Everywhere I read that mint grows like crazy. Well, I have mint on my balcony and it doesn't grow well at all, it looks dry and seems to need a lot of water. My Basil and Chives are flourishing though. Can anyone help?

Personally, I don't have a problem with it spreading all over -- it beats the weeds that are currently taking up all my gardening real estate!

It's great for barren areas (like my hill). I also like to plant it with other herbs that will give it a run for it's money like oregano and prostrate rosemary. Together it will hold onto the hill, smell great, take little care, and be very Italian.

I've learned that mint grown in a pot needs to be thinned out so that the roots don't crowd out new growth. The first year we grew it, we filled a small pot with a few plants. The mint grew in fits and spurts in different areas and died in others. The roots were still good, though, so the next year, we just turned over the soil and removed some roots. Now we have a healthy pot full of mint.

does one need to worry about the holes in the bottom of most pots? I would guess a pot with a solid bottom is best?

Like the first 2 comments, my mint is planted in my herb garden in ground and is very healthily keeping up with adjacent herbs (I think near it are catnip and sage) its growing very nicely, no overgrowing madness to speak of.

DON'T PLANT IT IN A BED! Make sure it's in a pot. While the plant itself may not thrive, their roots will.

My mother has planted several varieties of mints in her yard, and they are now growing in her neighbors' yards, as well as the cracks in the concrete surrounding her house and between the walls and foundation.

We planted some mint. We needed the space, so we uprooted them. They keep sprouting from pieces of roots in the soil.

I repeat: Don't plant them in your soil! Only plant them in pots, and only if the pot is on concrete!

I don't mind it spreading all over, but I actually planted it next to hyssop and lemon geranium and they totally took over, they're growing like crazy and taking over the mint. So, I guess if you plant it next to plants that are also very strong it's ok.
Also, don't buy several mint plants in the nursery, it's a waste of money, just cut off a branch, bud it and replant.

I'm not sure I would even place a container of mint on the ground without some kind of barrier between the drainage holes and the soil, so I wouldn't recommend just digging a hole for the pot in the ground either. My container of chocolate mint was a tentacle monster, and if it were on or near soil, those runners would eventually have reached it. And sinking a pot with no drainage holes would probably not be good for the roots.

Just keep it in an above-ground container, away from soil!

As a secret guerrilla gardener I agree with the above comments re planting it in abandoned and vacant lots. It keeps other weeks from growing and smells lovely. Has anyone ever tried chocolate mint? Absolutely fabulous! By the way, when using the container, remove the bottom!

I mean weeds NOT weeks!

Very timely post-- I just started a patio herb garden which includes mint. I originally had it out in the sun with the other herbs, but it was looking withered so I move it to a shadier location.

I would love to see more Do's and Don'ts for other container herbs and vegetables.

Oh gosh. I just planted a small mint plant in my yard this morning. Do I need to dig it up and put a terracotta pot around it?

If it matters, I put it in a small strip of yard between our outdoor stairs and the foundation of our house. The strip of yard is only a couple feet wide and generally faces lots of erosion. I was putting herbs there this year to try to get better groundcover than grass.

As a bit of a departure from the rest of the comments, I actually planted mint today hoping it'll take over the intensely ugly eye-sore of a dirt-patch that is my back yard. Mint is so lovely, and smells so nice - I'm really hoping it goes crazy, like my lemon balm did!

But I can certainly understand that most people do not have a medium-sized blank canvas which they would *like* to cover with mint.

Has anyone noticed that older or spread mint plants don't taste very good?

@metallauren, it's possibly because the plant is spending all its energy into growing big and growing out (root system and runners) and so not concentrating on producing great minty leaves. While I've never seen mint go to seed (it's usually propagated by cuttings), I imagine that if it's left alone for long enough to grow unchecked, maybe it went to seed without notice? Just a wild guess.

I needed this advice! Thank you!! Still not sure what we did wrong, we planted catnip and lemon balm (both in the mint family?) in large terra cotta pots on our back porch. They were healthy at first, but did very poorly later on. I'm not sure I understand about the drying out / watering schedule, and we transplanted to the largest pot we could afford (sheesh, $30 - 40 for a single pot) and tried to put each in a single pot (do they grow in patches?) but they turned all sad and droopy. They had the right sunlight / shade, as far as I can tell. Ideas?

