Growing Mint in Containers

If you want mint for your garden there are a few rules you need to know.

Rule #1. Grow in in containers
Rule #2: Never let it escape from the container
Rule #3: If it does escape - pull it up immediately!

Do you get the point? Mint of all sorts are invasive! BUT... they are also wonderful additions to your herb collection too. The container above is Chocolate Mint with an Apple Mint in the foreground. I must  admit I broke the rules with the apple mint. This particular location has heavy clay soil and I wanted a tall plant to disguise my pond filter. The heavy clay keeps it from spreading as profusely as it would in good garden soil and it is easy to pull up shoots that wander from the location. I have a friend who wanted mint to plant in her yard. I warned her that it would take over. She said that she didn't care, she lived way out in the country with no close neighbors and she loved the smell of mint when she mowed the yard.

sweet mint

Here is Sweet Mint just peeking out from it's winter sleep. This container is on my deck. It's close enough to the kitchen to clip fresh for my iced tea, potato dishes, salad and lamb - even sweet peas are good with mint.








New for me this year is Moroccan Mint that I bought to sell at Mimi's Greenhouse Plant Sales this year. Of course I'm putting some in my new herb containers to propagate for next year and enjoy this year myself!

Moroccan Mint

Another new one is this pretty Grapefruit Mint. I have another Grapefruit Mint that is fuzzy like the Apple Mint in the top picture. This one has a nice purple tinged leaf and a yummy  flavor - not quite as tangy as the Lemon Mint that has long been one of my favorites.

I personally think mint is worth the trouble of keeping it contained - so good in recipes, wonderful to brush by it in the garden and enjoy the fragrance and attractive foliage and flowers too.