Peppermint

Name Origin:

Peppermint is a hybrid mint, a cross between watermint and spearmint.
 

Natural Order:

Lamiaceæ
 

Growing Cycle:

Perennial Herb
 

Origins:

Northern Europe and England. More on the History of Peppermint.
 

Height:

Grows 1-3 feet tall
 

Characteristics:

Like other mints, peppermint can quickly overtake a garden. Peppermint plants have ovate, smooth leaves on stalks often longer that that of mint.
 

Peppermint Flowers:

Little, reddish-violet flowers on spikes.
 

Peppermint Facts:

Sanitary engineers onces used peppermint oil to test the tightness of pipe joints. Peppermint oil has the "faculty of making its escape and betraying the presence of leaks."
 

Peppermint does not produce seed and plants are created by divisions and cuttings. Peppermint plants prefer wet, even swampy soil but will do well in moist loam. All of the mints tend to easily hybridize, if you are purchasing plants crush a leaf in your fingers to ensure that you are truly buying peppermint and not a less aromatic cousin.
 

Cultivation.

Peppermint can quickly become out of control without proper care with its creeping rootstocks. A large patch might be mowed, with the blade being at the highest setting in early, to generate fresh and compact growth. When thinning plants, be sure to get all of the root otherwise those roots will sprout into new plants.
 
The first year's crop is thought to be the most aromatic and valuable. Successive years will yield fewer leaves that are progressively less aromatic. Some commerical peppermint farmers used to "plough up" their entire field every three years to renew the crop. After this treatment, the yield will resemble that of the second year's harvest.
 

Harvest.

Snip leaves anytime. To harvest large amounts, cut plants at their base before blooming starts.