay dry.
  • Thin raspberry canes in winter for air flow and destroy the prunings.

Organic options

  • Remove spotted leaves, fruit and canes.
  • Copper fungicide, started when spots first appear in wet weather. Look for OMRI Listed products.

Conventional options

  • Chlorothalonil on vine crops, if the crop is on the label. It protects leaves best before the disease takes hold.

Bee caution: Don't spray open flowers. Spray in the late evening, when bees aren't flying.

An eggplant with yellowing, wilting leaves from Verticillium wilt
Photo: “Auberginen Verticillium-1-Josef Schlaghecken” by Schlaghecken Josef, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (cropped).

Verticillium wiltDiseaseNo spray helps

What you'll see: Lower leaves yellow at the edges, wilt and die, often on one side, and the plant slowly declines. A cut stem shows brown streaks.

Prevent

  • Grow resistant varieties; look for V on the label.
  • Rotate away from tomatoes, potatoes, peppers and eggplant for several years.
  • Keep weeds down; many weeds carry it.
  • Bin infected plants; do not compost them.

Organic options

  • Pull infected plants. Early-maturing varieties may still give a crop.

Conventional options

  • None. Infected plants cannot be cured.
A dense colony of grey aphids on a kale leaf
Photo: “Aphids on Kale leaf” by Sanjay Acharya, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (cropped). The cropped version is shared under the same licence.

AphidsPest

What you'll see: Clusters of small, soft-bodied green, black or gray insects on new shoots and under leaves. Leaves curl, and a sticky film may coat them.

Prevent

  • Check leaf undersides each week; a few aphids do little harm.
  • Pull nearby weeds, such as wild mustards, that feed aphids.
  • Grow flowers for lady beetles, lacewings and hover flies, and avoid broad sprays that kill them.

Organic options

  • Knock aphids off with a strong spray of water.
  • Insecticidal soap or horticultural oil on leaf undersides, repeated as the label allows.
  • Neem oil, or OMRI Listed pyrethrins (without piperonyl butoxide).

Conventional options

  • Malathion or permethrin, if the crop is on the label. These also kill the insects that eat aphids.

Bee caution: Don't spray open flowers. Spray in the late evening, when bees aren't flying.

A striped flea beetle on the edge of a leaf
Photo: “Phyllotreta striolata P1210443a” by xpda, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (cropped). The cropped version is shared under the same licence.

Flea beetlesPest

What you'll see: Many tiny round holes and pits in leaves, as if hit by buckshot. Tiny dark beetles jump when disturbed.

Prevent

  • Cover seedlings with row cover and seal the edges.
  • Plant a little later, so warm weather carries plants through the damage.
  • Sow radish ahead of the main crop as a trap crop.
  • Clear weeds and old crop debris.

Organic options

  • Spinosad, or OMRI Listed pyrethrins (without piperonyl butoxide).

Conventional options

  • Carbaryl, malathion or permethrin, if the crop is on the label. Older plants seldom need treatment.

Bee caution: Don't spray open flowers. Spray in the late evening, when bees aren't flying.

A greasy grey-brown black cutworm caterpillar
Photo: USGS Bee Inventory and Monitoring Lab, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

CutwormsPestSprays are rarely needed

What you'll see: Young plants are cut off at or just above the soil overnight. Fat gray or brown caterpillars curl into a C shape in the soil nearby.

Prevent

  • Put a cardboard or foil collar around each transplant, pushed a few inches into the soil.
  • Till the bed before planting, and pull weeds.
  • Keep a strip of bare, dry soil along the garden edge.

Organic options

  • Dig gently around cut plants and destroy the caterpillars.

Conventional options

  • Usually not needed in a home garden. Collars work better than sprays.

Read and follow the product label: it is the law. It sets the rate, the crops it is for, and the days between spraying and picking. Products registered vary by state; for organic growing, look for products allowed under the USDA National Organic Program (OMRI Listed). We name active ingredients, not brands or rates.

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Sources

Planting dates and growing facts checked against these university extension and USDA pages:

Growth-stage drawings: TallyTill.

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