Mint

MissyWeitzel

I have around 13 types of mint planted in containers to prevent them from spreading. The trouble is they don't grow all that vigorously that way and I want loads more for floral uses and to dry for tea.
I really want to plant them in the ground - with root barriers of course. I'm curious if any if you have experience planting mint in the ground with root barriers and succesfully kept it from spreading over multiple years. If so, how deep was the barrier?

Justafewdahlias

MissyWeitzel
I am also too scared to plant mint in the ground. I wonder if a raised bed would allow it to grow any better and still prevent the spread? Depending on the age or growth habit of the mint it mighttt grow better in the pots if divided. Kinda like when you start to see less blooms of bulbs that multiply or perennials start to kinda underperform they might need to be divided to boost growth. My oregano in a pot started to kinda die out in the center and that is a sign I should divide it (so I was told). My previous house came with one tinyyyy patch of ivy covering a statue in the garden…The battle of removing and controlling the spread of that made me not want to intentionally put a rhizome type spreading plant in the ground.

Out of the 13 mints do you have a favorite? I am expanding my herbs this year and really am appreciating fragrance and functionality of plants vs strictly looks this season 😂

calico20hill

MissyWeitzel I wonder if large grow-bags might work? As long as you did not let the mint grow out and root in the ground nearby? The grow bags are supposed to "air prune" the roots but there is the potential that an old bouquet with it might be dumped into a compost heap and there goes....the mint...

MissyWeitzel

Justafewdahlias I like pineapple, chocolate and apple the most for bouquets. I like Spearmint, peppermint and ginger mint the most for tea.
Ginger's Greenhouse has several varieties I don't have that I'm eyeballing. 😅

calico20hill

Justafewdahlias We will see whether the mint spread beyond the bed this year. Last year I had to have a raised bed 4' by about 10' completely emptied and washed off all the roots of the perennials I put back in it after the soil was replaced....The whole exercise cost me $600 in hired help with the heavy work while I cleaned up the keeper plants and replanted. I had another pair of beds beside the ramp te back porch that also needed a different mint cleaned out. That one was a "Chocolate mint.

Its just not worth it! IF you want mint in a raised bed do not mix it with other keeper plants!

BackyardBouquets_17

What about a raised bed lined with landscape fabric( the real plastic stuff not the fabric type that desinegrates in a yr or 2) without some type of barrier it will just sneak out underneath as that’s how it acts at my sis in law anyway.

Justafewdahlias

calico20hill oh wow!! What an ordeal! Thank you for sharing this so we can all be warned!! I must agree mint and mint alone in wherever it is grown, it doesn’t play well with others. I actually stuck some snapdragon seedlings in a pot that I thought was empty….nope a small chunk of chocolate mint was in there and the roots were going all over making the snapdragon seedlings stunted

Juliarugula

I have a small bed that is surrounded by sidewalk (2’ wide) on 3 sides and the house on the forth, and the mint in it has stayed in place. The the barrier is shallow (about 4”, typ) but wide. Don’t know if that helps.

The lemon balm has not behaved, however. It spreads too easily by seed.

blown_dry

I love that you have a mint collection! I wish I had more advice from experience, but I can only suggest digging and dividing aggressively every year and fertilizing. For some reason I can't get mint to "take over" here. Not quite enough heat I think.

MissyWeitzel

calico20hill that's actually a really good idea and I have some large grow bags I don't have plans for. Thanks!

DarcyD

I love mint. We have three types grow growing in the ground. It’s surrounded by grass, which it doesn’t invade, and a bed on the other side, which it creeps into a little bit, but it’s not bad. Last year I planted waterlilies next to it and it did creep in amongst them, but I just pulled it out. I absolutely love doing anything in that area because just brushing up against it releases the mint smell and makes me happy.

NCDahlia

I grow it in 100 gallon low profile cloth grow bags. So it stays contained.

usually for my bees -- https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/pycnanthemum/

Here is an example -- not sure what I paid but I've had the bags at least +10 years good to grow like garlic and other stuff in too.

https://www.bootstrapfarmer.com/products/100-gallon-grow-bags?variant=29579294787&gQT=1

janell

Three feet of landscape fabric is insufficient to contain mint here. Its runner go underneath. Six feet of landscape fabric have proven sufficient.

calico20hill

I see the mint is coming back in the raised bed that has my peonies. Just pulled about 5 plants of it yesterday. I am so not happy, even if it is "Chocolate Mint".