Letting mint loose?

I know mint will run amok if grown in the ground but does it smother everything in its path? I’ve a small area at the back of my herb garden where I struggle to get anything to grow happily. I’m wondering whether to plant out some of my mint and see how it does.

The area has paving on two sides and only access to a narrow border on side 3 with my herb garden on side 4, so I should be able to patrol those two escape routes reasonably well. I had mint in an open borders years ago, inherited and too young (me) to be any wiser or fearful. It grew magnificently, all mixed together with thyme, and was a delight to weed because of the wonderful scents.

Any thoughts?

 

I'd only put it in the ground if you've nothing precious nearby. Mine did for a huge Philadelphus and although I dig round it 3-4 times a year, it's now starting to infiltrate a rendered block wall The heat here in summer does knock it back but that means that there's no mint for Mojitos when it's most needed

 

I think it's a myth that mint will always run amok. Like any plant it will only become a nuisance if the conditions are ideal for it.

I've had mint struggle and die where other plants have thrived. I've also had mint thrive in other spots.

 

Funny I went to find ours last night, but it was hidden by wild garlic that has spread everywhere. Yes it does spread, even came up in our lawn. But it does pull up easily and smells lovely in the process. Didn't know it gets into walls!

 

I find it needs a damp spot to be happy, like all spreading plants the best growth is always around the edges of a clump as it moves outwards while the centre tends to die off.

I have some growing in an old water tank and its always best if renewed every two years, otherwise it just gets tired.

 

Put it there but in a container.

 

We have garden mint that has been in our "herb" area for decades. Yes it does spread but we keep an eye and pull up where we don't want it to go. We also have Moroccan which we use as tea. This stayed where it should for many years but again we have found it where it shouldn't be. Still makes a very refreshing tea in the "summer"!!!!!

 

I had mint planted out in my old garden, and it did spread rampantly but only across the area where it was planted (which was small and separate from the rest of the garden). It didn't pop up randomly all over the place like lemon balm does in my current garden.

 

Am leaning towards risking it and putting the mint in the ground. It won’t happen yet as I’m revamping the area this summer.

I wonder if next Summer I’ll be posting to say we are all co-existing happily or rueing the day

 

Years ago, I planted mint in a plastic pot, and buried it out near the kitchen door.
Clever me. That will keep it under control, I thought.
Fast forward a couple of years, and the mint was still contained - or so I thought.
Then I noticed mint appearing in the lawn a few feet away, on the other side of a concrete path.
On investigation, the pot was no longer pot shaped, but almost ball shaped with splits all the way from top to bottom.
What surprised me most was that the runners only surfaced where they did. Not a single shoot appeared in the bed. I don't know if the "dwarf" conifer next to it had any influence on where it came up.
I've NEVER let mint loose since.

 

Well, I think we should admire its tenacity and give it a round of applause for persistence in the face of adversity. That teeny tiny rootlets can penetrate almost anything is a marvel to be wondered at.

 

a field the council is trying to rewild is now about 30% mint 30% maple saplings very crunchy and smelly to walk through

 

A few years ago I planted a woolly, silver leaved mint in my garden. OMG. It took off, looked wonderful for a year or two, tall, smelled wonderful, but my word did it rampage around, smothering everything in its way. It was really hard work to dig out, hiding under edging, in the middle of clumps of herbaceous plants etc. I am still digging it . Such a shame as the smell is delicious when touched, it grows to around 3ft tall with lovely lavender spires of flowers but I have to be diligent or it will be back, taking over the whole border. It was not an edible variety which I have growing in an old almost bottomless coal bucket, rather unhappily, but once bitten, twice shy.

 

My niece on sandy soil planted 2 plants per bed (2), and when I had a garden day at her house, it took me 6 hours to get the mint out of all 4 beds. What ever it was, it had itself happily multiplied in just 2 years.