Happy Urban Dirt

Mint is one of the most renowned. But, Have you ever seen a mint flower? Do you know when it blooms and what characteristics it has?

Then we want to talk to you about it and the care it will need so you can see it bloom. Go get it?

How is the plant doing?

Peppermint, with its scientific name Mentha spicata, is a widely used medicinal plant around the world. It is aromatic and does not grow very huge, although it can reach a meter in height. But what is normal is that it is between 30 and 90 centimeters high. It has a scattered stem in the form of numerous branches with lanceolate, toothed, hairy (on the underside) and bare leaves. They are lithe green in color and when you touch them or even get close to them, you will smell them.

As for the uses attributed to it, they are aromatic, medicinal, culinary… There are many dishes that can be seasoned with mint to give them a special flavorand at the medical level, its properties include diuretic, anti-inflammatory, antiseptic, hyposthetizing…

How’s the mint flower?

If you are lucky, you will see a mint flower. They are born from a long thorn that grows much larger than the plant itself (to stand out from it).. They are clustered only at the tip of this spine and are very miniature, in the shape of a cup composed of five sepals and a corolla. There is only one color, namely the flowers can be said to be white or pink. They measure no more than 3 mm in length.

When does peppermint bloom?

If you want to see the mint flower, or rather the flowers, because the thorn will throw out a lot of them, You should know that you will have to wait until summer to do this.

It only blooms once a year and will always do so in the hottest months. But to achieve this, it is necessary to provide all the care needed.

Mint care

Having mint at home is not complex because it is a plant that is very effortless to find in gardening stores, nurseries… But yes It is convenient to know what care is, not only to see the flower, but also to keep it fit. Here we leave you the most vital of it.

location and temperature

Mint is a plant that adapts to both partial shade and shade. However, if we had to choose only one, we would say that partial shade is better, with plenty of lithe, but not direct sun (this will burn the leaves and cause so-called water stress (a very quick and extremely droughty period), which can easily cause death.

In terms of temperature, it is best to stay between 14 and 20°C. It tolerates much higher heat and frigid, but not in the case of multi-day hauls. If this is your case, you will need to protect her during this time.

Subsoil

Peppermint is undemanding to the soil you employ, whether in a pot or in the garden itself (although this is not the most common). Please note that the soil must have good drainage as it does not like water accumulating. This is why, employ perlite or bark to aerate it well.

Irrigation

You should know that mint needs moderate watering. The soil must always be damp, especially in summer if temperatures are high.

We cannot give exact directions because it depends on whether the place is in shade, partial shade, what the weather is like… But to give you an idea, it is possible that in winter you will only water once a week, while in summer you can enhance the amount of watering to two or three.

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Once or twice a month you can fertilize it with liquid fertilizer mixed with irrigation water. However, if you intend to employ the plant at a culinary level, we do not recommend it.

In this case, it is preferable to provide compost, manure, etc. instead of chemicals. This is applied in this case at the beginning of spring, only once a year. Try to employ a dose appropriate to the size of the plant and as fragmented as possible.

pruning

In general, mint should not be pruned beyond what you intend to employ for medicinal or culinary purposes, or for taking cuttings.

However, please remember that it is a very invasive plant, which means it can destroy other plants in the garden. Therefore, it should be controlled and in many cases not planted in the garden.

Flower

As we said, flowering takes place in the summer. At this point, you will see a thorn start to grow between the branches. Make sure it can grow easily and that there are no branches hindering its development (otherwise it may have problems).

Of course, in the shade it is much more complex to get him to give you flowers. So one solution is to move it to allow lithe to enter and activate the cycle to see the flowers.

They will last for a few days and then droughty up.

Plagues and diseases

Peppermint has pests that need to be kept away so they don’t affect the health of the plant. These include aphids, white flies, caterpillars and snails.

When it comes to diseases, the most perilous and most affecting is rust.

Multiplication

Finally, when it comes to reproducing mint, it should always be cut back in early summer. You need to choose shoots that look long and fit.

The best way to get your plants to take root is to place them in water, as they will take root within a few days and you will soon be able to transplant them into the ground.

As you can see, the mint flower is something to behold. But to achieve this, you not only need to know when it blooms, but also provide it with the proper care to do so. Have you ever bloomed at home? We read you!