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Mint is an invasive thug in my garden and everyone else’s. Runners spread rapidly and can choke out perennials and annuals in flower beds.
The alternative is to grow fragrant herb in a pot, but then you have provide winter shelter or bring it indoors and water the container every day.
Parsley, basil, rosemary and other clumping herbs are lovely in containers and veggie beds. I grow mine in a 20-inch-diameter bowl set just outside my kitchen door. But, they start to look tattered and sparse after a month or two of growth and harvesting.
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Ugly and unruly herb solutions were abundant in the botanical gardens I toured in 100F-heat at the end of June in Madison, WI. Two masters of garden design, Jeff Epping at Olbrich Botanical Gardens and Ed Lyon of Allen Centennial Gardens https://allencentennialgarden.org/ on the University of Wisconsin campus, put herbs in their place, with striking results.
Mint meadow
Epping planted a number of mints, including chocolate, miniature Corsican and my favorite banana, in a flat bed bordered by a sidewalk and hedges. Terra cotta spheres dot the garden, echoing the mints’ rolling growth. Each type stretches and fights with others for dominance. Their growth can be easily contained with a string edger, maintaining a neat border and keeping the mints from invading other beds. It’s an eye-catching, easy-care culinary delight suitable for any size yard.
Invasive mints can battle each other for ground space and still provide beauty, fragrance and wonderful flavors when corraled in their own bed.
Bedding basil and more
Ed Lyon used a myriad of basils, thyme and sages to create a formal edible garden suitable for a front entry bed or one next to a patio. By contrasting colors, such as purple and lime basils, and mixing textures, from needle-like thyme to furry sage, the eye is drawn directly into the bed, hunting for more.
Parsley, basils, sages, thyme and more create an eye-catching small ornamental bed that is perfect for edging patios or any outdoor entertaining area.
I took home plenty of ideas on how to contain and enhance my herb collection. Do you have any herb gardening ideas to share with us?
Doreen G. Howard
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What is the best way to harvest herbs? Should I just cut off the leaves or is it best to cut from the bottom of the stem? Thank you for your advice.
I have used mints with great success, BECAUSE of its invasive nature. Sometimes what people hate about a plant can also be useful. I have used it to grow between many other plants and flowers, to suppress weeds and to control ants. The ants were out of control in the bare lawn when we moved in. one large bed of plants interspersed with mint kept the ant numbers down. I think they moved deeper down or something. Less ants, meant less aphids on the rose bush. i would recommend planting mint under a rose for this reason.
When it has to compete in densely planted garden beds, like with masses of bulbs, it can't really go out of control. Like in this picture you showed when they are competing with other plants with figurous growth they don't go silly. Also, i think if you are sensible about the planting it is good. So, in a suburban or urban block where there are borders of hard concrete to stop it escaping it is fine. Not anywhere near native vegetation or forest or waterways where it can escape and spread.
Ants don't attract aphids, it's the other way around. When you have an aphid infestation, any numbers will increase because of the sugars excreted by the aphids. In the case of aphids you actually WANT ants because they keep the aphid population down. Your aphid infestation could get a whole lot worse without having ants on your team. The ants do not destroy and eat your Rose bush. Just thought I would throw this out there so people know that the ants are an alibi, and the aphids are the ones damaging your roses.
Some types of ants actually "farm" aphids like cattle, milking them for their honeydew secretions. They will protect the aphids in their care from predators and winter them over in their nests, re-establishing the herd when spring comes. I have always been taught to get rid of the ants if you want to reduce your aphid population. It is better to encourage aphid predators such as lady beetles.
Actually, I was thinking of this idea in my yard alongside my house where grass and weeds invade. I thought, the mint could choke those out easily! I look forward to trying it.
My herbs, thyme, rosemary, chives, and oregano are planted on a slope outside my kitchen and it keeps the ground settled. No more runoff when it rains. Trying with all my might to keep the invasive mint away!
I welcome all the mint I can get! it's everywhere in my garden--I "thin it" regularly and donate it to my local food pantry, where it is greatly appreciated. Here are two brief articles I've written about it--one title "Invade!" http://www.foodshedplanet.com/2008/05/fragrance-that-explodes-beneath-my-feet.html and the other titled "I Call Candied Mint!" http://blog.farmerd.com/2012/06/i-call-candied-mint-why-i-love-mint-4/
I've got a mint meadow started too. I love your name for it.
