Big-Money Mint

With the mint thriving, I've started looking around for recipes that call for the use of mint: I want to really make good, healthy use of the incredible bounty it's producing. The tallest branch now measures out at a whopping 1 ft in height, and the leaves on all the branches are large, plentiful, vibrant, and aromatic. New leaves are also forming in the areas where harvesting had occurred. The plant is just begging me to use more than a couple leaves here and there to make iced mint green tea, and I think its growing grandeur deserves the honor of being used as an integral ingredient in a main course. A preliminary search online for recipes yielded some intriguing possibilities: baked sole with mint and ginger; Vietnamese spring noodle salad; grilled eggplant and mint dip; and asparagus stir-fry. Anyone have any favorite recipes that use mint? If so, please share!

Admiring the plant as it sits proudly on my small, glass kitchen table, a welcome splash of color on this dreary, doldrums-day, I begin to think of attempting another gardening technique that would be new to me: division. More specifically, division is a form of asexual propagation. The mint plant currently consists of six branches, three of them larger and the other three about half the height of the large ones. The three smaller ones would most likely do better if they were split up from the larger three, with more room to grow and more nutrients in the soil for them to soak up. Of course, along with the benefits of such a procedure, there are risks involved as well. Okay, maybe just one risk: loss of the plant. And since the plant in the present moment is doing so incredibly well, it would certainly be a shame if tinkering with the balance led to the demise of the entire plant. As usual, I've got some thinking to do on how to proceed.

And in other news, still not a peep from the chives seed. I'm doubtful it will pop up at this point, especially given the weather conditions lately. It's been cloudy and rather cool yesterday and today; it's even supposed to snow this evening and tomorrow morning! I know it's indoors, but the lighting factor is still an issue, and if it was on the verge of germinating, its growth might have been arrested by lack of plentiful sunlight and the coolness. Even with the heat on, it's not that warm in here! For the benefit of the mature plant and seedlings alike, I hope the sun comes back soon!

Mentha During a Storm