Greens & herbs
Mint & lemongrass
Mint in a pot, always; lemongrass loves the heat.
- Outside
- Mints Oct to Nov or Feb; lemongrass Apr to May
- Where
- A contained pot; mint escapes beds
- Sun
- Full sun; mint forgives some shade
- Water
- Daily in summer, twice in a heat wave
- Harvest
- Mint in the cool months; lemongrass midsummer on
Care
- Water
- Both are heavy drinkers: a pot in a Killeen summer wants water every day and twice a day in a heat wave. Tip the pot; if it feels light you are already behind. The midsummer-dormant mint still never wants to go bone dry.
- Sow
- Buy mint as a plant, never seed, and keep it in a pot with a tray under it; new mints go out in October or November, or in February. Root a grocery lemongrass stalk in water, then plant it in April or May.
- Feed
- Lemongrass is the heavy feeder: a monthly compost top-dress and a fish and seaweed drink every couple of weeks fuel its tall summer growth. Mint wants only a light spring feed.
- Ready
- Snip mint whenever it is in leaf; the cool months are its season here. When it goes dormant in midsummer, cut it back hard for the fall regrowth. Cut lemongrass stalks at the base once they fatten.
- Trouble
- Mint's real menace is escape, which is why it lives in a pot; one runner in open soil is permanent. Midsummer dormancy is not death, it is the calendar. Lemongrass has few pests; its one true threat is frost.
In a bag?
- Yes
- Up to a 10–15 gal bag.
- Water
- Daily all summer, twice a day in a heat wave, until water runs from the drainage holes; lift the bag to check, light means overdue.
- Feed
- Top-dress the lemongrass monthly through summer, since a bag leaches with every watering; mint still needs only its light spring feed.
- Sow
- The bag is mint's home, not a fallback: it traps the runners, so a 3 to 5 gallon pot on a tray, never open ground. Lemongrass wants a 10 to 15 gallon bag for its clump.
Two herbs with opposite calendars: the mints own the cool months and go dormant in midsummer, while lemongrass is the tall grass this heat was made for.
Growing
Mint is a container plant, full stop: one rooted runner in open ground is a decade of weeding. Set new plants out in October or November, or February, and it grows through the cool months the way the winter greens do, goes dormant in midsummer, and returns from a hard cutback in fall. Lemongrass roots from a grocery stalk in a glass of water, then plants out in April or May to eat heat and water all summer. Frost ends it; pot a division for the windowsill in fall if you want it back in spring.
In the kitchen
Mint covers tea, mojitos, and anything with peas or lamb. The swollen lemongrass bases go into curry and tom kha, and spare stalks freeze whole.