My mint plantation has been clear-cut!

[cowgirl]

Arggh!

We live in an apartment in a big Victorian mansion. The landlords live upstairs. We have a lovely vegetable garden in the back, and there is a big poorly-maintained flower garden along the side of the house. Most of the flower garden is weeds, and the summer's been so hot and dry that it's been drought-resistant weeds lately. (Note that when we moved in we offered to look after that garden too, if they would help us out with the costs of planting, and they said no.) But there is a huge, glorious patch of mint at one end that I have been using to season my water, tea, iced tea, salads, etc etc etc all summer. Yum.

Or, should I say, there was a huge, glorious patch of mint. Imagine my horror yesterday when I headed out for a sprig, and found the whole flower (weed) garden, mint and all, razed to stumps.

Oh, the ignorance of landlords. I have no words. I'm gutted. Devastated. I know, it wasn't MY mint, but ... but ...

*sigh* Anyone know how long it takes mint to grow back from a brush-cut?

Further, anyone know how squash plants can be trained to reach out and strangle ignorant landlords?

[Gangster Octopus]

Have you talked with the landlords about it? They made a mistake, without knowing them, they may feel terrible about it if told.

[twickster]

The thing about mint is -- you can't kill it. There will be plenty more where that came from. Seriously. The stuff is sci-fi-movie tenacious.

[Athena]

I killed the mint I planted last summer. I have no idea how. I planted it in one of those half-barrrel things, since I knew it would spread and take over the world if I planted it in the ground.

This summer, I waited, and waited, and waited, and the mint never came back. I killed mint. I must be some sort of superhero.

[The Weird One]

Yeah, I'm with twickster. When we planted mint this year, our only concern was putting it in the most inhospitable spot we could find, in hopes of keeping it in check. Cutting it down will probably make it grow back faster and thicker than before.

[Sal Ammoniac]

I think squash plants strangle everything except landlords as a rule. And the mint will come back -- they're invasive, and in fact pretty hard to get rid of.

If you want some completely unsolicited advice, I'd recommend relocating the mint away from the building. A Victorian house will have shed a certain amount of lead paint over the years, and the concentrations of lead in the soil are bound to be highest right next to the foundation. Certain plants -- and I'm not sure how mint is in this regard -- will take up the lead from the soil.

[cowgirl]

Originally Posted by Gangster Octopus

Have you talked with the landlords about it? They made a mistake, without knowing them, they may feel terrible about it if told.

*sigh*

Yes, I'm sure they would be sorry if I told them. Just like they were sorry that my derailleur somehow got bent when they moved my bike to re-tile the floor. And they're sorry my bike then got stolen when they made me lock it up outside, against my wishes and protestations about living in the (alleged) bike theft capital of North America. And they're sorry that my keyboard got busted when the roof leaked on it, after I asked them to come in and fix the leaky roof. (They were, however, surprisingly not sorry when my housemate got carbon monoxide poisoning from their amateur attempt at installing a gas system.)

Not that I'm bitter or anything. It's just time to move, is all.

Originally Posted by twickster

The thing about mint is -- you can't kill it.

Yes, this is why I'm grateful they razed the mint and not, say, the tomatoes. (Because apparently those are for the racoons. But that's another Pit thread.) But I was getting accustomed to handfuls of fresh mint every day and now there has been a substantial interruption in supply. Perhaps this should be a lesson about mint gluttony. I was getting very spoiled for a while.

[Grey]

Originally Posted by Athena

I killed the mint I planted last summer. I have no idea how. I planted it in one of those half-barrrel things, since I knew it would spread and take over the world if I planted it in the ground.

This summer, I waited, and waited, and waited, and the mint never came back. I killed mint. I must be some sort of superhero.

Did you cut the bottom of the barrel out? If not, it's possible the water pooled around the roots and drowned them.

[Athena]

Originally Posted by Grey

Did you cut the bottom of the barrel out? If not, it's possible the water pooled around the roots and drowned them.

I'm pretty sure it had a hole in the bottom. It's not a real half-barrel, it's one of those half-barrel planter thingies you get at the plant nursery.

[Homebrew]

Originally Posted by Athena

I killed the mint I planted last summer.

I too have managed to kill mint when trying to plant it. My attempt was even in the ground, not a container. Couldn't get it to grow for nuthin'.

[Anaamika]

Originally Posted by Athena

I killed the mint I planted last summer. I have no idea how. I planted it in one of those half-barrrel things, since I knew it would spread and take over the world if I planted it in the ground.

