{"id":3394,"date":"2024-07-30T10:11:52","date_gmt":"2024-07-30T17:11:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.loghouseplants.com\/blogs\/greengardening\/?p=3394"},"modified":"2024-07-30T10:11:52","modified_gmt":"2024-07-30T17:11:52","slug":"magic-mint-guerilla-gardening","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.loghouseplants.com\/blogs\/greengardening\/2024\/07\/magic-mint-guerilla-gardening\/","title":{"rendered":"Magic Mint & Guerilla Gardening"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Seedpods are ripening fast<\/p>\n

Gathering Tomorrow\u2019s Garden<\/strong><\/p>\n

My grandkids and I love to harvest seeds of all sort of flowers, with the mantra, “pods that rattle are ripe!” Once dried and cleaned, as use the seeds in various mixtures for our guerilla gardening practice. Seeds of sun lovers go in one container, shade lovers in another, while a third is a random go-anywhere mix (especially beloved of very young people. We each take a lump of clay soil, blend in our seeds, then roll little balls suitable for flinging. Our target are unkempt public areas, from street islands and odd parking lot corners to sidewalk tree plots and unmaintained paths. When we go on our rambling walks, we toss a few seed bombs into whatever site seems to need a boost of bloom. So far, we have managed to infiltrate calendulas and California poppies, feverfew and foxglove, oregano and lemon balm into many places in their home town as well as mine. None are invasive, all are pollinator friendly and cheerful self-sowers to boot.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Cretan spearmint in the garden<\/p>\n

Steaming With Magic Mint<\/strong><\/p>\n

This summer has been challenging in many ways but one remarkable herb is contributing helpfully to my family\u2019s daily happiness. While I grow several forms of mint, I generally prefer spearmint for its warmth and aromatic sweetness. This year I\u2019ve been experimenting with a new-to-me spearmint native to Crete. WOW, this mint is so amazing! Naturally sweet, spunky without bite, aromatic and fragrant, with a complex flavor profile that lends itself to almost anything culinary, it\u2019s a fantastic addition to the kitchen garden.<\/p>\n

So far, I\u2019ve used this absolutely delicious herb in fruit salads, in iced or hot tea, in sorbet, and as part of a spunky fresh herb mix for fresh tomatoes. Mince together some Cretan spearmint, oregano, lemon balm, thyme, and fennel foliage and sprinkle it over sliced tomatoes; wow, right? Who needs salt?<\/p>\n

Spearmint Sorbet<\/strong><\/p>\n

1 quart water
\n1 cup cane sugar
\n1\/2 cup fresh minced spearmint
\n1 cup coconut milk (optional)
\n1\/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
\nFresh mint sprigs<\/p>\n

Combine water and sugar in a small saucepan, bring to a simmer and stir until sugar is dissolved. Add mint, cover pan and let steep 10 minutes, then strain (a tea strainer works great) and add coconut milk if using and vanilla. Chill, then freeze in an ice cream maker. Scoop into a glass container and freeze until firm, then serve, garnished with mint sprigs. Serves 4-6.<\/p>\n

Breath Mint Magic<\/strong><\/p>\n

This Cretan spearmint also offers a wonderful way to promote better breathing, simply by steeping some in steaming water. I recently woke up with what\u2019s called an allergic shiner, a black eye that shows up like a dark band that curves between the nose and the eye (usually just on one side) due to pressure on sinus cavities. Weirdly, the exact same thing happened last year right about this time, making me suspect that something special is shedding pollen right now. Or maybe it\u2019s just the culmination of grass pollen season overlapping with the beginning of ragweed season?<\/p>\n

In any case, the answer is to breathe in steam. \u201cFor ten minutes with a towel over your head; three songs worth,\u201d says my dear clever kind doctor. She said adding herbs was fine so I put in a sprig of rosemary and a few snippets of Cretan mint. It smelled so amazing that after I was done breathing in the beneficent steam, I strained the mixture and drank it hot. Soothing, refreshing and utterly delicious; it\u2019s my new morning pick-me-up. Onward, right?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Good fresh or dried!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Seedpods are ripening fast Gathering Tomorrow\u2019s Garden My grandkids and I love to harvest seeds of all sort of flowers, with the mantra, “pods that rattle are ripe!” Once dried and cleaned, as use the seeds in various mixtures for … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"footnotes":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[1884,2461,2315,1957,760,1689,1153,1933,1147],"tags":[2592,2590,2589,2591],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1lB7f-SK","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.loghouseplants.com\/blogs\/greengardening\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3394"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.loghouseplants.com\/blogs\/greengardening\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.loghouseplants.com\/blogs\/greengardening\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.loghouseplants.com\/blogs\/greengardening\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.loghouseplants.com\/blogs\/greengardening\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3394"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.loghouseplants.com\/blogs\/greengardening\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3394\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3399,"href":"https:\/\/www.loghouseplants.com\/blogs\/greengardening\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3394\/revisions\/3399"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.loghouseplants.com\/blogs\/greengardening\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3394"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.loghouseplants.com\/blogs\/greengardening\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3394"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.loghouseplants.com\/blogs\/greengardening\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3394"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}