...Take back your pearls....

It just turned chilly enough for me to wish I was on the beach wearing a bikini.

...and mint is THE thing to evoke the freshness of summer.

Here's how to have it over the winter.

You need:

1 mint plant (do you already have one? You probably think it's died...It hasn't...It's just having a bad hair day, because it's winter).

1 pot, with holes in the bottom

A bit of multi-purpose compost (peat-free please)

Some horticultural grit, or pea gravel.

Method:

Take your plant and knock it out of its pot, or yank it out of the ground (whatevs, just get a nice bit of root...long and squirly).

Cut the root into small bits, about 2cm long.

Now fill your pot with compost, just a couple of centimetres shy of the rim, and lay the root pieces, 2-3cm apart, on the surface.

Cover the root cuttings (for that is what they are) with grit or gravel, water the whole thing, and leave it inside your kitchen windowsill.

Magic will happen...and soon (the above photo and the one below were taken exactly 14 days apart) There is nothing quite so lovely as seeing those pale green hairy leaves peeping up at you - just keep the thing watered and you'll have mojitos for Christmas.