I am trying to tidy the garden up. We are a bit tight for money this month and I want to plant lots of bulbs. Instead I am tidying and keeping busy, let's be honest the garden is a weed haven and a total mess so I have a lot to do.
Clearing this border however I have made a very important discovery. That mint is trying to take over the world, one border at a time.
Two years ago I planted out a very sad and mainly dead supermarket mint plant. I did not think it was going to survive or the consequences of my naive action. It did survive and it did grow and grow. I then cleared the border down that year and the next it came back stronger.
This year it was at its finest. Now admittedly I did just let it grow. The children loved the smell as did I. They were picking it, making mud pies with it, it was a source of fun. Then the flowers came out and the bees and pollinators were in heaven the whole border was alive, I had to keep it.
I have now dug it up and it's taken half my garden waste bin and the roots are spectacular. I am digging the border over a few times to try and get out as much of the roots as possible. Though I know it will come back again.
Next year I will not let it grow at all, as I want this to be a proper herb border. I will post about that when I plant it. Look at what I found hiding beneath the mint. The poor Rosemary trying to grow big and strong under the mint.
So lesson learnt I will plant a pot of mint on the end and then it can not take over the border again. But it will be a big pot as I do love a pimms.
With a bit of patience, it's easier to remove mint from a border than you might think. First of all, dig up that rosemary, clean the earth from its roots over a bucket (discard that earth afterwards!). Check carefully that all the mint root bits have been removed. Then replant it somewhere else, perhaps in a pot for now. Leave the mint border bare till the spring. Then you'll see the new mint shoots coming up from any remaining bits of root. Keep digging them up until no more appear. Then give the border a careful fork over when the soil's dry(ish) to get out any remaining roots. You should be ok to replant the border in the summer and then celebrate with a glass of wine or six.
ReplyDeleteThanks John I will do that and with careful monitoring all should be good and wine even better 😀
DeleteOne of my absolute favourite books is called Bryony and Roses, and is a very unique and dark retelling of Beauty and the Beast, by T. Kingfisher (real name Ursula Vernon). the title character is an avid gardener and one of my favourite lines in the whole book is when she revisits her old garden after a time away and declares 'Is that mint?! In the ground?!?!' Haha I love mint, but it stays in a hanging basket in my garden. Saying that my herb garden has gone nuts by itself anyway! I've got a sage plant that's trying to take over the world i'm pretty sure! xx #picnmix
ReplyDeleteHa ha love that and a lesson learnt the hard way. I will find a lovely pot for mine to keep the world safe xx
DeleteOur neighbour had a similar problem. Mentioned that he used the flowers on food too which I found interesting. #brillblogposts
ReplyDeleteOh first of all glad it's not just me and secondly I too had not heard about mint flowers being eaten. Will look into that next year when it's in a pot x
DeleteI can't believe how much mint can take over, especially as it was a sad little supermarket mint plant! I would have thought the rosemary would have been the stronger plant haha! Thanks for linking up to #SundayBest x
ReplyDeleteI am really not green fingered, so I wouldn't have had a clue what was what anyway ha, though I suspect mint I could smell and identify :) Thanks for liking up to #PicknMix lovely
ReplyDeleteStevie xx
When the garden season begins, a good idea is to prepare and set up the outside space so that it is ready to flourish Garden grove waste disposal
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ReplyDeleteSelecting healthy plants free from disease makes certain that the diseases are not transmitted to your garden. Light dep greenhouse
ReplyDeleteMint is so intrusive isn't it?! I put a really small plant our garden last year and it's just gone crazy, my dad keeps taking some out so it doesn't affect the rest of the plants! Thanks so much for sharing with #Blogstravaganza xx
ReplyDeleteOh, we made this mistake. We planted it where we used to live, I bet the new tenants loved that!! Oops #Blogstravaganza
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