My entire garden is being consumed by mint -- help!

[leftyclimber]

The people who lived here before us planted some mint outside of a container. (Whoops.) Last year, after its initial attempt at world domination, my SO tried to dig out as much of the root structure as possible, but it looks like he missed some. The remaining mint made a comeback and is now trying to strangle our 64 square feet or so of vegetable garden.

This garden started out organic, but the poopyhead apartment complex landscapers decided to "help" it along and sprayed insecticide on it without our permission, thereby rendering said garden "inorganic." All solutions, regardless of how chemically nasty, are therefore welcome. The only thing I can think to do with it is to buy a thing of Round-Up and sit outside with a paintbrush, carefully painting each nasty little leaf and trying not to get it on the actual food we are growing.

How does one murder the evil encroaching mint without killing the rest of the garden? All suggestions welcome! TIA!

[Dover]

1. Mmmmm.....I'll bet it smells heavenly.

I can't get enough mint. I use it in everything...make tea out of handfuls of the stuff. I throw it in the blender with smoothies, I add it to meat dishes, I marinade myself in it in the bathtub, but mostly I just love to smell it...the air just seems cleaner.

.....sorry I'm not the best sympathetic partner when it comes to my favorite herb.

[leftyclimber]

3. Come on over, then. I've got plenty.

Take as much as you want! Please!

:rofl:

[CC]

2. If it doesn't matter what you use

then your best bet is to go the Round Up route. Cover what you want to save, put some mint into a container to save too. Then put the round up in a container and sponge it on the mint. Wear heavy duty gloves so you don't get it on you. You might have to do it a few times as more mint come up. I once ask my county what they used to kill weeds because it worked so well. They used Round Up concentrate but mixed it twice as strong as the directions said to do it. Once most of it is gone then maybe you can use a flame type weeder to spot kill anymore that comes up.

I love mint but it has to be contained. Good luck.

[leftyclimber]

4. Round-Up it is, then, I guess.

I'll be out doing that once we have a dry patch in the forecast. Ugh.

Love your ferts, BTW. I used to have a couple, but unfortunately became too allergic to have them any more. Give yours a hug from me, if you would. :)

[CC]

5. Make sure you do have heavy duty

gloves and maybe tie them at the wrist so no leakage gets on you. The sponge is easier than the paint brush though. An old plastic coffee can would be a good vessels since you can throw it out along with the sponge at the end of the season.



Thank you on the ferts, all of them are elderly according to the vet. My youngest is 5 years old now. Some I have had since babyhood and some are fosters for a rescue that will live out their lives here. Sorry to hear you are allergic (so is my sister). I don't think I could ever go ferret-less again. I will give them hugs from you and an extra treat.

[leftyclimber]

6. I'll hit Tractor Supply before I do anything and get all the goods.

I have a bird feeder about 8 feet away from the mint-poisoned area, and some mourning doves that run around in the garden. Am I putting them in jeopardy? If I am, I may just try to weed as best as possible. I will NOT kill "my" birds for the sake of a little less mint if I can herbicide and cover it at the end of the season when I can be sure I'm able to keep the birds off.

Yeah, the fert thing is rough -- I really miss having them around. I always come home from Petco having to take a Benadryl and with hives all over my arms because I played with the ones at the store!

[ThomWV]

7. We killed out an infestation of it by repeated digging. Smells great when mowed, by the way.

Put some of it out in the yard where you will hit it every time with a lawn mower. It smells absolutly wonderful when you mow it.

[dgibby]

8. try this first

try using boiling hot water and/or vinegar(not boiling). should kill the roots without harming birds, etc. good luck!

[leftyclimber]

9. But can I do this without killing the plants I want?

I know I sound like a total ignoramus, but that's only because I am. :blush:

I'm trying to recover from what I thought was a terminal case of Black Thumb, under the watchful eye of my SO. I'm just terrified anything I do is going to kill my veggies (think broccoli and cauliflower with devious little mints growing up in between each of them, sneaking up in the night with their minty little tendrils ready to reach up and strangle my food.....)

Thanks for putting up with my garden ignorance, folks. I appreciate the input.

[dgibby]

14. Nope

the water and/or vinegar will kill everything, but won't contaminate the rest of the garden, nor will it make Monsanto even richer(roundup). You'll have to wait 'til the end of the season to use these methods to kill the mint. just weed it out by hand until then.

[ThomWV]

16. Pull them by hand for now

If they are intertwined with your garden pull them by hand until fall and then unleash the nuclear option.