Just from years of trial and error, you want to provide adequate drainage for plants. Most do not like wet feet (aka roots) and many will die with planters with no holes. It's a good idea to provide some kind of aeration @ the bottom of planters-pebbles, biodegradable peanuts, so the roots can stay dryer. I tend to have a heavier hand @ watering, so I avoid using planters without holes.

Mint has completely taken over our square foot garden and has gone beneath the frame and is spreading in the rest of the vegetable garden. Is there a way to kill it?

I would love for mints to take over my yard! The front is shaded almost 100% of the time from spring to fall, but there is one small mint plant that hangs in there in a little semi-sunny spot. I wish mint would grow in the shade because my dogs have dug and run that section of the yard bare, but maybe I can get it to grow in the back area that receives full sun all day, every day. Mint repels all sorts of annoying buglife, so I say "let it spread"! I think I'll go buy some mint plants....

DO buy seedlings from a garden center and DONT try to grow peppermint from seed. Peppermint is a hybrid plant, so only experienced gardeners can start from scratch and actually grow proper peppermint.

Maybe it depends on where you live, but in Texas mint basically grows like a weed that won't die. The only successful planting of mint in a bed I've seen is when paired with roses. The mint can go crazy, doesn't climb, and makes excellent ground cover. But in an herb or vegetable garden, forget it.

I'm in a community garden and an adjacent bed has mint planted that is taking over that bed. Thank god we don't share adjacent bed walls.

We planted it in our front yard hoping that it will spread. Its so nice to come home to that scent and especially great after you've mowed your lawn.

My mint does ok, as does my oregano and rosemary, but I can't get basil to grow at all. I use wire baskets with coconut fill, morning sun, afternoon shade, and I try to keep the soil moist but not soaking.

Having rosemary is awesome though. And, it's wicked resilient, it kept growing last October even after a freak snowstorm killed everything else.

How strong is it? Is it stronger than weeds? I have a small strip of soil between my driveway and my fence that is being taken over by my neighbor's weeds. Two years ago, they somehow managed to kill all of their grass, and now their yard is more weeds than grass. No matter what we do, the weeds come under our fence. We have day lillies planted there now, which are nice, but it is impossible to keep the rest of the ground clear and it looks messy.

If I planted mint, with no pot, would it keep their weeds out? I'm not really concerned about it taking over their lawn, as it wouldn't be much different than the weeds they have now and would at least smell good.

Is it safe for pets? We both have dogs. (So, I wouldn't eat the mint anyway, since my dog will probably mark it at one point or another).

Make sure that you really want mint in your yard before you plant it. The previous owner of my house planted some wild mint in the back yard and it took over a huge area. It took me a few YEARS to completely eradicate it.

If, like us, you end up with more mint than you know what to do with (our apartment's previous tenants planted it in the herb garden and it tends to run rampant and also hang out a little too closely with the oregano -- mintregano is not tasty), you can make mint-infused bourbon. Pour out a couple of shots, then stuff as many leaves as you can into the bottle and leave it for two days. It's amazing stuff and makes you the most popular BBQ guests around!

Putting mint in a submerged container will not contain it. It grows from root runners as well as runners that will sprout from the stems and become roots.

I've maintained herb gardens for years but always kept the mint out of the garden in a pot on the patio. A few yrs ago, I got brave & sunk a huge pot with NO drainage holes at the end of my kitchen garden, taking care to leave the top of the pot a good 6" above ground level. NEVER AGAIN. It jumped the pot & I spent the next THREE YEARS vigilantly eradicating the mint from my rather large herb garden. Depending on your region, some plants are more invasive than other. However, when dealing with mint, always PROCEED WITH CAUTION.

We moved into our house 25 years ago with mint already growing in a 3' x 6' bed on the side of our house. As far as I know, there is nothing below or surrounding it to prohibit root growth and it has never creeped out of the area. Until lately, it thrived. Now it is being taken over by a ground cover vine nearby (not sure what kind though). I am sad to see it go! It has always been so fragrant and useful!

I live in Northern CA, and there mint grows like a weed. As long as you chop it back regularly I have no problems with it growing wild -- it makes for a good, fragrant groundcover. Unfortunately, the same tendencies make it a poor container plant -- it quickly outgrows its container in short order and you'll spend the entire growing season either dividing it up or repotting it. I eventually just gave up.

FYI you don't need to buy mint plants/seeds to have mint -- if you can get a cutting (or just take them from leftovers in Vietnamese pho restaurants) you can root it in water.

