Can you grow mint in AeroGarden?
Yes. You can grow fresh mint indoors with your AeroGarden all year round. It is one of the many herbs that you can grow indoors with your AeroGarden. It is also known as menthe and is also a group of around 20 different plants like spearmint, peppermint and so on.
It has a lot of great qualities that will benefit you. For example, it will help you with digestion and will calm down your stomach ache. With easy digestion, there are fewer risks of increased cholesterol levels. Another great use for your mint leaves is putting them inside a cold glass of either water, club soda, etc. Trust me when I say that the taste will be better. Some people even mix mint with cocktails. Another thing to look forward to is the nice scent that growing mint indoors will produce.
How to grow mint indoors?
Well, there are a few different options for how you can do it. If you have an AeroGarden I would suggest planting mint in it, but if you don’t you can easily grow it in pots. One of my favorite choices is lemon mint, which goes perfectly with any kind of tea.
Growing mint in AeroGarden
If you are planting to grow your mint in an electrical indoor garden, there is really not much to know about it. You can either buy mint seed pods or you can make your own using a grow anything seed pod kit or reusing old seed pods and just buying new grow sponges and nutrients.
So once you have your seed pods prepared, the only thing to do is to install them to your aerogarden and fill the bowl with water. The system will inform you about when to add water and nutrients.
All the steps about pruning, trimming and harvesting mint will be described below, so keep reading.
How to grow mint indoors in pots
Here is the process summed up.
- Prepare the growing pots and soil
- Fill the pot about ¾ with soil
- Make a hole in the middle or a few holes in a circle depending on the size of your pot and put about 3 seeds or 1 seedling in each hole
- Moisturize the soil and keep it moist
- Find a place with sunlight
- Prune indoor mint
- Harvest indoor mint
When it comes to actually plant your mint indoors I would recommend that you buy seedling instead of seeds. This will shorten the time of the whole process. You do want to harvest mint as soon as possible don’t you?
STEP 1: Prepare the growing pots and soil
I always recommend that you use pre fertilize the soil, because it doesn’t really cost that much more than regular soil but will definitely help you to achieve better results. When it comes to pots the rule is the bigger the pot, the bigger the harvest. The size that I have always used for planting mint is 1-gallon pots. If you have the chance, always take the pots that have holes on the bottom. They let the excess water out.
STEP 2: Fill the pot about ¾ with soil
You do not want to fill the pot up completely up like you see other people doing when it comes to mint. The reason for that is that a 100% filled pot is really hard to water. Having either only ¾ of your pot filled or having 100% filled should not impact the final results but if you leave the remaining ¼ free you have fewer chances of making a big mess every time you are watering the plant.
STEP 3: Make a hole in the middle or a few holes in a circle depending on the size of your pot and put about 3 seeds or 1 seedling in each hole
If you went with the 1-gallon sized pot, then you can easily make about 4 holes in your soil. You can make the holes using only your index finger. The holes should be about 1 to 2 inches deep. Anything deeper will not be good, because it will take your plant longer to reach the surface and start producing nice leaves. If you bought seedlings, make sure that the leaves are on the surface instead of being inside the soil. If you went with the seeds, put 3 of them in every hole and cover them with soil. Keep in mind that seeds require a lot of water so make sure to keep the area with seeds extra moist.
STEP 4: Moisturize and keep moist
One of the golden rules of growing indoor herbs is wet moist. I can not stress this enough. Keep the soil moist. If you let it dry, your herbs will probably die or slowly start dying on you. You can notice the plant going bad when its leaves start turning brown.
STEP 5: Find a place with sunlight
Whenever it comes to growing herbs indoors I always recommend that you put your pot on a place with the access of sunlight. The best position for me was always by the window. If your herbs do not get enough light, they will either not grow properly or be bitter. If you are growing it in your AeroGarden, then you do not have any problems with this, since it has its own light.
STEP 6: Prune indoor mint
How to prune mint indoors?
