Mint

We all know the mint plans for this world THEY WANT TO CONQUER THE WORLD!!! I moved to my home in Pennsylvania 12 years ago and the Mint plant was in the back yard already, so the way she sees think I am the invader, but she is hard grows fast and everywhere, recently (and this is amazing) I put a pot on the ground with some Lillies on it a big pot should I add, and guess who showed up, THE MINT PLANT.... I don't know what to do I only keep it under control I am all organic so I don't spray anything in my ground... Open for suggestions.

 

Research recipes that use a lot of mint?

 

Thanks I am already doing that, and a lot of tea and I love it but thats it...

 

Mmmmm mint tea:)

 

just keep pulling it up. try to get all of the roots - any little bit left will keep growing.

i'd also not allow the flowers to go to seed either.

 

You can stake in a barrier to a depth of about 1 foot to keep it from running, and like Joclyn says, don't let it go to seed. Even then, you'd probably need the ants I have in my garden to keep it well controlled. (yay, tropical leafcutter ants! the only thing I've found they're good for is controlling mint; I wish they'd let my bananas alone.)

 

Okay You're all going to call me mad but I've recently planted Mint in the garden. It's in a spot where I've got a lot of Golden Cane (Dypsis lutescens) palms and some crotons and a few other varieties. It's behind a trampoline which I have positioned in the ground (amazing drainage here just dug hole and put in trampoline). The theory was to let it grow to hold together the soil on the garden side as there's grass on the other doing a good job. I chose mint for two reasons it's growth habit and it's smell next to the trampoline.
I don't care too much about it going under the trampoline but am now wondering how I will go controlling it in other directions? Will an edge trimmer and the occasional Glyphosate keep it under control? Also what are the future problems if the hole were to be refilled can it be easily enough destroyed? I do avoid chemicals, but have figured at times it's the more effective option if not overly done.

 

Well for what it is worth the mint I would like to spread like wild fire will not. I don't have a damp enough spot. I know in the old days people here used to grow it under a tap. Might have to try that. This is the variety that is used in tabuli (sp) the parsley mint salad from the middle east. I have had lemon balm take off a bit. Think that belongs to mint family. Is your yard very wet that it grows so well or is this a variety that is not fussy.

Liz

 

It's in an area that gets watered once a week by washing machine water I divert out into my yard, so it stays moist, and I've noticed the plants are looking very vigorous.

 

From what i know with my experience with mint...refilling the whole in the future might be a difficult task. Chemicals may be your only option, as pulling it all up will be a lengthy and unending task, and under no circumstances should you till it up. I did that once and it seemed like every single little peice of chopped up mint grew into a new mint plant!

As for what to do with all that mint?? I know that it freezes rather well. It might look a little wrinkled when you thaw it out, but all of the essential oils are still present, and it tastes the same.

 

Cheers,
I had a feeling it might linger if buried and not just smother.
Welcome to the forum by the way.

 

It might linger, but will it still be in mint condition?





(runs for cover ;-)

 

Oh, remind me to look you up and smack you with a flounder next time I'm in Britain....

Of course it will be in mint condition.

 

Lol!

 

*sigh*

 

Thanks to all you who welcomed me, I got an idea recently, I am going to start planting them in plastic cheap pots and give them away to people, those I do care a lot I will recommend not to plant on the floor... GB

 

Haha BRILLIANT! Any of your neighbours you really don't like.......?

 

you know what they say about bamboo,
you only plant bamboo when you dont like your neighbors, and I should add Mint.

 

The hardiest bamboos grow in tight clumps.

 

I planted a bamboo and a banana the banana had to go. The right plant for the right place.
I can add a little about my mint now that it's establishing a bit and I have little fear of it getting too far. The plants in raised sections which dry out quicker are definitely not as aggressive as their lower shaded counter parts. Those that have taken off well are only doing so in the surface drain area and most moist spots and dying off quickly as they extend into the dry regions. So it will be controlled environmentally in my yard with minimal concern of it overtaking the garden. I reckon if I didn't water the area the mint would die off naturally.

 

Well here in Pennsylvania if something we get is water, if you dont water your plants the Lord will take care of it for you, I did not water my tomatoes last year and we got probably the same amount of tomatoes, that we always do. I think this is a blessed place if you ask me.

 

Mints. If you leave even a 1 section of the rhizomes in the ground, you will soon have another mint plant proudly surviving and spreading. If you leave a section smaller than 1 you will probably soon have . During my childhood we lived near a small swampy area, which was teeming with mint, so much so, that you could harvest it with a scythe in places with only little contamination by other plants. So here are your choices as far as I can see them:
Dig up the infested area, sift thoroughly through the soil and remove by hand every little bit of rhizome you can find. Thereafter watch the area closely for any new plants piping up and remove every part of them. That is how I got rid of mine.
Easier would probably be to spray the whole infested area with a weed killer and start anew. You could probably remove any plants you want to keep prior to spraying (make sure,that these are free of any bits of rhizomes).
This is a long shot, but you could try to dry out the area, but as you said, in Pennsylvania this will probably not work.
PS: I intend to post a list of my most despised and some not so despised invasive plants here and solutions to their containment, which have worked for me during the next few days.

 

Shall look forward to that olaf....maybe you have some tips to get rid of the Ivy (or some other invasive creeper) strangling our trees back home!

 

Sorry, Jen, I have (thankfully?) no experience with ivies or other invasive vines. If they keep on coming back, after you "rip the top off" then there is little choice other than killing the roots by spraying the leaves with weed killers. You may not have to spray the whole plant, just a good portion of it, which you can reach without hitting the greens of those plants, you want to preserve. You may be able to pull some of the vines down onto some plastic sheeting and spray them there.

 

When the ivy takes off up our gumtrees (60+ft) the friends of the forest volunteers cut the climber near the base then work on it with poisons. Often if something can be applied as soon as th cut is made it will take it out both ways. I have seen them use a small chain saw to cut the vine that is how thick some of these things are. The growth up the trunk is usually left and nature over time removes it.

Liz