This summer, I waited, and waited, and waited, and the mint never came back. I killed mint. I must be some sort of superhero.

You are weird.

To the OP: Don't worry, it should easily be back in a couple of weeks, if not sooner. That stuff is scary. Mint tea is yummy.

This is probably going to get move to MPSIMS, BTW. Not even venom.

[Anaamika]

Not enough venom.

[UncleBeer]

You are weird.

It's not Athena who's weird; it's the climate where she lives that's weird. I think the growing season up that way is what, about 7 days each side of the summer solstice? 'Bout two weeks, is that right?

[Cat Whisperer]

My guess is that just about anything planted in a container and left to overwinter in it will die in northern climes. Plants get their winter insulation from being in the ground, not in a container. I managed to kill daisies in a planter - the noxious weeds of the west.

I'm sorry to hear about your landlords razing the plants, cowgirl. I'm sure it was easier than weeding or something extreme like that. to your useful plant killing landlords.

[cowgirl]

Originally Posted by Anaamika

This is probably going to get move to MPSIMS, BTW. Not enough venom.

I know. I'm too sad to be venomous. And besides, my venom would probably be minty-flavoured anyway, from all I've consumed in the past few months (see above re: mint gluttony).

I tried to transplant mint once. I thought I could just pull up a bit of mine (well, my landlords', I guess) and take it to my friend's house. Several hours, much blood/sweat/tears, and many garden tools later, I had managed to hack out a bit - those roots don't fool around, let me tell you.

It struggled along in the pot for a while and eventually sprung to life, but didn't last the winter.

[Contrapuntal]

Originally Posted by cowgirl

*sigh*

Yes, I'm sure they would be sorry if I told them. Just like they were sorry that my derailleur somehow got bent when they moved my bike to re-tile the floor. And they're sorry my bike then got stolen when they made me lock it up outside, against my wishes and protestations about living in the (alleged) bike theft capital of North America. And they're sorry that my keyboard got busted when the roof leaked on it, after I asked them to come in and fix the leaky roof. (They were, however, surprisingly not sorry when my housemate got carbon monoxide poisoning from their amateur attempt at installing a gas system.)

Not that I'm bitter or anything. It's just time to move, is all.

(Emphasis mine)



Boy Howdy is it ever.

[SmackFu]

If you hadn't let the weeds get out of control...

[Bryan Ekers]

Originally Posted by Homebrew

I too have managed to kill mint when trying to plant it. My attempt was even in the ground, not a container. Couldn't get it to grow for nuthin'.

Did you forget to add the pepper? It's very important.

[mhendo]

Originally Posted by twickster

The thing about mint is -- you can't kill it. There will be plenty more where that came from. Seriously. The stuff is sci-fi-movie tenacious.

That's what i was going to say. We had mint in our small back yard when i last lived in Sydney, and no matter how frequently we cut it, and even tried to pull it all up, it just kept growing back in a very short amount of time.

[Zsofia]

I too have killed mint, but then I'm very talented. People say "you can't kill mint" or "you can't kill daylilies" or whatever, and I say, "You guys are amateurs." This wasn't at all in the winter, and I live in South Carolina. I should be drowning in mint. But no.

[Jackmannii]

Mint plants in general like moist soil. Soggy undrained soil is not good.

An established mint patch will not be lost by cutting it back severely - with adequate water there will be a dense stand of it again in a few weeks.

[lorinada]

Of course, my mint is thriving in the soggy, poorly drained clay I moved it to. It's the only part of the yard that is soggy because it's at the corner of the sloped yard. I put it there because nothing else was growing in that part of the yard.

[cowgirl]

Originally Posted by Anaamika

Don't worry, it should easily be back in a couple of weeks, if not sooner.

Originally Posted by Jackmannii

An established mint patch will not be lost by cutting it back severely - with adequate water there will be a dense stand of it again in a few weeks.

Woo hoo! Thanks for the reassurances. It will be exciting to see the mint spring back anew, and now with an entire flower bed clear-cut, it has even more space to take over!

It just looks so sad right now, and I'm mint-less for the time being.

Originally Posted by Sal Ammoniac

If you want some completely unsolicited advice, I'd recommend relocating the mint away from the building. A Victorian house will have shed a certain amount of lead paint over the years, and the concentrations of lead in the soil are bound to be highest right next to the foundation. Certain plants -- and I'm not sure how mint is in this regard -- will take up the lead from the soil.

Interesting, I didn't know that. It doesn't seem to be slowing growth, though. The mint is not right up against the wall, it's actually quite close to the shabbily-installed gas system (which I'm reassured is fixed by now). I will check out some of the veggies, though, which are right up against the wall. We ate onions from right next to the wall all last year ... if we weren't moving, I'd get the soil tested.

