I hope you aren't mad at your MIL!

The easiest way to get rid of it is to want it.

Seriously, peppermint tea is very, very good. Particularly with a hint of sugar or honey. A pot or two of it a day can make a noticable dent in a fairly large patch of mint, and totally irradicate a small patch.

So far we have eaten into submission/extinction peppermint, chives, garlic chives and apple mint. I don't like spearmint, so have trouble with that one. Catnip may also be in danger, but I'm not the one eating it.

Oh no, I'm not mad at my MIL at all. I love her way too much to be mad at her over something like that.

mad gallica, I do like tea, even peppermint tea (GREAT for the stomach), but I'm afraid with the amount that I currently have I could feed the neighborhood.

Gosh - I smell so pepperminty right now, lol.

Can you weed-whack it, then smother it with newspaper? Or would it just run out from under the newspaper?

Maybe you could cover up the things you want to keep and spray the peppermint with roundup! After it dies, cover it up with newspaper and mulch.
I learned the hard way with spearmint...never again.

Nancy

Let this be a lesson unto you - do not plant things unless you know what they are.

It's not all that hard to get rid of mint. Dig, sift, dig, sift and check every few weeks for stragglers. By next summer, you'll be done with it. Alternatively, you can spray with RoundUp, but use a piece of cardboard to shield nearby plants you want to keep.

Peppermint also makes very good ice cream....

use round up ... and be persistent ....

ken

Thank you all so much for the feedback/advice. It's truly appreciated. As soon as the rain lightens up I'll do more digging and sifting. And I'll get some round-up as well. I WILL get this under control. I'm determined.

Just weed it out. Then weed it out again. And again.
About one year should take care of it.
I've eradicated it from many a garden. It just takes determination and perseverance.
There are worse weeds. Honest.

Hmm, homemade peppermint ice cream. We don't make a lot of ice cream. Right now there is some cranberry ice in the freezer, but we don't do much with ice cream. You have to buy special ingredients for it, like cream.

One of these days I'm going to make peppermint jelly. After the peppermint grows back so I have enough.

Chinese Lantern is worse than mint. I wish I knew it before I stuck it in my shrub garden.

Chinese lantern is worse than mint. In our early gardening days we planted them both in a perennial garden, with other plants. The Chinese lantern won.
But I killed that eventually, too. As well as aegepodium, variegated gout weed.
I am now fighting vetch, periwinkle and garlic mustard, none of which I planted.
They make me almost nostalgic for the mint.

I have some mint, and i like the mint so I'm putting up with the fact that it shows up next to every other plant in the garden. I have been thinking about buying some of that plastic stripping that you dig into the ground to separate flower beds from grass. It's supposed to keep grass from sending runners into the beds. I'm wondering if I could surround my mint plant (which is pretty doggone big) with that and have the luxury of a mint plant and a mint-free frontier for the other plants to grow. I would still have to make sure the mint never goes to seed. Any thoughts on if that would work from anybody?

I keep my mint in an area about 2 x 4 between house and brick walk.An occasional sprig has tried to sneak through a brick border to an adjoining flowerbed. A quick yank once or twice a year keeps it behaving. So yes, the plastic edging should work as long as you keep an eye on it for any stems that try to hop over. I agree that Chinese Lanterns are much worse, or buckthorn (my neighbor has an trimmed row of it).

Persistent digging and pulling will eradicate mint. Mulching well once you've removed all obvious mint will help too.

I'd never use Roundup anywhere in plantings where I had other valued perennials.

English Ivy is trying to take over my yard and garden. It's got to be easier than English Ivy to get rid of.

My mom ordered chinese lanterns for me and they are still in their tiny pots waiting to be planted in HER garden. :)

Vinca is worse than mint. I have one garden bed that's full of mint, vinca, oregano and red-veined sorrel. I managed to (pay someone to) remove a huge patch of mint that was about 2 ft high and I found under it, bleeding heart and some nice ferns. The mint is still prolific but manageable, can't believe how big the runners are. I suspect the person I hired didn't bother too much with sifting through the soil looking for roots.I figure with some more persistence it'll be gone completely in 2 years... the vinca? that's another story... lol.

The easiest way I've found to get rid of Vinca, mint, etc. Dig out any valued plants from the area, then mow it down at the lowest setting of the lawn mower. Cover with 1-2 layers of cardboard or a thick layer of newspapers. Be sure to overlap the paper well, or it will grow back through the cracks. Pile on some mulch, leaves, etc. and it will be smothered to death. Let it sit for at least a couple months - it will die faster during the growing season and in hot weather.

This is not a perfect solution, but it is MUCH easier than digging it out.