Mint Containment

[Virgil Caine]

I love this mint plant. It has grown like crazy. However, it is very invasive and is shooting roots into neighboring plants and sprouting everywhere and all around. I learnt that it should be contained by planting in space with no-out. I am thinking of planting it in an old Fish tank and bury the fish tank into the ground. I inherited this fish tank (1.5 ft deep X 4 ft wide X 2 ft high) when we moved into this old house. Has anyone done this? What are the problems if I do this?

[Gill Passman]

I would never grow mint, lemon balm or anything similar in my beds. I grow my mint in a wooden tub - it was in with some other herbs as well but has taken over....so you are right that it needs containing.

Personally, if it doesn't leak I would put fish in the fish tank :-) but that is another addiction of mine...

Seriously, I would hesitate to bury a glass tank/container in the garden....it almost certainly would not survive a heavy frost and you'll end up with glass in the bed...

Gill

[Doug Kanter]

I think it was garden writer Henry Mitchell who said that if you insisted on growing mint, it should be done in a concrete cistern, sunken into the ground. As far as burying a fish tank, please think about this for another 5 years before doing it. Sorry if this seems impolite, but it's an intensely stupid idea.

[Jim Elbrecht]

-snip-

The fish tank has no drainage and it probably won't survive the weather- even if it does survive lawnmowers and foot traffic.

I plant my mints in areas that have natural boundries. One patch is in a little chunk of dirt bound by an outbuilding, a driveway, and 2 sidewalks.

My favorite is only bound on one side by a low stone wall-- the other sides are lawn. I like mowing in the spring when some has escaped to the lawn. The smell of it going through the mower is a real pick-me-up.

Jim

[Pennyaline]

Careful, Jim. Mint will run underground and suddenly appear on the other side of your driveway, sidewalks and outbuilding.

[Butzmark]

I planted it in a plastic flower pot that I buried in the ground to just below the rim three years ago and so far it's done fine. It's a large pot about two feet in diameter and probably as deep. It's one of the ones that looks like clay. It has a drain hole in the bottom.

[Doug Kanter]

It's drilling holes in that pot right now.

[Jim Elbrecht]

-snip-

It hasn't in 20 yrs. Actually it must be fairly weak [it *is* on the north side of the shed] because I actually have to weed that spot-- Motherwort and Garlic Mustard would take over if I didn't watch it.

OTOH-- I don't care if it jumps the sidewalks or driveway as it would end up in lawn and I'd get to mow it.

Jim

[Plant Info]

You probably don't have to go to that extreme measure to contain the mint. Usually any physical barrier that's @ 3-4" above and below ground will do the trick. Don't, however, forget to check on the mint from time to time to make sure it hasn't crept above or below the barrier.

Suzy, Zone 5, Wisconsin