CATMINT: HOW TO PLANT
Sow the tiny seed of catnip in the autumn, give the plant room to grow, with sunlight and light soil, and keep a watchful eye out for caterpillars or grasshoppers.
There is also a garden variety of catmint (Nepeta mussini) with quite a different form of growth. It is a small rockery or edging plant, with grey-green foliage and lavender-coloured spikes of flowers. It grows in a dense little clump and can be very decorative in a pathway or warm sunny corner near a wall.
This plant has some of the medicinal value, but not all, of the other variety, and Nepeta cataria is the more valuable. Try planting this garden variety over your spring bulbs, then when the daffodils and hyacinths are flowering they will have a soft supporting carpet of green and mauve. When they die down, the catmint will still be there instead of just a bare space.
Nepeta mussini must also be cut back after flowering. The plant will grow somewhat straggly and wilted, and then the new growth will commence again from the centre. As soon as this is under way, cut off all the last season’s old spent stems. You will probably find quite a few snails and slugs are thus deprived of a favourite haunt.
Try a vase of Nepeta cataria when it is in flower on your dining-room table. The delicate perfume will fill the room.
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