How to Grow Spearmint USA
On this page
Spearmint (Mentha spicata) — perennial.
Unlike an annual crop, the work here is front-loaded into establishment: get the planting and the site right and the same plants crop for several seasons.
The short answer
- Site
- soil pH 5.5–6.5
- Biggest risk
- Powdery mildew
Core growing advice on this page is checked against named horticultural sources — see References.
Spearmint (Mentha spicata)
7 sources cited · Verified
Soil & Growing Conditions
Growth Stages
Quick Facts
At a Glance
Harvest & Storage
Diseases
Pests
Spearmint, a Vigorous Spreading Herb
Plan your Spearmint planting
When to sow and plant Spearmint depends on your own frost dates. Check the USA vegetable planting calendar. To work out where it fits in your beds, sketch your plot in the free Garden Layout Planner.
Growing Spearmint in another region
Sowing dates, frost timing and local advice differ by country. Use the guide for where you garden.
Sources
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Perennial herb hardy USDA zones 4a-9b, 1-2ft tall with a similar spread. Full sun, though it tolerates partial shade. Prefers organically rich, moist, well-drained soil at pH 6.0-8.0 and struggles in dry conditions. Propagate by division, seed or stem cuttings. BEST GROWN IN A CONTAINER because it spreads rampantly by rhizomes and rooting stems; a soil barrier is the alternative, though the same habit makes it useful as ground cover. Leaves and flowers are used fresh or dried; shear after flowering to stimulate new growth. Diseases are mainly fungal, chiefly rust and leaf spot.
These 2 sources are specific to this region. The full list of 7 sources behind this guide (FAO EcoCrop, GBIF, NC State Extension and others) is in the references of our UK guide to spearmint; they describe the plant itself, which is the same wherever it grows.
Frequently Asked Questions
What soil pH does spearmint need?
A pH of about 5.5–6.5. That span reflects genuine variation between the authorities we cite rather than a single agreed figure — the References section lists each source's exact range.
What problems affect spearmint?
Our data links 2 diseases and 3 pests to this crop. See the sections above for each one and how to manage it.
Plan next season before the problems start
Almost everything on this page resolves to your own frost dates rather than the calendar — the last spring frost moves by roughly two months between zone 3 and zone 10. The USA Garden Planner works from your zone so the timing is already decided before the season starts.
Get the USA Garden Planner →Instant PDF download · Written for US growing conditions
How this guide is put together
The growing data on this page — sowing windows, pests, diseases, soil and site requirements — comes from named horticultural sources, listed in References below, checked against USDA hardiness-zone and frost-date data, with Cooperative Extension sources cited directly where one exists for a crop. An automated pipeline assembles that verified data into the page you're reading: it selects which facts to lead with and builds the surrounding prose and layout. It does not invent a date, a source or a number — where a verified value for a field isn't available, the page leaves it out rather than guessing. A person reviews and publishes each page; nothing goes live unverified.
Related Problem Guides
Last verified 2026-09-02
Related guides
More from the same group (herbs & aromatics):
Growing advice for your part of the USA
Timing and conditions change a lot inside one country. These guides cover frost dates and growing seasons region by region.
Where To Go From Here
Take this crop from reading into a written plan for your own beds.
Keep going
Plan the next step
Use the printable SoilCommander planner for your region to turn this guide into sowing dates, bed layouts and weekly garden tasks.