Mint (Mentha spicata) care

Herbs & edibles · easy to keep

Mint (Mentha spicata) wants bright light; a few hours of direct sun. Water it every 3 days. Keep it damp. Mint is a streamside plant and the one herb that genuinely does not want to dry out. Pot it in rich, free-draining compost. A balanced feed at half strength every two weeks in summer, and repot once a year. Humidity: room humidity is fine, with air moving. Mildly toxic to cats and dogs in quantity, though a nibble is harmless.

Spearmint: vigorous, invasive, and best kept in a pot for exactly that reason — in open ground it takes over. Indoors it wants bright light and constantly damp compost, and it should be cut back to a stub each time it goes woody, which it will.

Quick facts

Water: Water every 3 days. Keep it damp. Mint is a streamside plant and the one herb that genuinely does not want to dry out.
Light: Bright light; a few hours of direct sun.
Humidity: Room humidity is fine, with air moving.
Soil: Rich, free-draining compost.
Feeding: A balanced feed at half strength every two weeks in summer.
Repotting: Repot once a year.
Toxic to pets: Mildly toxic to cats and dogs in quantity, though a nibble is harmless. Edible for people.
Difficulty: Easy.
Mature size: 30–50 cm tall, spreading.
Native to: Europe and Asia.

Watering a Mint

Water every 3 days. Keep it damp. Mint is a streamside plant and the one herb that genuinely does not want to dry out.

That cadence is the one PlantParlour sets for this species when you name it, and it is deliberately on the cautious side — a plant that asks a day early is safer than one that asks a day late. Log each watering and the reminder moves with the plant rather than with the calendar.

Light

As much direct sun as possible. Supermarket basil dies indoors mainly because a kitchen windowsill gives it a fraction of the light it needs.

Humidity and temperature

Room humidity is fine, with air moving. Central heating in winter is what turns a comfortable room into a dry one, and it is the usual reason an established plant suddenly browns at the edges or picks up spider mites.

Soil and potting

A rich compost that holds some water but drains freely. The pot a supermarket basil comes in is far too small and far too crowded — split it into three or four pots on day one.

Feeding

A balanced feed at half strength every two weeks in summer. Stop feeding in autumn and start again when you see new growth in spring — feeding a plant that isn't growing just builds up salts in the pot.

Repotting

Repot once a year. Every spring — mint fills a pot with runners within a season and exhausts it.

Common problems

Lower stems going bare and woody
Normal after a season.

Fix: Cut the whole plant back to 5 cm; it reshoots within a fortnight.
Orange spots under the leaves
Mint rust.

Fix: Cut it right back, bin the affected material, and do not compost it.

Propagation

Cuttings root in water in days, and a clump divides in seconds.

A cutting taken in PlantParlour keeps its link to the plant it came from, so a propagation years later still traces back to the mother plant — which is the point if you ever sell or trade it.

Toxicity and safety

Mildly toxic to cats and dogs in quantity, though a nibble is harmless. Edible for people.

Questions people ask

How often should you water a Mint?

Water every 3 days as a starting point — that is the cadence PlantParlour sets for Mentha spicata. Keep it damp. Mint is a streamside plant and the one herb that genuinely does not want to dry out. Light, pot size and the time of year all move that number, so treat it as a reminder to go and check rather than a rule.

How much light does a Mint need?