I bought some in a 4" pot last fall and never got around to doing anything w/ it. If I put it in a bigger pot, like 3-5 gal., and sink the pot inground, will the mint be contained or will it still spread all over the place? Can't remember for sure, I think it's spearmint.
Mint, any kind of mint
Your mint will do well inground but contained by pot. I think the only other advice will be to prevent it from going to seed after the blooms. I keep mine in large pots. In ground should keep the roots cooler and make it easier to keep watered. http://davesgarden.com/journal/edit/showimage.php?eid=108590
I've found that my mint creates runners that root. Even potted in the ground. Once those runners got going, new plants formed and it took over a bed one year. I reluctantly planted a new batch in my new herb garden this year.....I just have to have it, but I might be kicking myself for not just planting it in a pot.
I have had my mint in a pot for many years,but not inground. I trim the runners if they are close to the ground. I keep it in a fairly shady area, close to the faucet. No problems.
hmmm. I already have 2 of those happy, happy growers: ruellia and australian violet. I don't know if I need a third one, lol.
Me thinks this one's gonna stay in its 4" pot for a little white longer....
I put mine in hanging pots, it looks good hanging down and it can't get rooted.
Hey guys, if you want to try something awsome with your mint, get some grapes, add some mint leaves, as much as you like, sugar it, let it set over night, and kill yourself eating them the next day! Love ya! Krispi
I once put 2 or 3 pieces of spearmint in a bed that was about 3 ft x 20 ft long. Within two years, the whole bed was filled with spearmint. That spearmint bed was the total extent of my gardening for many years and I used to love just sitting there, and enjoying the fragrance. As I have recently begun gardening in earnest, I purchased many varieties of mint. Not having heard that they can cross pollinate and creat stinky mint - I put a number of them in the ground. Being mint, it has taken off - and now I am wondering if I want to take it up and put it in pots... or just watch it so that the different sections stay within boundaries I set up. My chocolate mint grew like CRAZY last year! The first two years I had it, it was in a shady spot on the north side of the house and it just barely made it from year to year. Last year I moved it to the front of the house in a very sunny spot. Just a few little sprigs now is totaly in control of an area about 4 x 12 ft. It is in a rose bed.
I personally wouldn't sink the pot in the ground when it comes to mint. Those runners coming out of the bottom of the pot will take hold, and in about 2 years, you'll have a beautiful bed of mint outside the pot. And make sure you have a barrier between the hole and the ground if you have a pot sitting on the ground, like a saucer.
I threw out an old pot of mint a few years back that I had accidently left dry for months thinking surely it would be completely dead. HA! Good thing I threw it over the hill in some rocks. It grew a beautiful patch of mint in those rocks.
Funny to run across this thread. I am in the middle of moving from North Houston to NorthWest Houston, anyway from an apartment to a house. Since I was in the apartment, I had grown quite the container garden. Now I've been movin things to the house and planting some, Had been considering getting something to section off part of the yard for mint. Then noticed that someones 'pet' mint plants had already chosen a section...so did some garlic chives. I'm going to let it stay where it is though, had we mowed the lawn when we 'should' we would have never found either of these :) Mint smells better than grass anyway and most of my edible plants and herbs are in raised beds.