Grow your own mint for the taste of summer Symbolising hospitality, mint is packed with vitamins, antioxidants and minerals and makes an excellent digestif, so welcome your guests with a mint tea, so simple to make: just pour boiled water over a sprig of your favourite leaves (mine is Ginger), stir and leave to infuse and sweeten with honey. Iced mint tea is refreshing, especially using Tashkent mint. Make tea as above, then refrigerate and pour over ice cubes in a long glass, decorate with mint leaves and lemon or lime slices. Even more welcoming perhaps is a mint julep (a measure of bourbon, two teaspoons sugar, half-a-dozen crushed mint leaves with soda and ice) or a mojito (a measure of white rum, the juice of a lime, 20 mint leaves, two teaspoons of sugar, diluted with soda and decorated with lime wedges). Growing mint Mint has ambitions to be ground cover. It's easier to grow than to eradicate, so always plant with roots restricted, either in a container or pot plunged into the ground. It makes an excellent companion plant as it deters pests, including whitefly, ants and mice, and the flowers attract bees, butterflies and hoverflies. It grows well in any soil, but prefers its roots in shade with the sun on its leaves. Mint likes moisture. I grow mine in a pot near the garden tap. Jekka's top 10 mints Spearmint (Mentha spicata) is the best garden mint, especially with peas. Apple Mint (Mentha suaveolens) for mint jelly. Eau de Cologne (Mentha x piperita f. citrata) for a refreshing bath. Swiss Mint (Mentha spicata), excellent in teas. Buddleia Mint (Mentha longifolia) for arrangements and attracting butterflies. Upright Pennyroyal (Mentha pulegium) repels flies and ants. Black Mitcham Peppermint (Mentha x piperita) as a digestive tea or inhalation. Chocolate Peppermint (Mentha x piperita f. citrate) for chocolate mousse. Moroccan Mint (Mentha spicata var. crispa) for teas and mojitos. Basil Mint (Mentha x piperita f. citrata) for strawberries - with balsamic vinegar. Growing garden peas Peas need an open, sunny, rich and moisture-retentive soil that's well drained. They like a cool spring, but need a warm soil and protection for early sowings. Sow taller varieties with enough room to add peasticks for support. I grow enough to use some as pea shoots in salads. Don't pull after harvest, as roots are packed with nitrogen-fixing bacteria. By growing different varieties you can crop all summer. Earlies include Wavenex, Feltham First and Early Onwards. Jekka McVicar is teaching a course on how to identify and forage native herbs in the UK, on June 15, as well as Fridays in June. See Jekka's Herb Farm or phone 01454 418878 or email sales@jekkasherbfarm.com.