Chocolate Mint

Tony

Staff member
No, I'm not talking about the juice I vape so that I can stay off those damn cancer sticks (Which is actually Mint Chocolate Chip, and it's AWESOME lol), I'm talking about the plant you put in the ground and grow! I had said that I was going to explain this plant in another thread, so here it is. It's gardening season isn't it? lmao.

Okay, it's almost gardening season seeing as it's March 4th and out last frost is usually near the end of April, but can happen in May (happened last year if I remember correctly. Completely killed the garden!). We usually wait until about Easter to do any garden planting where I am.

Chocolate Mint, What is it. It is just like any other Mint plant (bush) but it has darker leaves and I think a richer flavor. You can notice these plants by their dark stems and darker than normal leaves. Click on the below image for a larger view.

chocolatemint.jpg

If you like Mint, you are going to love this stuff! It is absolutely the best fresh mint I have ever had in my life. With my mom able to kill the grass in her front lawn without even trying, we didn't have many plants growing up. She tried to start a garden (right where mine is now actually) but when she realized you actually have to get out there and weed it, water it, feed it and take care of it, she gave up. Took about a month.

2014 was the first year that we decided to put in a garden since we had the space so that year we did a lot of experimenting. One of the things that we decided to try was a bunch of stuff from some guy named Herb that lives out in the garden for some reason (must be a ghost...) and I planted this Chocolate Mint Plant. It was a little guy and it took everything I had to keep from eating all of his leaves straight away lol.

On our cellar which is a half inground cellar, they pile up dirt around the outside of it on 3 sides. Years ago my grandma had the idea to put up a wall so that she could plant flowers in it. Well overrun with grass after her health went south that is when my wife and I decided to plant our stuff in it. Right in the middle behind the cellar is where I planted this Chocolate Mint Plant.

If you don't have a green thumb, plant Mint! I don't care what kind, just plant it. Because it is going to grow, FAST :bolt:

About a month after planting and this plant had already doubled in size. By the end of the season, it had taken up everything behind the cellar which is about a 24"x24" space. I didn't know that it would come back, but the next year, we hadn't touched the cellar (didn't have much luck with some things up there) and we noticed the Chocolate Mint was back, and holy hell it started right where it left off in the fall of 2014! So we did what we do, took care of it and made the mistake of putting a little Miracle Grow on it... It LOVED IT!

This plant quickly took over the entire back portion of the cellar raised bed and started coming out of the boards on the back, hanging over the edge and growing on top of the cellar. I mean this thing was doing what it needed to to keep growing. And that second year was amazing!

The third year, 2016 we did absolutely NOTHING with the cellar. This is when the grass started to take hold but didn't get out of hand. The green onions we planted were still coming back every year and even this year, 2018, today is March 4th, the green onions have already greened up and started growing, even in the weeds, more in a second on that. But the Chocolate Mint was still growing, poking his little stems out of the trash he had left behind the previous couple years.

2017 was no different, but the grass took hold and grew to about a foot long (Bermuda grass) and it pretty much choked out everything that we had up there, except for 3 things. The green onions which were not as thick, but still there, the Oregano which is very pungent and fantastic, and the Chocolate Mint! But the mint leaves were only about 1/4 the size now from what they were the first two years. Having no fertilizer for a couple of years, a drought and no water took its toll on the poor plant. But it was still there :thumbsup:

So this year I had kind of looked at the cellar and it was a brown overgrown mess. I knew if I was going to do something without killing anything, it had to be done soon and I decided today was the day it was going to happen. So I grabbed the weed eater and my metal rake (which I had to replace the end being broke off of) and we went to the cellar.

I started by weeding around the onions since i love those things and thought I was going to do it all by hand. Oh hell no I'm not lol. That grass is in there! So I just weeded around the onions then grabbed a small shovel and dug them up. Que the weedeater! I filled her up with gas ("OMG did I just assume that weedeaters gender?!?!) and we went trimming! And because I purchased a weedeater larger than what I needed, it was no problem.

Out comes the rake and I start raking all of that brown grass (not dead, just dormant) off the edge (well it's dead now lol) and I look over at that mint plant which has the grass coming in on it. But the Mint is also dormant so only the roots are alive, so I start raking with this metal tine rake (leaf rake, not a garden rake). And I hit the top of that mint (and Oregano) and I rake it right down to bare soil but still leave the stringers in tact. It's much like running Strawberries in the way it grows. It puts out arms then it grows roots every so far.

I got done, but it just looked like I mowed the lawn and with my back, there was no way I was using the little mean green craftsman tiller that would completely kill me right now. But I have the mean Orange rear tine tiller with a transmission. I can drive this thing up the front of the cellar, and that is exactly what I did.

I put this thing in reverse till mode and I started tearing up soil. It hasn't rained in a little while here, but this dirt, thanks to all that grass, was very moist, wet even. And all it did was make millions of small mud balls, but it was better than brown grass lol. Thanks to tilling, it will actually dry out faster and I can get back in there again with the green tiller (I can get closer to the edges with a front tine) later on.

Btu as I was going, I noticed a little green sprout from the chocolate Mint so it is already starting to come back for this year. I need to get my watering can and some fertilizer and give it a nice drink and replenish that soil. but from what I see left in the cellar, this Chocolate Mint plant is going to be holy hell large this year. So if any of you are close to me, I may just have some mint for sale along with other veggies this year if all goes well.

If any of you are wondering what I do with the mint, in reality, it's mostly a ground cover for me that I can sit next to and break off a leave or two and chew on. It is absolutely amazing in flavor! I have also put it in some drinks but I have not baked with it yet. But some Chocolate Mint Brownies are sounding AMAZING right now!!! But, I have to wait on the Mint to grow and I think I'm on somewhat of a diet lmao.

So there is the story of my little Chocolate Mint plant that is taking over the raised bed around the cellar. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with the Oregano that is up there, I may just let them grow together.
 

Tony

Staff member
Not that I have noticed. Not anymore than what are normally on the ground around here lol.
 

liquid1

Member
I grew up around lots of kudzu seen lots of snakes I don’t like snakes, A good friend and a uncle almost died from copper head . I Was just wondering if the mint smell kept the snakes away we have problems in NC with snakes we lime around our houses and use moth balls looking for a better option to keep them awAy
 

Tony

Staff member
Not sure this means anything, but I have never seen a snake on top of the cellar since we have been planting on it. If you find info saying that it does help with snakes, I would definitely like to know.
 
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