Spearmint

The aromatic oil in spearmint is used to enhance the taste of food.

Spearmint is also used as a medicine. It has antibacterial and antifungal properties and can help relieve headaches, digestive problems and menstrual irregularities.

It is best to grow spearmint in cool, damp soil.

In October and March, spearmint is grown from creeping roots, and in the summer, it is grown from cuttings.

If you are growing spearmint from roots, lay the roots thinly in holes that are 3 inches deep and 12 inches apart, and then cover the roots with soil so that the soil is level everywhere.

When growing from cuttings, set the cuttings in rows that are 1 foot apart, with the cuttings 3 inches apart.

Water the plants when the weather is dry.

Be sure to keep the soil free of weeds.

You can force spearmint - grow it out of season - by making a hotbed that is between 1 and 2 feet thick and covering it with 6 inches of soil.

Place a box frame on top of the hotbed.

When the heat drops to 65 degrees Fahrenheit, lay the roots inside the hotbed, cover them with fine soil, water them and turn lights on. Leave the top of the hotbed slightly open.

At night, cover the plants with a mat.

Cut the shoots when they are 5 or 6 inches long.

You can forward spearmint - extend the growing season - if you place plants in shallow box frames that are on top of open air beds toward the end of February.

Cover the frames with mats until the plants begin to grow, and then cover the frames every night.