Controlling mints.

Newsgroups: alt.folklore.herbs
Subject: Controlling mint
From: pgootjes.julian.uwo.ca (Pat Gootjes)
Date: Wed, 10 May 1995 15:27:51 LOCAL

Planted a bunch of different mints last year, and I notice now that the plants have developed tons of little runners, which are everywhere! I like mint n'all and commend them for their tenacity, but is their a way to curb their tendency to dominate the garden?

Thanks,
pat.

From: jacobite.aol.com (Jacobite)

Sorry but nothing can control mint! The best you can hope for is to guide it where you might want it. Pull it up runner and all(save these give them away plant them in a place nothing grows ect!) where it is a problem. It makes good ground cover in some places smells good can't hardly kill it. Good luck

jacobite.aol.com

From: moreta.prostar.com (Moreta)

there are a couple of things you can do.. I have an area that I just plant mints.. and let them run.. ;> (I know you didn't want to hear that hahaha) What I have done in the past, is get some of those 5 gallon plastic buckets from a resturant punched holes in the bottom for drainage (using a hot nail, gloves required and a pair of pliers to hold the nail helps immensely ;> ) Dig a hole for the bucket, bury it up to about the lower ring on the side, fill in around the bucket, then fill with potting soil or your extra dirt then plant the mint into the buckets. it seems to keep them fairly well controlled.. you do need to pull them up every couple of years cut off the bottom half of roots etc and refill it with dirt/potting mixture but it does work to control them.

The other thing is if you can find them.. and have the space. Get some chimney liners.. usually you can get the chipped ones fairly cheap, and if you have a lot of residential construction going on in your area, you can usually get them free.. basicly you can either do the same thing as with the buckets or, if you have the area.. and can get several of them, line them along a driveway or in a parking area of your residense fill with dirt and plant them in that.. same goes with broken pipes if they aren't too terribly large.

The other thing that I know people have done is give them a section of the lawn area, and just mow them when you mow the grass. I prefer the ones above rather than this one, but then I use my mints in herbal preps and teas, and it tends to be hard to harvest them when they are 1-2 inches high ;> even though it does smell nice ;>

Mo