Will lemon balm spread into my raised bed?

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ClaireR Bozeman, MT Mar 04, 2015

Hi Everyone,

I have raised beds on my front strip (the space between the street and the sidewalk) and I'm thinking about planting some herbs around the outside of the beds. I know lemon balm has a tendency to spread. I'm wondering if there's any possibility that it could spread into the raised beds. The beds are about 10 inches tall, so the underground runners would have to come up through almost 10 inches of soil to get into the beds. Is this something I should be at all concerned about? We're technically zone 4 here, but lots of zone 5 plants seem to thrive, so I'm inclined to believe the lemon balm will make it through the winter.

Thanks in advance for your response!

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Cville_Gardener Clarksville, TN(Zone 7a) Mar 04, 2015

Lemon Balm is a vigorous grower in my area. It also reseeds prolifically.

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altagardener Calgary, AB(Zone 3b) Mar 04, 2015

Yes, raised beds are no barrier to invasive roots... they can, with a little time, get both into and out of raised beds with no trouble. Not hard to picture this happening if one has seen invasive roots entering or exiting through the drainage holes in pots.

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altagardener Calgary, AB(Zone 3b) Mar 04, 2015

Oh, and lemon balm is hardy at least down to zone 2 - most published zone ratings are not to be believed.

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Diana_K Contra Costa County, CA(Zone 9b) Mar 04, 2015

It can be, but control is easy: Harvest the escapees and use them in the kitchen. Yummy!

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Cville_Gardener Clarksville, TN(Zone 7a) Mar 04, 2015

Easier to do with the runners than with the seeds. :-)

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