Removing mint

[BroadRipple]

Hello dear Grapes,
A question...I love mint, so I planted some in beds as it wasn't thriving in pots, or even with a bottomless pot - be brave, I told myself. Live dangerously. Who cares if it spreads?
Er, yes, I know. And now I've read online that apple mint is much more invasive than whatever my other kind is (garden/spearmint I think) and will ruin my life/garden.
Anyone know if this is true?
And, if so, should I start digging it up? Wd rather avoid glyco-stuff if can avoid it.
Thanks for help. And if anyone wants a mint root to pot on, I'm happy to post.

[veggiechicken]

I had some Applemint in the garden and left it to run riot under some trees. It did spread but no more so than the ordinary mint elsewhere in the garden. Just pull it out of the areas where you don't want it to grow. I don't think its that difficult if you just keep on pulling it up. Mine has disappeared of its own volition!

[rustylady]

Has it actually started taking over yet? If not then leave it be.

[mrbadexample]

Mojitos!

[BroadRipple]

Thanks for this dear VC, very helpful. The thing is, RL, that I have such a pitifully small plot that although I don't mind rogue mint (and yes love a Mojito) I can't afford for it to take over everything. Any views on whether or not that will happen? I.e. the odd mint-plant in an unexpected place = Good. Only room for mint and everything else gets swamped = Bad.

[veggiechicken]

It runs outwards with runners, so can't really crop up yards away from its home turf. Pull out the peripheral plants as they appear. Maybe leave a new plant to grow and get rid of the original every once in a while.

[taff]

or slate it into a box..get some slate or thin plywood or similar, and dig a square [or a parallelogram if you're feeling more creative] and box it in. It'll keep the runners from spreading but you'll have the benefit of mint with it's feet in the soil.

[peanut]

I had some in a 2x1m raised bed and it wasn't a real problem....yes it put out some runners but its so easy to just pull them off that I've kept it as it's a much healthier happy plant now than when it was in a pot.

[Potstubsdustbins]

As with everything else I grow my mint is in a container its about twice the size of a morrisons bucket and gives good harvests for about 3 years, then goes very woody. So every third spring I pot up a couple of roots into 5" pots. Compost the old plant, three months later the large planter is full of nice mint once again.

Colin

[DiggerJ]

Just to continue on this, how deep are the runners? I love the slate box idea, but if i was to go down just say 4 inches would that be enough?