Growing mint and coriander in pots

Mint and coriander are the two herbs most kitchens use every day, and they are two of the easiest to grow in a pot. They behave very differently, though. Mint is a perennial that spreads, forgives mistakes and keeps going for years. Coriander is a short-lived annual that grows fast, goes to seed at the first real heat and needs sowing again every few weeks. Treat them the same way and one of them always disappoints.

Mint: start from a cutting

The quickest way to start mint is from a bunch bought for the kitchen. Choose firm stems, strip the lower leaves, and stand them in a glass of water on a bright window sill. Change the water every couple of days. White roots appear within a week or two, and once they are a few centimetres long, plant three or four stems together in a pot at least 8 inches wide with drainage holes, in a mix of potting soil and compost.

Mint likes four to five hours of sun, and it is one of the few herbs that is happy with morning sun and afternoon shade. Keep the mix just moist; unlike most herbs, mint wilts quickly when it dries out, so check it daily in April and May. Always give it a pot of its own. It spreads by runners under the soil and will crowd out anything it shares a planter with.

Harvest by cutting stems just above a pair of leaves, which makes each stem branch. Pinch out flower spikes when they appear. Once a year, usually after the monsoon, the pot fills with roots and the leaves turn small; tip it out, cut the root mass into two or three pieces, and replant one in fresh mix.

Coriander: sow little and often

Coriander is grown from seed, and ordinary whole coriander seed from the kitchen usually germinates well. Each round seed is really two seeds in one husk. Press them gently with a rolling pin to split them, then soak them overnight. Sow them about half a centimetre deep in a trough or pot at least 6 inches deep, a couple of centimetres apart, and keep the mix moist. Seedlings appear in one to two weeks, and you can start cutting leaves after about four weeks.

Coriander does not like being moved, so sow it where it will grow. Give it at least four hours of sun, and water it gently so the seedlings are not flattened. The plant lasts only a few weeks before it sends up a flower stalk, after which the leaves turn feathery and sparse. The answer is to sow a small batch every two to three weeks, so a new pot is ready as the old one tires.

The right season in each city

Coriander is a cool-season crop. In Delhi NCR it grows best from October to March and bolts almost at once in April. In Bengaluru you can sow it for most of the year, avoiding only the hottest weeks. In Mumbai, sow from October to February, and during the monsoon keep the pot under cover, because heavy rain beats down seedlings and rots them. Mint grows all year in Bengaluru and Mumbai; in Delhi it slows right down in winter and comes back strongly in February.

If your coriander flowers after a few weeks, you have not done anything wrong. That is what it does. Sow the next pot now.