Growing your own chocolate mint in a self-watering planter

Yea I did say “grow your own chocolate mint” but I wasn’t referring to mint filled chocolate bars, but an actual plant 😂

Chocolate mint tea

Chocolate mint, classified as Mentha x piperita f. citrate ‘Chocolate’, is a hybrid between Spearmint and Waterming. As it’s name suggests, chocolate mint has a smell and taste that reminds that of chocolate. And you your grow it with enough sunglight, the leaves even develop a brownish color making it look like chocolate even more.

Like other mints, chocolate mint will grow very fast and is rather invasive. This is a reason why it is a good idea to plant it in a container. It like moist but well draining soil. When I planted my chocolate mint, I decided to try to build a self watering planter from styrofoam (broccoli) box and some PVC pipes. The idea is to have a planter box that does not require too much maintenance and in this case here is why it can be effective:

the planter box will retain a certain amount of water at its base. Usually people place a saucer under their pot to retain water, a self watering pot will have a built-in reservoir for the water.
water is added directly into the water container via a feeding pipe instead of watering the surface of the soil. Water is sucked up into the soil via capillary action, you know, like when you dip a newspaper into water and the water climbs up the paper.
this type of watering technique prevents compaction of the soil. When you water the surface of the soil, the extra weight compacts the soil. By wicking the water up, the soil remains fluffy and aerated (until the rain comes and messes it up lol).
you don’t have to water everyday if you provided enough space for the water

After looking around on the web, I ended up building my self water planter as followed.

So first, you need a large styorofoam box which you can get for free at a local fruits and vegs shop. Then you need some 15mm pipe and a 90 degrees elbow.

In the photo above, used a transparent pvc tube but it is not required, you can simply cut another piece of PVC pipe and fit it in the elbow. This piece is the drain and one end will enter the styrofoam box near the base. Note the 45 degree angle cut on one end, this is to allow water to come in but prevent too much of the material from the planter to come out and clog it.

Now I drill a hole, 3cm above the base, just big enough for the drain piece, I made above, to fit through nicely.

It can be rotated to the side to adjust how much water you want to be retained inside the container. The more you rotate to the side, the less water will be retained.

Now with some 32mm PVC pipes and an elbow I will build the water feeding system. It will go diagonally inside the box and come up about 2cm above the top of the box. I will drill some holes in the pipe that lies on the base of the box and wrap the pipe with geo-fabric to prevent clogging. I also wrap the drain pipe with geo-fabric.

And you’re done!

Now, before adding some soil, I will fill the bottom 2 to 5cm with material that does not break down or times to break down. This could be: coco coir, wood shavings, gravels, perlite etc... the coarser the better as this area is your water reservoir so big bits will allow more water to be stored.

It's time to add some well draining potting mix, this is my usual one:

1 part garden soil
1 part sand or zeolite or Azomite
1 part commercial potting mix
1 part worm compost or a mix of worm compost and various composted animal manure

Once the soil is added, plant your mint and fill the reservoir with water.

When the water starts flowing out of the drain pipe, you can stop adding water. The dry potting mix will start progressively absorb the water so repeat the filling process one or two more times.

After one month you should get this:
Chocolate mint plant

After two months:
Growing Chocolate mint in a self-watering container

After a year, it just go wild:

Nothing beats a hot chocolate mint tea in a cold evening. I also like to add some lemon balm leaves to the tea, it makes the flavor more interesting. During autumn and winter, I try to boost my immune system by adding other types of herbs such as thyme and, optionally, Mexican mint. The Mexican mint is a great antibacterial/antibiotic that we often use for sore throat. It has a strong taste so add a little at first and increase the quantity if you like it.

Top: Mexican mint, right: lemon balm, bottom: thyme and left: chocolate mint.