Should I plant my mint?

[Susy]

I have a nice little chocolate mint plant in a pot. It's growing runners and dying to get out. Winters are bad here and would probably kill it. Would you plant it and let it grow back each year? Or keep it in a pot so it can survive the winter? It's just a baby. I got it as a cutting this year.

It's also flowering right now. I thought that was interesting.

[applestar]

I grow mint in the ground despite all advice to the contrary. I have mint enough to throw away... or use as strewing herb on the patio.

But whatever you decide to do, with favorite herbs and plants with uncertain survivability, I take cuttings and root them -- 4~5 small cuttings (3 leaf nodes) per 4" square container. Usually two containers ("backup of a backup"). This way, I will have at least one or two -- usually 3 or 4... or more -- extras in case of disaster.

[microcollie]

I have a friend in Maine who grows it in her garden (zone 3a, I believe) and it does just fine. Not sure if you're winters are worse than theirs. And I think that that's about the bottom range of most peppermints. It's really a very hardy perennial (nearly impossible to kill once established), and will want to multiply (perhaps a bit too exuberantly) so use caution when planting it near neighbors that don't like crowding. Applestar, I assume this is what you were refering to when you mentioned advice to the contrary.

[Susy]

Thanks for your replies. I'm in a 3a or so also. It gets to minus 40 here in the winter for a few weeks. Glad to know it would survive.

I think there's advice not to plant it in the ground just due to "bad behavior." it spreads and grows like wild fire. Hard to contain. I think you're suposed to limit it by planting a pot in the ground, around it, with no bottom. I will maek sure I do this so it doesn't get away on me.

[rainbowgardener]

If the plants like their location and survive your winter, pots with no bottom won't contain them. I have tansy which is not a mint, but similarly spreads from the roots. I put in in a flower bed IN a pot WITH a bottom. The roots just spread out through the drain holes of the pot and it still tries to take over the flower bed all the time. I pull it and pull it, clear all the excess 2 or 3 times a year. So just keep an eye on the mint.

[Susy]

Ok good to know. I won't even bother with a pot then, probably. I'm out puttering around in my yard litterally every day while my son plays. You should see my tan. lol.

Is this a good time of year to plant it?

[Kisal]

According to the instructions I was given years ago, whatever you use as a root barrier for mint has to extend at least 10 inches underground and 2 to 3 inches aboveground. Otherwise, the roots will just grow underneath it, and the stolons will creep over it.

I just planted my mint in the ground, and didn't have any trouble with it becoming invasive. However, that was because the area was surrounded by cement walkways.

[Susy]

Lol. My plant is in a pot that has edges that extend about 2 inches and the stolons had zero trouble getting past it. I swear the thing has a brain. It's sitting on my picnic table right now and every day it somehow gets it's stolons down in between the boards. It must be able to move and crawl. It's really freaky. I should take a picture.