Mint
Mint everywhere.
Meanwhile kudzu is over here like… what trees?
One time I did that, and was horrified to see that the next day the gardner removed it and disposed of the body.
It was my baby and it was literally choking itself in every pot I planted it because it would just grow until the entire pot was roots.
I now know that it had to be done, this is what it means to be an adult. To know that sometimes murdering a baby mint is for the greater good T_T
I planted a horseradish. Harvesting it often, don’t see the issue.
Also ivy. A curse on whoever first brought English ivy to the Americas.
Can confirm, I’ve been waging war on the Ivy in my backyard and I’m definitely not winning.
It takes a real focused effort. Tear out as much rhizome as you can and cover the entire effected area in a smothering layer. I prefer cardboard or newspaper because inorganic root barriers were sent by Satan to destroy us, but it had to be a substantial layer. Hold it down with mulch and/or decent topsoil and watch it like a hawk. Sow native wildflowers the first year, something that will hold the layer together without requiring much maintenance because odds are high you’re gonna be back in there tearing it up and finding more ivy rhizome and there’s no sense destroying something you love. But you need something there because you’re also being assaulted from the air.
Birds spread ivy in their shit. They eat the berries, fly everywhere, and deposit noxious invasives wherever they go. You need aggressive natives to maintain the front line and keep those turd seeds from finding purchase. So you gotta be out there fortnightly to check for little English sprouts as well as hoping the subterranean menace is subdued.
When you have a year with no ivy bring in even more good soil and bury it good, then do whatever you want but never grow complacent.
This strategy applies to most horrible weeds but some cannot be reliably smothered and must be physically removed in their entirety so rent a Bobcat or something and try not to cry.
I planted some mint in a large pot, at an off-grid shack on a New England beach… two decades ago. That shit is still thriving to this day, despite zero maintenance and/or care and numerous harsh winters!
Also catnip, but with catnip there’s a 50% chance neighborhood cats will show up and roll on it until it dies.
(Catnip is a type of mint)
Thank you! Time to lure some cats to the yard.
Catnip brings all the cats to the yard.
And they’re like: meow and purrs
Damn right, meow and purrs.
I could teach you, but I got some shit I need to knock off a counter somewhere.
The abandoning of the rhythm is such a cat thing to do.
Bees seem to love the catnip that grows in my garden at least. I think last summer I counted 8 different kinds of bees enjoying it.
Tldr Mint is invasive.
How do you know I don’t live in western and central Asia, east to the Himalaya and eastern Siberia, where we all know mint is native!?
That’s why I installed Arch instead!
I hate you. TAKE MY UPVOTE. You SUDO’D ME TO UPVOTE YOU!
Random thought:
What if people who post in internet comments claiming to use Arch are actually just one person who’s a barely contained SCP?
Is his name Linus?
Not sure what you are talking about exactly. I’m stating this from the perspective of a gardener and forager.
I’m not sure what I’m talking about, either. Just a dumb joke.
You know what’s also invasive?
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Houttuynia_cordata
The last people to own our house planted this stuff in the ground. It’s also called fish mint, because it smells like fish when you cut it.
That’s what that shit is? I though it was some generic weed I had a hard time getting rid of. Great. Another invasive to deal with. Just killed a tree of heaven the other day, too.
Your own private morsel of the sea.
There is a reason why I planted my piperita in a pot, far off the ground.
My buddy warned me about the mint the pervious owners planted, and I pulled it right away. It was right by our basement entrance so I frequently peer in and inspect for mint shoots. I think there must be a buried barrier or something (like landscaping cloth) preventing it from spreading outside the bed it was in. I found a small sprig 4 years after pulling everything I could find.
Pair it with raspberries
Just put them in raised beds and then mow right up to that bitch, they wont make it out.
I’ve seen it grow low. Like thyme.
Whats actually wrong with this? I feel like a lawn full of mint is infinitely better than the short grass suburb lawns that are so pervasive.
Trading one invasive monoculture for another isn’t really an upgrade, though you may get more utlity from mint. And your neighbors may set fire to your property.
The problem is not that it spreads. It is that it then suffocates other plants that can’t handle staying near it.
Of course having the ecological wasteland of lawns isn’t good either. You want to create the conditions for a balance habitat to establish. Mint can be an obstacle to this and be detrimental to the biodiversity in your garden, if left unchecked.
IDK. I like the wild mint patch in our lawn. Want some mint? Just go grab some mint.
Yep same. I do drinks, drop in my water bottle, put in my coffee etc
We had some that grew right under the faucet outside, and I’d share grab some and throw it in the tea when we were making iced tea. Tried it years later with dried leaves, it didn’t compare.
We put a few mint plants in a large concrete planter and it filled the whole planter in one season. It does keep mice, cats, and mosquitos away.