Mint is definitely something I would keep in a container when growing. The most recent BBC Gardener's World magazine has some really, really good suggestions for container gardening, both for sprucing up planters, and for combinations of food and herbs that play nice and utilize space well when grown together.

CKAL, basil needs as much sun as you can give it, not afternoon shade. If possible, you might try moving it to an area with full sun all day, and that should give you better results. In my last apartment, I had a window that had to be shaded all day long with room-darkening shades because the sun beat in so intensely in the summer; I put a window box of basil in the window and the plants loved it, growing up to help provide some shade in the window as an added bonus. And I had pesto all year long.

We had a mint bed in that dumb little strip often found between the garage and sidewalk. The expanse of sidewalk cement was farther than the roots would stretch underneath and the mint was contained. That's a good spot for it, especially because next to the garage, it usually gets shade for part of the day.

Mint "walks," that is, it will flourish and spread and the new growth will be healthy and vibrant the next year, while the original patch gets weaker and weaker. It will march all over your yard, if you are not vigilant.

I grew up in Alaska and we had mint from the previous owners in the front garden near the house, I think it took about 20 years to get rid of it; digging deep every spring (after the frozen ground finally thawed) and pulling all the roots. We tried planting it in a container in the back and it didn't do well. I think having partial shade and proximity to the house (for heat) was an ideal condition for it to grow. That experience has stuck with me and now I never, ever put it in the ground! That's a great tip to use a container though and I might try it this year.

From my limited experience growing mint, here are my additions:
1. Experiment with different kinds of mint--in addition to classic spearmint and peppermint, you can try pineapple mint, apple mint, cinnamon mint...the list is endless, and the flavors really are distinctive. Plus, the different varieties come in different colors, some beautifully variegated, and different sizes, so even a large plot of land overrun with mint can have a lot of visual interest.
2. Mint releases a gorgeous scent when you rustle the leaves even slightly. Consider it for a border to add fragrance to your garden when people walk by. I've also heard (but can't be sure) that the scent deters mosquitoes. (Or maybe that's catnip?)
3. Maybe it's just my imagination, but mint can make other herbs taste minty. I would keep it in its own container, separate from basil, oregano, etc.
Happy minting!

Thank you. Thank you. Very helpful. Yes, it never stops meandering and growing.

Yes, I plant all mint varieties in pots & containers now.
A number of years ago, when I first started gardening, I planted a lovely lemon balm(I believe part of the mint family?) and now the large garden plot that my neighbors and I share has any number of "volunteers". Fortunately, it seems to spread slowly, and it may just be because it's self seeding(we're letting some of it flower and go to seed, instead of pinching it off). Catnip can behave the same, but I never put it in a garden because I don't want to attract cats there(!) but I have some in a pot on my deck.
Mint is great though, I just split a large container root ball, transplanted it into three differents containers. Plenty to go around!
Another plant never to put in your garden - morning glory! It has taken years to get rid of that in our garden. Runs and climbs and spreads like crazy, at least here in Seattle, do not plant in any open garden, it will take over.

Yeah, our duplex that got an interior and exterior building freshening before we started renting out the place, and unfortunately the people in charge of things let the yard just go however it wanted... which included the previous tenant's mint in a small bed between the walkway from the front door to the driveway.

Luckily, I had no interest in doing anything with that bed the first couple of years other than nabbing mint here and there to make some mojitos, and now that I've finally come around to trying to tame the yard, last year's incredible drought helped kill off all the mint - unfortunately, though, the winter/spring rains this year made that bed the perfect place for clover instead. *sigh* It's like I just can't win...

Urg, ignore the "that" in the first sentence - leftover from previous sentence form.

My mint just sits there. It's months since I planted it and it's not growing at all. Not dying either. Just sitting there ...

I wish I had know this before I planted the mint in my flower bed. It took over. The upside was I had wonderful mint for salads, soups, and tea. Unfortunately, all my mint died when my house was being renovated and the debris crushed my flower bed. I thought it would grow back but no such luck. I am now considering replanting mint, this time in a pot so it doesn't take over. Thanks!

I knew this about mint, but not tarragon... I planted it in a corner of a raised bed 4 summers ago, and even though I THOUGHT I dug up the plant, I still find new shoots coming up year after year.

