I'm in mint!!!

I'm helping my mom with her little (thank God!) area around her condo. A previous owner thought it would be a good idea to plant mint. grrr... She also has a ton of various weeds and creeping thyme with very deep roots. Short of an atomic bomb, how can I make this workable? The soil is so full of roots that it's barely penetrable with a pointed shovel...I have to literally jump on it! I was thinking about taking an ax and hacking the cr*p out of everything, but there has to be a safer, less back-breaking way to do this. Since this is a condo, it's not like I can take my time to dig out all the roots and leave the mess there for days at a time. What about putting down thick black plastic with mulch on top (for this season, to kill off some of these horrible weeds)? I could cut holes and put sticks of dynamic in the ground. Just kidding. I guess I would use one of those sharp soil knives to cut a hole in the ground, and keep the plants in their containers which would be buried. Any thoughts? Thanks, Tamara

I'd try smothering it... dynamite is probably against the condo association bylaws ;)

Is RoundUp out of the question? What's your take on the RoundUp, Equilibrium?

Round Up is over used then add to this that it is frequently used improperly rendering it ineffective. Other than that, it's a short life chemical which is a lesser of the evils type deal.

I suspect that you're right. As a systemic, though, this might be just waht the doctor ordered with all those crummy roots around. I suspect that a good afternoon of considered effort might take care of the problem too.

I've planted my mint at the base of shrubs just to avoid this very problem.

RoundUp wouldn't be out of the question for me were I trying to eliminate mint and thyme on my Mom's property but then it's not my Mom and it's not my property. It truly depends on whether or not zone5girl is comfortable with using chemicals and ultimately whether or not her Mom is comfortable having chemcials applied around her condo. zone5girl did not mention whether or not chemicals were acceptable to her or to her Mom or not.

I am not an organic gardener. I will use organic means when possible, but will resort to chemicals when necessary. I think I will rip out whatever I can, spray the rest, and then smother it. Will that work? Tamara

Probably not much much better than atomics would! Go get'em........

Why don't you consider waiting until the plants are actively growing again. Then spray them with RU-

Sort of cheated because I cut that out of another thread I posted it in a while ago but the same temp rules apply for RU. Anywho, wait about 14 days after spraying them to allow the "happy juice" to work its way through the plants, then start ripping out what ever you can get. From there, spot treat re-growth. Also too, you don't want to do this on a windy day yet on the other hand, you don't want to do this on a day when there is no wind at all. Don't plant anything back in that area until it is free of mint and thyme for a few months.

Thanks for the info! My neighbor's yard is also weed infested (with those dang weeds that have "burrs"!), and I will defintitely use that method on her yard (I kind of "adopted" her backyard for this upcoming season, since she wants a nice garden, but is physically unable to do it, and I need more room to grow my plants). Unfortunately, my mom's condo association won't look kindly on her leaving her area in that condition. Guess I'll have to use the "cut to the ground and smother" method for my mom's. Tamara

Those you might be able to hand pull, depending on what they are.