Sneaky naughty mint

[Charlie Farley]

Ok, so i got a little anoyed with my mint plant last year and hacked it back....it has not got a leaf on it...still.
Its contained in a pot within a large half barrel container of other herbs.

A few days ago, new shoots of mint began appearing at the opposite end of the container (smack bang under my chives!). The little begger must have breached its origional pot...but... do i pull up the new shoots to replace the old plant or will that kill them? ..and is the seamingly dead plant just playing dead while its under ground sneaky attack continues??
HELP!!

[sevie21]

We have had a mint plant for a while now but it spreads like crazy!! So everytime there is a new 'plant', I dig it out and plant it elsewhere or give it away and they always do well. It is a very hard plant.
I don't think there is any danger of killing it.....

Good luck!

[Paul Wagland]

Mint can often look a bit dead in the middle while it sends new shoots out on, or just under, the surface of the soil. You should be able to snip these off close to the parent plant and re-pot them.

If you grow mint in a semi-submerged pot it's important to check the edges regularly and deal with any expeditionary growth!

[Charlie Farley]

humm, ill investigate the little blighter more carefully this weekend. Thanks

[ClayGarden]

I'd just like to add that as a total noob, i left mint out in a cold frame which the weather totally battered apart over the last winter. This lovely spring, the mint is doing great in the container it was planted in . Great for me, but your right, it does sneak away.

[zazen999]

It doesn't have to spread by root either; just one leaf falling off and blowing to another part of the garden is enough for it to root and start growing again.

[ClayGarden]

So far i dont mind this, as i'm still a garden mint virgin and am very happy with my results. See me April '09, i may be singing a different tune

Remember a weed is just something in the wrong place

[percy charlie]

im getting a chocolate mint plant smells like after 8 mints yum but if you cook with it just taste like mint arr no fair. my friend is the generous donor as her mint is ambushing at mo. brambles kill mint strangeled ours at the old house otherwise the mint does the killing move your chives if not the mint.

[TonyF]

and for mint, also read lemon balm, can be equally sneaky.

[percy charlie]

my chocolate mint smells lovely but keeping it in pot of just mint and not buried in the ground as i pot grow due to a concrete garden. probably a good thing for mint, hope you save the chives.

[Winged one]

I have my own mint (regular and spear) kept in a plastic container on bricks off the ground to ensure it doesn't take over the garden. But we had some building work done last winter and the builder put (quite a small amount - maybe 2 wheelbarrow loads) of fresh topsoil in one area to fill in after works were finished. That builder is no gardener because the soil (I reckon removed from the next project just started) has proven to be full of couch grass roots and spearmint shoots as well which was only discovered after we had put some new plants into it. So have to do a big dig this autumn to clear and just pull all mint shoots as they poke their heads out inthe meantime.

[hamsterqueen]

I have had the opposite problem, just couldn;t get the mint to flourish. However this year it is taking off nicely. I love mint and use a lot in tabbouleh, couscous etc. We did have a huge eucalyptus tree net door which overshadowed everything and covered the veg patch in red bark. It's been cut down now, so perhaps the mint is no longer being bullied?

[Finedon.Dandy]

When we inherrited the garden the mint had been left to go mad in amoungst the wild strawberries. When we dug over that bed, we dug up some to put elsewhere and dug the rest out. Ha - so much for Olivers efforts as not only is it back (which smells great with the strawbs incidently) but it has also sneaked under the path and is shooting up in the gravel border we put down alongside the conservatory. I do wonder that if I cut it back if it will eventualy make its way into the kitchen - how handy would that be!

[Charlie Farley]

finally got round to digging the pot out, took a while as it had sneaked out loads of side shoots. Roots everywhere! How anything else has survived ill never know. Well, the side shoots are in a new pot growing on and the tub is now root free enough for my basil n oregano to go in- yey
Thanks for everyones advice
hummm, chocolate mint, that sounds nice...now if someone could cultivate a chocolate tasting plant.......yum!

[ClayGarden]

My mint has really taken off in my 9" terracotta pot. Tastes so nice. I dont want to eat it though yet too much because it want it to be really sustainable.