Also... Lamb's Ear. For those of you wanting to plant something to take over an area where grass won't grow, this is an easy option. Take a few flower/seed stalks form an established plant, crush and spread over the ground. You really don't have to try at all. Soon you'll have little weed-like plants, and after a single year, you'll have a massive "how do I control this monster?" ground cover. But seriously... It WILL take over. Mine is filling in all the available space in a raised landscaping area, and the seeds that fall or blow onto the adjacent gravel that is on top of weed barrier fabric have NO problem taking root. I think of it as an ornamental weed. Some can stay, but it's a constant battle to keep it in check.

When my spearmint starts going crazy in the front bed, I pull up about 95% of it (and I smell GREAT for a few hours). I then strip the leaves, toss them in the blender with some water, oil, and soap, and make a concoction that I spray around to keep the deer away from my hostas. I chop up the branches into mulch for around the hostas.

My Mom's spearmint plant is over thirty years old and terrible nuisance. It was planted in the front of the house here in NYC and it has managed to make it to the backyard. It kills everything. It really is just an edible weed.

I agree with others- Mint in pots only.

Oh man. My mother planted mint and sweet/red basil in her herb garden back in the 70's. Both have gone wild. Every year, we pull the both of them from every garden area, the lawns, any place that gets at least a little light. I would NEVER put either in a garden. If you have them in pots, don't let them go to seed.

Many years ago, I lived in a tiny apt. built onto the back of an old house. There was a small section of ground (about 3 feet square) outside my front door beneath the wall unit air conditioning. I planted mint there and it just thrived with the runoff dripping water from the air conditioning unit. So if anyone has a similar set-up or a wet area where a gutter runs off, might be a good place to plant--especially if it's surrounded by concrete, like my space was.

Best place ever to grow mint, IMHE:
Under the trees along the banks of a tiny stream at the bottom of a cow pasture, as seen/experienced on an old childhood friend's farm. Also the best place ever to go wading in cool water and dappled shade at the end of a hot summer afternoon..

Best place to grow mint not involving a cow or rural land ownership:
Under a leaky faucet in a raised foundation-planting bed in a semi-arid climate. I grew up in California's Sacramento Valley, and my mom planted mint in the one spot around our house where it could survive. We always had fresh mint, the chore of hooking up the hose to water the lawn carried a fragrant reward, and - maybe best of all - no one ever had to bother about actually fixing that leaky faucet.

Best place to grow mint in my dinky little studio apartment:
On the balcony, in partial shade, in a plastic pot at least 6" deep. I drilled plenty of drainage holes and added lots of broken pottery pieces and lava rock (generally sold for BBQs) at the bottom. In honor of Molly, the cow who kindly shared the above-mentioned pasture, I added lots of compost to my potting soil. On hot summer days, I water in the evening and nostalgically enjoy the aroma of my old muddy childhood wading spot. :)

I have a new favorite mint: the Corsican variety. It is very low growing and has teensy leaves, so its value as a culinary herb is limited. But it is by far the most fragrant of mints, especially if it is growing somewhere that will occasionally get brushed-against or stepped-on. It also doesn't seem to be as invasive as regular mint, although still be careful with it in areas where you might not want it to spread. I have some growing in a rockery and a bit more along the edge of/in the cracks of a brick patio. It seems to like some shade.

And I agree with others that the narrow strip between a sidewalk and something else, in our case a rockery going up to the neighbor's yard, is an excellent place for mint. At our old house I had some there along with other tough plants like lamb's ear and calendula, and it worked out beautifully. Few weeds could outstrip those plants and they also need little additional water in my climate. Here at our new place I'm thinking some mint could go in the bed currently occupied by bamboo. The two can duke it out; should be entertaining!

FWIW, I've found lemon balm to be just as invasive as mint.

I don't have any trouble keeping my mint under control because the deer eat it, along with all the other herbs I planted.

Very informative post. Could you do one for basil and rosemary? My Thai basil is trying to flower and still growing, but it's not as lush and full as it once was. Would love to see an AT post on caring for them.

Mint is great, but it complements fruits, veggies and meat. It does not compliment them.

I used to grow peppermint & spearmint from seeds using hydroponics & simple hydroculture systems. The latter merely consists of submerging the base of pots into an enclosed styrofoam box containing the nutrient solution.

No problems with either poor or excessive growth.

I can't get mint to grow for love or money. I'd love it if it took over some of my yard!

Two reasons that mint won't grow: inadequate light and/or water. It loves morning light and a slow moisture drip. Personally, I love it and let it do whatever it wants as long as it wants.

