Mint is a nightmare.
To the uninitiated, you’re most likely scratching your head and considering, “Actually? Mint doesn’t appear so dangerous. Can’t you make tea with it?”
To these of us within the know, effectively, we’re nonetheless nursing battle scars.
Almost definitely, we’re nonetheless yanking up runners, too. And each time we’re served a drink with a sprig of mint in it, we hiss at it, yank it out, toss it to the bottom and stomp on it. (Simply me? Hmm.)
You see, mint was not made to dwell within the frequent backyard.
Mentha, or mint, is a hardy perennial with native species on practically each continent. It hybridizes naturally with out our assist, so who is aware of what number of species there really are. Regardless, the human race took a shine to this pungent and flavorful plant and we’ve been utilizing it in a technique or one other for a number of millennia.
The factor is, mint was made to develop within the wild, not in our gardens.
When grown in its pure state, mint is stored in examine by a various habitat of flora and nibbling fauna. These competing vegetation and critters preserve mint from getting too large for its britches and stability is maintained.
However in your common dwelling backyard. Hoo boy, it’s one other story altogether.
Consider your backyard as a wholesome society. You’ve set it up so everybody has the vitamins they want. There’s loads of area for every member of the backyard. You shield your vegetation from pests and illness as greatest you possibly can. Everybody will get alongside, and also you develop a veritable cornucopia of veg.
(Yeah, I do know, I’m rolling my eyes, too, however go together with it.)
Then, you resolve to plant mint.
You’ve grow to be fairly the house mixologist and have determined you want a provide of contemporary mint for syrups and garnishes to impress your pals. So, you tuck a tiny little mint seedling within the floor within the nook of your backyard.
It’s wonderful; it received’t take up a lot room. You’ll pinch it again so it received’t get out of hand, apart from, you’ll be utilizing plenty of it in your house bar.
By mid-summer, your pals swear you make the very best mojito within the county, and your little mint plant has bushed out properly, thriving in its nook.
Fall arrives.
Now you’re whipping up scorching toddies and pumpkin-spice cocktails, the mint forgotten with the tip of Daylight Saving Time. And that’s simply what your mint plant needs.
You see, you’ve unwittingly planted a tyrant in your backyard society.
Not solely have you ever introduced within the enemy, however you’ve created the right circumstances for complete backyard domination. Mint loves wealthy, well-draining soil. You understand, like the type present in a backyard. It prefers full solar or partial shade, once more, like in a backyard. You’ve suppressed the pure checks and balances that preserve mint from taking up.
Mint spreads primarily underground by means of rhizomes or runners that develop under the floor of your well-maintained soil. These runners produce nodes each inch or two, which sprout new leaves and stems. New mint vegetation pop up alongside these ropey rhizomes.
However you aren’t being attentive to that; it’s winter. The frost killed off every part, and all of the perennials are dormant.
Oh actually, my pal?
Mint is fairly hardy, rising all the best way up in USDA zone 2. It could survive winters as chilly as -20F.
So, whilst you’re studying make artisanal eggnog from scratch, your mint is spreading below the bottom all winter lengthy. In the event you hear a villainous “Mwuhahaha!” on the coolness December wind, it’s most likely your mint.
And at that time, it’s too late.
Subsequent spring, if you head out to the backyard, having switched to mocktails as a result of that New Yr’s Eve occasion was a doozy and Dry January become Sober Curious Spring, that’s if you see it.
Mint.
In every single place.
Certain, within the nook the place you planted it, but additionally on the opposite facet of the backyard, in your walkways…in every single place. And irrespective of what number of occasions you pull it up, it simply retains coming again since you missed one tiny, sneaky rhizome hiding within the soil.
However There Is a Resolution!
Don’t grow to be a house bartender.
No, no, no.
There’s a protected technique to develop mint with out it taking up your backyard – develop it in a pot and bury it. Sure, in fact, you may merely develop it in a container, however remembering to water it’s a ache. Additionally, if the pot is small, there’s an opportunity the roots might freeze, and it received’t come again the following yr. (It may be killed!)
As a substitute, plant your mint in a one or two-gallon pot and bury the pot in your backyard. Nevertheless, if you need mojitos with out world domination, you might want to depart the highest three inches of the pot above the soil. This may stop rhizomes from creeping out and into the backyard at massive.
Even with this security barrier, it’s a good suggestion to examine your mint periodically and clip any runners attempting to make a break for it over the lip of the pot. (They have a tendency to indicate up in drier climate.)
For the very best outcomes, I extremely suggest you employ a terracotta pot.
The clay will take up moisture from the soil, which can preserve your mint trying good in periods with out rain.
Plastic pots are usually skinny, changing into brittle and breaking up when the bottom freezes. Within the spring, this permits the mint to flee by means of the cracks within the pot. To not point out, terracotta pots received’t be leaching chemical compounds into the encircling soil.
That is one occasion the place you’ll need to plug the drainage gap. (Terracotta is porous, permitting moisture out and in of the pot, so root rot is much less of a fear.) You need to lower off this closing escape route for keen rhizomes.
By burying mint in a pot in your backyard, you possibly can benefit from the look of this good-looking plant amongst your different herbs and greens with out the concern that it’s going to take over. Because the outdated saying goes, “Good fences make good neighbors,” and it’s excessive time mint discovered to respect boundaries.
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Together with Sunday ramblings from our editor, Tracey, in addition to “What’s Up Wednesday” our roundup of what’s in season and new article updates and alerts.