We're moving as soon as garden season is over. Which, if recent behaviour of squash-stealing squirrels and tomato-thieving racoons (and mint-mowing landlords) is any indication, shouldn't be too long.

[fushj00mang]

Originally Posted by Zsofia

I too have killed mint, but then I'm very talented. People say "you can't kill mint" or "you can't kill daylilies" or whatever, and I say, "You guys are amateurs." This wasn't at all in the winter, and I live in South Carolina. I should be drowning in mint. But no.

Zsofia, for your next trick, would you please come out to Shaw AFB and kill some of the fucking hydrangia growing in two of our ponds? We've used hundreds of gallons of herbacide out here, and it's still growing back. You can hear it laugh as it grows!

[Zsofia]

Hydrangea? Like with the flowers? Honey, if it looks pretty I bet I can kill it from here in Columbia. Too bad it wasn't expensive and hard to pot, because I can do that back in time.

[Giraffe]

Since the thread has become a friendly exchange of gardening advice, I'll move it away from the barren, rocky soil of the Pit and into the barren, rocky soil of MPSIMS.

[Ashes, Ashes]

Is it just me or does the fresh mint in the store have no flavor at all? Only home grown mint has more flavor than lettuce, I've been saddened to learn recently.

How to kill a pot of mint, in less than twelve hours, so that it never ever comes back. What you do is notice a little white fly bothering a couple of the leaves on your lovely mint plant. You don't have any bug killer and don't want to use it on a food plant anyway.

So you remember that a soap solution is good for killing some bugs. Unfortunately, the only soap you have outside is the super strong detergent used for stripping oils off of fabric to ready it for dying. You make a really really weak solution and spritz away. Next morning you are shocked to see the most dead plant in the whole world. Absolutely nothing will induce it to grow back.

I'm usually good with plants, but stupid is powerful stuff.

[GingerOfTheNorth]

I had mint growing in the back of my yard in Calgary, through the fence. I used to harvest it and use it with great regularity. Until I saw three of the neighbourhood dogs pee on it, one right after another. Stupid dogs.

[Cherry2000]

Originally Posted by fushj00mang

Zsofia, for your next trick, would you please come out to Shaw AFB and kill some of the fucking hydrangia growing in two of our ponds? We've used hundreds of gallons of herbacide out here, and it's still growing back. You can hear it laugh as it grows!

Well, if Zsofia is busy, I could probably come help you out. I have a world-class talent for killing plants. Some people have a green thumb, I have a gangrene thumb.

[Savannah]

I think I've killed mint, too. I had two spearmint plants, and August's clear blue skies and hot sunny days (and my forgetfulness in watering) have led to dry shriveled excuses for mint.

I shall persist next year, though! It's not expensive to buy a little plant, and the spearmint grows from cuttings quite nicely. Next year, though, I won't put the containers in direct sun and leave them arid for days on end.

[Savannah]

Originally Posted by GingerOfTheNorth

I had mint growing in the back of my yard in Calgary, through the fence. I used to harvest it and use it with great regularity. Until I saw three of the neighbourhood dogs pee on it, one right after another. Stupid dogs.

Eh, the sad thing is, I'd probably rinse it off and use it anyway.

[fushj00mang]

Originally Posted by Cherry2000

Well, if Zsofia is busy, I could probably come help you out. I have a world-class talent for killing plants. Some people have a green thumb, I have a gangrene thumb.

I wanted to harass Zsofia because she (?) was only thirty or so miles up the road. The situation with the Hygrangea has gotten so bad that I heard one of the engineers say "Well, why not just dump fifty gallons of JP5 on it and toss a match?" It's got to be bothersome when a civil engineer is willing to pour jet fuel on a plant and torch it to kill it!

[Kiminy]

Mint is one of the few plants I have not ever managed to kill, intentionally or otherwise.

We have our mint patch in a patch of ground right against the house. The patch of ground is otherwise completely surrounded by cement, which makes it a perfect "containment field." I also have five or six different kinds of mint growing there, for variety, and I let them fight out which ones are dominant. (The spearmint and Kentucky Colonel mint seem to be the leaders, right now. The ginger mint didn't make it even an entire season.)

I rase the mint completely a couple of times a year. Usually, around mid-summer it starts looking leggy and ugly, so I literally just cut it all back, and it's back in usuable form in just a couple of weeks. Then I hack it all down again in the fall after the first freeze, and it comes back valiantly every spring.