Don't let it out of your sight!

I took a plastic container that a tree came in and cut the bottom off. Which left about 6-8" sides. Put this in the ground and plant your mint inside. I have had my "mint patch" about 5 yrs. It needs thinned once in a while so the new roots have room to grow.

I planted a few varieties of mint in the far corner of my herb garden (bordered by sidewalk on 2 sides) without any access to water. Where we live, it only rains in the winters, and the summer drought plus harvesting seems to keep it in check. If I see runners, I rip them out; If it's getting depleted, I give it some water.

I have mint growing in half-buried terra cotta pots in my veggie garden bed. But after a couple years of winter freezing and thawing, those pots have pretty much crumbled. So, be prepared for your buried pots not to last very long and for you to have shards of pot in your soil.

For all the years I was raising my children, I always planted mint right outside the front door; no matter where we lived.
Every time we had to move, I picked out a new and exciting mint for us to try. We all agree that our favorite was the chocolate mint that accompanied their late elementary school years. And the second runner up was the lemon mint that popped up later in high school. The other years were spent chewing regular mint leaves, spear mint leaves, peppermint leaves, banana mint leaves, and delicious orange mint leaves. Those were great in tea.

Those mint plants spread fast and furiously amid my ever green shrubs and mums. But it would never fail; one day I would come home from my teaching job with my kids in tow, and my mother would be in my front yard, pulling up all my mint plants, declaring that I kept the messiest shrub bed in the neighborhood, and that I should be embarrassed and ashamed. She said I let weeds overtake the shrubs and mums as if I had no pride at all, and she wouldn't be a bit surprised if one day she came over to find a broken washing machine sitting on the side of the house, or a mattress dumped at the end of the driveway. She had a way with words that really got her point across. It stuck in your mind for ever. Far too long if you asked me. Especially when the things she had pulled up were not weeds to start with. But I never could convince her of that.

The kids would throw a fit, convinced that their grandmother had destroyed their favorite pick and eat treat and they would never again experience the pleasure of nature's love and generosity. But lo and behold, within 2 weeks a new batch would reappear and they would be picking leaves and stuffing their cheeks once more with this fresh and free delight!

All my mother had succeeded in doing was thinning out an aging crop that was becoming less productive than it could be because of over growth. We all owed her a little thank you if we could muster one up. It was so very hard. Because we all knew her intentions at best were to kill off our beloved life forms.

She was one of those people that just didn't relate too well to plants. When she claimed to be pruning bushes she was really chopping off all plant parts that could photosynthesize and sprout leaves. Every time she pruned a bush it died.

I told her of an experiment I heard of in my horticulture class. It was about measuring the vibrations that plants put out when certain people approached them. The basis of the experiment was to prove that plants indeed do feel security and do feel fear, whether or not it was being based on pain we know not; it was based on the fear of being killed. Some plants sent out four to five time more vibrations in the movements of their leaves and stems when being approached by certain individuals. I told my mom about this study. Then I convinced my mom that the bushes actually leaned back when they saw her coming. If they could have run away they would have.
She believed me. It made my day!!!!

Sigh. We moved into our current house 19 months ago. I was 8 months pregnant and had a 14 month old. I simply did not have the time to tend to our lovely long slope of garden space that ran along the length of the driveway. Last spring, I finally realized the scope of our problem: multiple oregano and mint plants that were planted and forgotten about. With what little time I had, I tried to dig it up. Impossible.

This spring is no different. The oregano is already full swing and the mint is slowly making its appearance (everywhere). Now I have two toddlers and don't see that I will have any more time than last year. I'm tempted to pay someone to eradicate both herbs before they take over again! I am an avid gardener who loves to cook. I just can't manage two toddlers and two very invasive herbs all at the same time!

(Bottom line: plant mint in pots!)

Have you found a solution to your problem yet? The basil and chives need little sun and mold warmth whereas the Mint needs more sun and a warmer location. Basil and Chives are tender and mint is hardy...two different growing methods :-)

My most successful method of planting mints involves a wood packing crate and a rubber tub with holes drilled in the bottom. A friend gave me the crate and I sat 4 large rubbermaid tubs in it with holes drilled in the bottom of the tubs. I mixed potting soil and gravel for drainage and minerals.They are completely up off of the ground, with good drainage. Every spring, I pull out the tub, scoop out the top layer of plants, thin, share and replant. This is the only method I've found that controls the spread.