[leftyclimber]

10. Mmm ... yummy.

I used to mow over a patch of yarrow that had invaded the lawn, but that was because it looked better than the actual grass did. :evilgrin: I like your idea much better.

[crispini]

11. Honestly, if you use Roundup, you may nuke the rest of your garden.

I would just cut it back aggressively through the spring and summer, while you're waiting on your veggies.

Then, use whatever means necessary in the fall / winter.

Just because they spray insecticide on it once, doesn't mean you shouldn't keep trying to go organic. Good luck!

[leftyclimber]

12. So the root system won't bollocks up the other plants' roots?

That's my main concern.

Clearly, I've chosen the Take No Action option at this point, while I weigh the options. :)

[crispini]

13. Mint doesn't have a whole lot of root system

I can pull it up pretty easily. I'm sure others on this forum will correct me if I'm wrong, but there are a few ways one plant can adversely affect another:

1) If the plant doesn't "like" each other -- certain plants should not be planted next door to others, but there's not any contradictions with mint that I can think of.
2) If one plant overshadows another plant. Generous cutting back of the mint will prevent this.
3) If one plant gets diseases and passes it on to the other plant. In this case, I'd pull it up.

I dunno, I can't see any reason not to just cut it back and/or pull it up for now, and resort to something more drastic in the fall/winter if you see the need.

If you have lots of small mint "volunteers" all over your garden, they'll come up pretty easily. Actually I take my volunteers every spring and pot them up in those small throwaway pots that come with your plants from the nursery, and post them on Freecycle! There's always someone who is happy to get more live plants for their garden. That's the great thing about growing, when you've got a lot of something, there's probably a use for it! :)

[NJCher]

15. organic weedkillers are on the market

I agree that just because the lawn maintenance people dumped some pesticides on your garden that your organic intentions need to be put aside. That is deplorable, however, and I hope you gave them grief over it. There are some organic weedkillers on the market. I'll post the links and my experience with them, but first...

Here is a page that compares Round-Up and Burn-Out, an organic weedkiller:
http://www.espoma.com/ET-familypage.aspx

Here is a list of the damage Round-Up can cause:

4. Glyphosate has shown a wide spectrum of chronic toxicity in laboratory tests....

5. Roundup contains toxic trade secret ingredients. These include polyethoxylated tallowamines, causing nausea and diarrhea, and isopropylamine, causing chemical pneumonia, laryngitis, headache, and bums.

6. Roundup kills beneficial insects.....

7. Glyphosate is hazardous to earthworms....


See others at:

http://www.organicconsumers.org/ge/monsanto-hazards.cfm

I don't recommend making your own organic weedkillers with vinegar because you have to get vinegar that has a high percentage of acetic acid and that is hard to do.

The best solution, IMO, is what is recommended on this thread--dig up the mints, put them in pots, and post an ad on craigslist: mints--50 cents a pot! Or put them out on a table by the roadside with a sign and a little box for the "honor system" and sell them for 25 or 50 cents a pot. I don't recommend giving them away because people don't value what they don't have to pay for. BTW, did you know that mint is always a bestseller at garden centers and plant sales? Yes, it's one of the most popular herbs.

I dig up mints all the time and find their root system comes up easily. I loved Dover's suggestions. I make herb teas a lot by just washing the mints and putting them in my crockpot for about six hours. I throw in a few green teabags for the health benefits. This will make your home smell w-o-n-d-e-r-f-u-l!

Now if you must use a weedkiller, here are two organic ones:

http://www.espoma.com/ET-familypage.aspx

and

http://www.biconet.com/lawn/burnout.html

I've used the latter and it smells heavenly--like cloves and orange. The supplier I posted is also a good guy from whom to order. Those little spray bottles the smaller sizes are sold in are useless--you will break your hand spraying with them. Get yourself the larger size and a good sprayer.

Make no mistake about it, however, this organic stuff is powerful, even though it is just made up of clove oil, mineral oil, etc. I spilled some on top of my refrigerator and it took the paint right off. Yikes!

And that's essentially why I have mixed feelings about the use of either organic or chemical weedkillers. Bottom line is that even though you spray them, the weed is still there, in all its dead and burned out ugliness. You still have to pull it or get rid of it in some way.

There's another consideration: if you pull up the unwanted plants (weeds), you discover this whole ecosystem going on underneath your feet. What does this weedkiller do to that ecosystem? That's my question. I would be appalled if I thought I was hurting my earthworms.

All in all, it seems easiest to just use the mint to your advantage in some way.



Cher