[xbuckeye]

You can prevent mint withdrawl by harvesting the leaves and drying them. Obviously this can't help you know, but I understand that you have winter up there. Yes, they aren't quite as good as the fresh, but they are much better than no mint at all. I cut whole shoots, take off the individual leaves, and spread them out on towels on top of the 'frige'rator for a day or two. Then when they are crispy, stack them in a canister of some sort.

Then for fun, repeat with catnip (also a mint) and try to make the cat tell the canisters apart while begging for catnip in the kitchen.

[Bewildebeest]

Originally Posted by fushj00mang

Zsofia, for your next trick, would you please come out to Shaw AFB and kill some of the fucking hydrangia growing in two of our ponds? We've used hundreds of gallons of herbacide out here, and it's still growing back. You can hear it laugh as it grows!

Hydrangia? Are you sure you don't mean hydrilla?

[The Weird One]

Unless you're making tea, I find freezing mint much preferable to drying it. I rinse it off, strip the leaves, stuff them into ziplock bags, and squeeze all the air out before I put them in the freezer. When I want to make, say, a yoghurt-mint sauce to go with a spicy Indian curry, I break out some frozen mint. Once it's frozen, it's really easy to chop up because it's so brittle. I think freezing preserves the flavor better than drying. YMMV

[The Weird One]

Originally Posted by Bewildebeest

Hydrangia? Are you sure you don't mean hydrilla?

I thought it was awfully odd that someone was trying to kill pond-dwelling hydrangia.

[cowgirl]

Thanks for the mint tips! I will try them out as soon as it grows back.

I went down last night to find another sprig for a feta salad and the few remaining stalks (they escaped the carnage by being hidden within another plant, it looks like the ignorant landlords identified a weed as a useful plant, and all the mint that's hidden in it survivied) were starting to go to seed. So it looks like maybe they did us a favour in the end.

But if only I had known ahead of time I could have frozen/dried it, instead of it going to the landfill.

[taxi78cab]

I killed mint once by (accidentally) pouring hot deep-frying oil on it. The poor mint. I also got a second degree burn in the process so I was punished for the mint slaughter.

[xbuckeye]

Originally Posted by The Weird One

Unless you're making tea, I find freezing mint much preferable to drying it. I rinse it off, strip the leaves, stuff them into ziplock bags, and squeeze all the air out before I put them in the freezer. When I want to make, say, a yoghurt-mint sauce to go with a spicy Indian curry, I break out some frozen mint. Once it's frozen, it's really easy to chop up because it's so brittle. I think freezing preserves the flavor better than drying. YMMV

Yup, I usually put it in drinks. And I have a very small freezer. I've actually never tried freezing it.

[Kythereia]

*grows a little patch of mint in her backyard, just for the OP*

(*watches as it mutates into a hideous sci-fi alien monster and stalks the neighborhood, with the evil power of minty-fresh goodness* ...Uhoh...)

[teela brown]

Originally Posted by Ashes, Ashes

What you do is notice a little white fly bothering a couple of the leaves on your lovely mint plant.

I've planted a pot of mint, and it was as aggressive, invasive and delicious as most of the posters here have pointed out. However, it attracted swarms of stupid f***ing whiteflies and as I didn't want the whiteflies to spread to my other garden plants, I was obliged to get rid of the mint.

I've heard whiteflies are nearly impossible to kill. Don't whiteflies come from Europe? How do Europeans deal with this plague?

[panache45]

Could you please send your landlord to my place? I've been trying to contain my mint plants for 10 years now, and it's a losing battle. They are everywhere, except where the alien invasion of morning glories have taken over.

[cowgirl]

Originally Posted by panache45

Could you please send your landlord to my place?

You don't want him. Trust me. Here, take these racoons instead. They won't do much for your mint plant, but I'd like to get them out of my hair.

Actually, it's starting to occur to me that the landlord inadvertantly did a big favour for me and my mint. It used to be well contained in the end of the flower bed and didn't spread, for some reason. However, now that everything else has been taken down, it will probably take over the space of some of the less aggressive species. Perhaps our flower/weed garden will turn into a mint garden.

I had a friend that was going to plant his entire front yard with mint. Low-maintenance, highly productive, etc. Hmm.

Originally Posted by Kythereia

*grows a little patch of mint in her backyard, just for the OP*

Thanks! I don't know where in Toronto you live, but if it's west of Yonge St it should find it's way to my house in a short time.

(Note to non-Torontonian dopers: if the city disappears under a forest of mint in the next few days, send help!)