A Gardeners Forum Forums Gardening Reference Gardening in 2004 To mint or not to mint?

I have been trying to grow mint (peppermint and spearmint) and during the summer it gets real spindly and sick looking then slowly dies out? Am I doing something wrong I water it a lot because of our summer heat but it still will not grow for me. What is the best suggestion for care and keeping of these two?

The Rest of the Herbs in my garden do ok but the mints just don’t want to live!

Steelwoolghandi

Steelwoolghandi,
I do think it's the nature of the plant a little bit...
Could you tell us a bit of where it is,
what it's planted in, too much fertilizer may be a factor, the underneath conditions of the plant,
(Herbs tend to like their feet or underbelly's dry a bit, no soil splashing on them, some rocks under them may do the trick??

And try eating them more, or picking them more, or pinching them as they grow!!)

Weezie

Well I have tried two places to plant them first was around my small pond in the ground and I would water them when I watered my other herbs. During the dry times in Summer in Texas sometimes that was once a day as the ground would dry and Crack even though we have all sandy loam in our yard.

Next I tried a large (and I do mean large) Pot the type trees arrive in! It seemed to do fine in that then all of a sudden it got scraggily then started to get smaller and smaller leaves. Later all that was left was the stems then poof it all died out!

I think I will try the pot again with your suggestion of the Rocks I did not try the Rocks because I assumed the pot was deep enough and I did not need to worry about drainage.

Steelwoolghandi

Steelwoolghandi,

NO, not the drainage on the bottom,
leave them on the top of the dirt/soil,
as a mulch or cover for the dirt, when
you water or it rains, water splashes
on the dirt, which then in turn splashes
on the plants. If you leave a layer of
rocks on top of the dirt the splash back to
the plant is cut down sizeably.........
Some herb type plants don't like to have water/dirt splashed back on to them???

And what kind of soil did you have?
Sometimes, some plants need I wanna say, for
lack of a better word right now, crappy soil.
Soil of low nutrient value's....Sometimes, when
there is too good of soil it makes them straggely and spindely...????

I don't think the plant stays perfect through
the growing season though, it grows, nice when it's young, but I think by the end of it's season,
it's the nature of the plant.
I grow wild one's in my back yard......
I just continuously eat the top new leaves....

If the under belly of your plant, when it's dying, try growing something smaller/shorter under or in front of it, to cover the browning and dying leaves, and you'll just see the plants in front of it..(Does that make any sense???)

I personally have never done this method,
but pinching probably would encourage side growth to it, and you may be able to keep it greener a little bit longer of a time frame??????

Rick might grow mints, seems like a read one or two other gardeners do too, hold on a bit, I'm
sure someone else will be through too.......

I personally LOVEEEEEEEEE mint,
we have the wild peppermint and spearmints...
I would like some days to get the other flavors.
They have pineapple, chocolate, wintergreen, oh, so many others!!!!

Keep us posted!!!!

Weezie

My experience with mint has been about the same as yours. But I noticed when I thought it was dead it came right back as soon as it cooled down some. I have little babies growing right now when I thought it was a goner. My friend has mint that has taken over a section of her garden (to control mint, plant it in a pot is the moral of that story) and her abundance of minty leaves seem to love moist soil and morning sun only. So I think it does tend to die back if it gets too dry, as in your case and my own. I'm going to give mine more shade and water more often this summer so we will see if it survives a hot, dry Ca. summer. Good luck!

Well I defiantly am going to try the Rock thing because I love mint and I purchased several kinds including the Chocolate, Apple and orange. I have some smaller plants that I will try to plant around it (miniature Thyme maybe) and see how that works out.

I to have had the mint come back after I thought it was dead only to have it really die! I have been thinking it’s a moisture thing too? I hope to get enough mint this year to make my own tea (ok ya I drink tea but I refuse to put the pinky out when doing it I draw the line there). I am building a bigger pond in my back yard so maybe I will try it near the waterfall section so it will get the over spray.

Steelwoolghandi

I don't have a lot of experience with mint...but I wonder if the dryness and excessive heat/sun might contribute to your mint's problems...maybe closer the the shade of a tree or house. I remember it taking over on the side of my friends house/garage, where it would get a bit more shade than sun. This was in the St. Louis area.

I will have to hunt down some of those other flavors of mint...I wonder...

~Amie