I’ve heard horror stories of mint taking over gardens, spreading like wildfire.  And now I’ve got my very own cautionary tale.

You see, the prior homeowner planted some mint directly in the bare earth in our garden.  This is a big no-no because mint has underground shoots called “rhizomes” – instead of growing down into the ground like normal plants, these rhizomes are basically like tentacles that grow out from the mint and encourage the plant to spread.  To keep the shoots from going crazy, it’s recommended that you plant mint in pots or in areas that are surrounded by barriers like metal at least 10 inches deep – otherwise the mint will escape and invade all of the ground around it.  Sounds hardcore, right??

So back to my little cautionary tale.  Remember how we laid new sod about two weeks ago?  Part of that project involved removing metal and concrete edging from the flower beds so that we could turn those beds into part of the lawn.  I got a little overly ambitious and removed the edging from one flower bed in particular that we were eventually planning on turning into grass – but not right away.  This bed, of course, housed the entire world’s supply of mint.  And now, just two weeks later, said mint has escaped – into our lawn.  Darnit!

Now the million dollar question – what do I do now that the mint has escaped?  Here are some words of encouragement that I found here and here on the web:

• “It may already be a lost cause.  Your only hope is to sell your house and move to a new one.”
• “Napalm.”
• “Face it, mint is eternal.”
• “Perhaps your children or grandchildren will take over, after you’ve gone.”
• “I will have to keep up my search for the perfect murder weapon against the mint plants.”
• “Mint is the demon spawn of all garden plants, and is truly evil.”

Double darnit.

You want to know what’s even worse?  In my quest to rid my lawn of these nefarious mint plants, I just yanked them up – apparently another no-no, because any little pieces of root that are left behind will be called into action to sprout new mint plants.  Eeek!

I’m now in kill mode – how can I keep this crazy mint from taking over the entire yard?  And how can I kill the mint without killing the surrounding grass?  I found some potential solutions here:

• Spraying the mint with Clorox bleach
• Spraying the mint with a mixture of 2 cups of salt, 1 teaspoon of dish soap and 1 gallon of white vinegar
• Covering the mint with thick layers of newspaper, followed by a layer of mulch to smother it out
• Spraying the mint with Round-up weed killer
• Digging each little root up

What do you think?  Can I squelch these little mint monsters . . .

or am I destined to spend the rest of my life making mojitos?  On second thought, maybe I should just leave the mint after all . . .

Have any of you had mint go crazy in your gardens?  How do you keep it under control, and do you have any tips for killing it?  Quick, the mint is getting closer . . .