Kitchen Secrets · August 2, 2026

The Pot That Refuses to Stay Put

A practical guide to keeping mint close to the kitchen without donating the entire garden to it.

Mint is the herb people recommend to new gardeners because it is forgiving. This is true in the same way that saying “a goat is easy to feed” is true. Survival is not the difficult part. Containment is.

The Royal Horticultural Society describes mint as a vigorous herbaceous perennial that spreads through underground stems called rhizomes. Its practical advice is simple: grow it in a container, or sink a bottomless container into the ground with the rim left above the soil.

Give it its own pot

Choose a roomy container with drainage holes and use peat-free multipurpose compost. Mint tolerates sun or partial shade. In hot, dry weather, a little afternoon shade can make a pot easier to keep evenly moist.

Do not tuck it casually into a mixed herb bed unless you are prepared for mint to chair every future meeting.

Water, pick, repeat

Container-grown mint needs regular checking because pots dry faster than open ground. Keep the compost evenly moist rather than waterlogged. Pick the young shoot tips frequently; regular harvesting encourages compact, fresh growth.

When the pot becomes crowded

Every few years, lift the plant, divide the clump and replant a healthy section in fresh compost. Mint also roots readily from cuttings. A stem in water may produce roots, giving you another plant with very little ceremony and absolutely no request for permission.

Save the flavour

Use fresh tips during the growing season. For later, the RHS notes that mint can be frozen or dried, with freezing preserving more of the fresh flavour. Label what you save. A freezer full of anonymous green leaves is not a pantry; it is an investigation.