Was hoping for some advice on chocolate mint and spearmint I am growing.
I need to have better control of the mint in my garden.
One year I tried the mint in clay pots then buried the pots and they almost died.
I was thinking using 5 gallon buckets with the bottom cut out and bury them so the tops stick out about 2" or so.
Would this work?
Should I also do small holes in the side to allow water to pass through?
How small would the holes have to be to prevent the mint from passing through but allow the water to pass through?
I keep mint in hanging baskets but they still try to reach the ground. A pot on the ground is supposed to work providing you make sure they don't crawl over the edge of the pot. I would not cut the bottom out of the pot, they can still escape by runners. I would actually lift the pot once in a while to make sure they have not come out.
Mint will choke itself in a pot. It needs to be divided regularly. Usually just about the time it starts looking really nice, it is time to repot and divide. Otherwise, if the roots continue to circle the pot, the plant will strangle itself and the plant dies out.
Mint will choke itself in a pot. It needs to be divided regularly. Usually just about the time it starts looking really nice, it is time to repot and divide. Otherwise, if the roots continue to circle the pot, the plant will strangle itself and the plant dies out.
Never again will I put mint directly into a garden bed. I did this several years ago with just 1 small piece of spearmint I got from my brother-in-laws garden and within a couple years it had spread to about 10 sq. ft. of garden space. Once I decided to take it out, it took me a good year+ to get it all out of the garden. Just when I thought I had it all out, it came back, but I stayed on top of it until it is now no longer there.
Now that same plant is in a pot and I just split it in 2 and repotted it in 2 containers since I use a good bit of mint in the summer months when I make tea.
Now that same plant is in a pot and I just split it in 2 and repotted it in 2 containers since I use a good bit of mint in the summer months when I make tea.
I second that. I have mints in bowls in the herb garden, but one got away and I have been pulling it out for years. Gotu Kola is another one, people think we actually planted it as a ground cover because they just don't know how hard it is to control.
If your mint was in a bowl and it died, it probably either did not get enough water and it likes a richer soil. It could also have run the roots around the pot and choked itself. Mints in pots have to be divided just about the time they start looking really nice. If mint roots keep circling the pot, the top starts to thin and die out.
If your mint was in a bowl and it died, it probably either did not get enough water and it likes a richer soil. It could also have run the roots around the pot and choked itself. Mints in pots have to be divided just about the time they start looking really nice. If mint roots keep circling the pot, the top starts to thin and die out.
-
applestar
- Mod
- Posts: 30543
- Joined: Thu May 01, 2008 7:21 pm
- Location: Zone 6, NJ (3/M)4/E ~ 10/M(11/B)
My mints are in the ground. This way I can get tons and be very selective about only using the best looking leaves. They have issues with four-lined plant bug infestation, sawfly, slugs, other bugs, some fungal damage. Everything else (spotty, faded, chewed, oops I gripped the leaves too tight and creased/bruised them) gets thrown down on the patio as strewing herbs and dried out-trampled-crumbled.
In this area, the winter freeze will slow the mint down, then during the thaw, they grow/extend the runners just below the ground level. Usually nearer to the surface where it has thawed enough. During the spring cleanup when I edge my beds, I literally and ruthlessly rip out unwanted runners.
Mint along the house foundation can be a bit more of a challenge because they are a little more protected from freezing, but they will predictably grow along the foundation and can be easily followed and ripped out. But I let them grow a bit along the foundation because I'm hoping they repel house pest bugs and mice, too. (I don't use these for culinary purposes because I don't entirely trust the possibility of chemical residues along the foundation)
They can get under 4" deep brick border, but I haven't seen them go much deeper... but then, my subsoil is packed clay so that might be making it difficult for them. Your 5 gal bucket idea would probably work especially if you are diligent about ridding anything that gets out. The brick border? I just lift them up and Easily see the white rhizomes bunched up along the edge of the brick canyon and where they escaped -- rip, rip, rip.
They haven't moved out into the lawn in front of the bed where I walk regularly -- the dense grass sod and clay subsoil seem sufficient to keep them in check and I can rip out any that make the attempt while still in the rhizome stage. They also stay where there is more moisture and won't go out into the dry/drought/less watered area (summer drought can be an advantage).
In this area, the winter freeze will slow the mint down, then during the thaw, they grow/extend the runners just below the ground level. Usually nearer to the surface where it has thawed enough. During the spring cleanup when I edge my beds, I literally and ruthlessly rip out unwanted runners.
Mint along the house foundation can be a bit more of a challenge because they are a little more protected from freezing, but they will predictably grow along the foundation and can be easily followed and ripped out. But I let them grow a bit along the foundation because I'm hoping they repel house pest bugs and mice, too. (I don't use these for culinary purposes because I don't entirely trust the possibility of chemical residues along the foundation)
They can get under 4" deep brick border, but I haven't seen them go much deeper... but then, my subsoil is packed clay so that might be making it difficult for them. Your 5 gal bucket idea would probably work especially if you are diligent about ridding anything that gets out. The brick border? I just lift them up and Easily see the white rhizomes bunched up along the edge of the brick canyon and where they escaped -- rip, rip, rip.
They haven't moved out into the lawn in front of the bed where I walk regularly -- the dense grass sod and clay subsoil seem sufficient to keep them in check and I can rip out any that make the attempt while still in the rhizome stage. They also stay where there is more moisture and won't go out into the dry/drought/less watered area (summer drought can be an advantage).
-
pepperhead212
- Super Green Thumb
- Posts: 2882
- Joined: Wed Oct 15, 2014 1:52 pm
- Location: Woodbury NJ Zone 7a/7b
-
ButterflyLady29
- Greener Thumb
- Posts: 1030
- Joined: Mon Oct 19, 2015 9:12 pm
- Location: central Ohio
If you have heavy clay soil you can plant in the ground and not worry about a statewide take-over. But the mint survives only if you remove the clay and make a planting pocket with good soil. Eventually the clay will fill your mint pocket and the mint will die. Here it takes about 5 years before the clay works in enough to suffocate the mint roots. I've replanted candy mint 3 times in the past 10 years. It also helps that my soil gets waterlogged and stays that way very easily. Most waterlogged mints are doomed to a slow agonizing death.