A gardener was warned about the perils of planting a common fragrant backyard favorite by several other gardeners who had learned the hard way.
Posting on the subreddit r/vegetablegardening, a gardener in Sweden asked for advice on planting mint in their hedge to help keep the weeds in check. The gardener shared that their only worry was that the mint would escape the hedge and take over the garden but that it would need to cross 5 meters of lawn to do that, which the gardener thought was unlikely.
The post was met with lots of comments from people who had already had unfortunate experiences with the plant. Several commenters suggested that mint should only be grown in pots to avoid it taking over the entire garden, and others shared that they knew of instances when the plant had appeared in a lawn. "My neighbor put mint in his border garden, now it's all over my yard in random patches," one commenter wrote.
Mint can be invasive and can quickly spread through a garden via its roots. This is because mint plants have rhizomes, which are stems that grow horizontally underground. These stems can put down roots and send up shoots from their nodes, making the plants difficult to remove.
Planting native plants in a garden is a better alternative to fast-spreading plants like mint. Native plants are indigenous to the area they are planted, and they can offer numerous benefits, from reducing water bills and money spent on garden maintenance, to reducing air pollution, increasing biodiversity, and supporting local ecosystems and wildlife populations.
There are lots of ways to incorporate native plants into a garden. People can start small and create a patch of native plants in a flower bed or a corner of the yard. You can also rewild your entire yard and incorporate other landscaping techniques, such as xeriscaping, to help conserve water further.
And if you like planting herbs, there are lots of native options that won't take over your garden.
"Growing mint in the ground is always a bad idea," one commenter wrote in reply to the gardener's post.
Another Redditor shared: "I have a large potted peppermint that somehow managed to jump across a paved patio and establish in the ground on the other side."
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