A gardening expert has issued a warning over a “sneaky” plant which, despite being ideal for food and drinks, is also known to completely take over a person’s garden. Mint is a popular plant found in many Brits’ gardens but it is also a vigorous grower and can easily spread across your entire outdoor space via underground runners which could completely take over your garden beds if you’re not careful.
Mint’s popularity in UK gardens mostly stems from its versatility when it comes to culinary dishes, alongside its ability to attract beneficial insects and of course, its highly fragrant benefits. However, Louise Dickinson, a popular TikToker and gardening expert, shed some light regarding the best practices for growing this fragrant plant, to allow it to still get all the benefits, minus the potential garden takeover.
She was inspired to share her knowledge regarding mint’s potential harm in your beloved outdoor space after spotting a handy trick in her client’s house that ensured no takeover, particularly among flowerbeds.
Dickinson spotted a mint plant growing inside a separate pot away from all other plants and praised the idea. Although it still allows for access to nutrients and water, the mint is unable to spread anywhere else because it is in a pot.
“Make sure that the pot is deep enough and that you [have] only buried up to about here leaving a big lip so that the mint plant can’t climb over the top but mint plants are sneaky,” she added in the video.
She continued: “Mint is highly invasive and it spreads via its roots so regularly checking your mint plant to make sure it’s not invading your space is a really good idea.”
The video further revealed her garden bed which included a mint plant with lemon verbena and lemon balm grown on the opposite side of it.
Despite the distance between these plants, the video showed how the mint tendrils had taken over, spreading all the way to the lemon plants.
“Even if you do all these things the mint will still find a way. This really isn’t the end of the world though because mint roots are very shallow,” she added.
“You can easily pull them up by hand and just dig around under the soil surface.
“The home gardener added a word of caution about mint trimmings which could “root into your compost bins.”
She further advised the best method if in a similar mint saga situation and recommended allowing the mint plant trimmings to fully dry out prior to potting or composting to help avoid further spread.