- Find the longest mint plants in your pot
- Cut it about 1 inch above the ground using either your hands, scissors or gardening shears
- Replant the bits that you have cut off or just remove the leaves from the stem and use them right away
It is really important to prune mint because if you don’t, the leaves will get smaller and also your mint will not grow as well as it could if pruned correctly. Pruning it will make it more full and more healthy. When you are pruning, you can replant the bits that you have cut off. The process of doing that is the same as if you would be planting just seedlings with one exception. Once you have cut a plant, put the part that you have cut off into a glass of water and keep it inside until it starts growing roots. This is a really cool trick that you can do. If you do it you never have to buy mint seeds or seedling again.
IMPORTANT!
If there is a flower growing on top of one of your mint plants you should totally prune it. If a plant in your pot doesn’t look healthy, do not prune it. Leave it some time to grow back to normal or just throw it out. You can compost the waste that you produce among the way.
How to harvest mint
Harvesting mint is almost the same as pruning it. If you just need one or two leaves for a refreshing beverage, then you can either pinch or cut them off. If you need more then you can look for the longest plant in your pot and cut it about one inch from the soil up. After you have cut it, pinch the leaves off and they are ready for use! Don’t forget to wash them.
TIP: Harvest your mint plant just before it blooms. This is when the leaves will have the strongest taste, which means that you can use less of them to get the same tasty result.
Which aerogarden is the best for growing mint?
Mint is one of the smaller plants, so they do not really require that much space to grow. This means that any model is fine. I have been growing my lemon mint on an AeroGarden Harvest model.
How long till the first harvest of mint?
If you have planted seeds, you can expect to start harvesting mint about 80 days after planting. If you went with seedlings or replanting it, then this number comes down to an average of 30 days.
I highly recommend that you start off with planting seedlings instead of just seeds. It might cost a bit more but will result in a sooner first harvest. After that, if you replant the parts that you have pruned off, you never have to spend a single penny on mint seeds or seedlings ever again.
How long does a mint plant last?
One mint plant should last about a year. You can, however, extend this time by taking the right care for it. If you go with replanting the pruned off parts and replace the old ones in that way, then your mint pot should have an infinite lifeline. The most common things that can destroy your mint plant are the lack of either water or light. You should never let the soil in your pot get dry.
How to overwinter mint indoors
In the winter, the conditions for growing herbs will not be as good as in the winter, so if you want to overwinter your mint plant then I would recommend moving your herb pots away from the window. Next, you would want to keep a light near them. An office light should do the job just fine. Point the light towards the plants – it is best if your light is standing directly over the herbs and is pointing down on them. Turn the light on for about 2 hours every day. This number can differ depending on the amount of sunlight each day.
BONUS RECIPE:
Mint mojito
What you will need:
- About 10 fresh mint leaves
- 3 tablespoons of white sugar
- 50ml of white rum
- 2dl of soda (or any other drink that you desire)
First cut the mint leaves and mix them with sugar. Next, pour the rum to the mix and stir it for about 30 seconds. At this point, you can add a couple of ice cubes if you want your refreshing beverage to be colder. Pour the soda to the mix and stir for another 30 seconds. You can also use mint to decorate the mojito filled glass. Enjoy!
The health benefits of mint:
Mint is not only rich in taste but also provides a lot of health benefits for you. It is rich in nutrients, may improve your brain function, may decrease breastfeeding pain for mothers, helps with getting rid of bad breath, it may also improve your cold symptoms and help to improve irritable bowel syndrome. Those were a few of the benefits, but I am sure that you can find more if you continue searching.
Conclusion:
You can grow mint indoors all year round either in pots or in aerogarden. It is better to plant mint seedlings than to plant just seeds and wait for them to turn into seedlings. This way you save up a lot of time. If you are using an AeroGarden, you can just buy seed pods online, but if you went with growing mint in pots then it is best to use 1-gallon sized ones with holes on the bottom and fill them up with pre fertilized soil. Once you have planted your seedling you have to keep the soil moist and in reach of sunlight.
After about one month you can harvest your fresh homegrown mint for the first time. When it comes to pruning your mint plant, you should always go for the longest plants and cut them about one inch above the ground. Do not trim the plant if it is either not long enough or if it does not look healthy. When it comes to harvesting you can either pinch some leaves off (if you want a small amount) or you can prune it and remove the leaves from the stem.
Thank you for reading this post on how to grow mint indoors! Have you ever tried growing mint indoors or you are in the process of it right now and have some questions? Feel free to drop them in the comments below. Have a nice day!
