Frugal Living - Growing Varieties of Mint

I'm reliably informed that mint takes on a life of it's own and can very easily get out of hand and dominate any corner it's allowed to grow. With this in mind, and having a small patch already established in the garden, I planted out what was left of a supermarket plant I had bought when it was 'reduced to clear'. I use quite a bit of mint as I crush it - mortar & pestle - and then mix it through soft ice ceam. I also used up some egg whites making mint ice sorbet. Freshly crushed mint leaves are so much cheaper than having to buy mint essence and I'm about to try making chocolate mint creams using the garden mint and icing sugar.

If using any mints for tea, I like lemon balm. Sadly, I left this plant behind when we moved house but I was able to take my planter of mint. UPDATE: Managed to get a cutting from same person who gave me the previous plant.

My flourishing mint, rescued from supermarket.	Lemon Balm - courtesy of Freecycle.
08/06/08 - Two days after picking handfuls to crush & serve with ice cream. This stuff grows fast!	08/06/08 - The Lemon Balm safely planted into the border where it has loads of space to spread.
12/04/09 - Starting again in a new garden. The original planter had so many new shoots coming that I have transplanted 2 cuttings to a broken nestbox attached to the fence.	07/06/09 - The cuttings of lemon balm have rooted and grown really quickly. Now producing enough for lovely lemon balm tea. More cuttings taken for elsewhere, too.
	`
23/06/09 - Another pot each of mint and lemon balm now sit by the greenhouse door.	13/07/09 - See how quickly this stuff grows! I have been using these pots for herbal tea making