Mentha x villosa var. alopecuroides

[desperance]

...And another thing I did today, between writing ten pages to finish my chapter, I divided and repotted my Bowles mint. This is one of my favourite varieties (I was going to say 'for cooking', but what on earth else would anyone do with mint?), so I suppose to some extent it's like treating a favourite nephew, but I really don't understand why I enjoy this stuff so much.

What did I do? I filled a couple of buckets with my own compost (bending over to shovel from bottom of compost bin, thus aggravating long-standing back problems), I sat on the back step (too low: see above, under 'back problems') and coaxed a stubborn potbound rootball out of its pot. I sawed it in half with an ancient breadknife (with woodworm in the handle; I have always loved that) and repotted each half in a new pot, with said compost. I poured water over both until they were very wet. That's it. What is there in that, to give me such an intense feeling of pleasure and accomplishment?

It is weird, suddenly to discover that you have a gardening turn of mind, quite late in life. Although, let it be said, this is hardly an all-consuming passion; I just go out and do a little bit now and then - something on the lines of pennski's fifteen minutes - and haven't done much at all this year, on account of Book and such. Still, things grow, even despite neglect. Hence the need to repot mints. As a result of which, of course, I suddenly have twice the number. Which is fine at the moment, but extrapolate a few years ahead, and - well, anyone fancy some mint?

Comments

Mmm... mint.

[shewhomust.livejournal.com]

Yes, please.