Dig, dig, dig. Repeat often! Make it a neighbourhood project and get as many willing helpers as you can. Even the kids! Have a Mint Digging Party. Serve mint tea and mint bikkies!

Start from the outermost perimeters, and work your way inwards. Be vigilant, and be prepared to spend a lot of your life getting rid of it.

And maybe pray a lot!

Mint spreads by just about every method know to botanists - by seed (so don't let it flower), by its aggressive root system (which can go down deep), by runners (under and on the ground), by layering.....

You may have to resort to a herbicide. Some people may advise covering it with black plastic, but believe me, you'll have to cover every vestige of it, because if you miss one teensy leaf, it'll take off with renewed vigour. And the betting goes in favour of the mint, because it will know you're trying to kill it, and put on a burst of growth underneath the surface, and pop up somewhere unexpected, some distance away, just to spite you.

You could try pouring boiling water on it, maybe add some salt to the water (but the salt won't be too good for future plants).

Here is a link that might be useful: some threads on mint

RoundUp... and be after it constantly with the sprayer at the ready. If it is coming up places where you don't want to kill other plants then:
* have a pail of RoundUp ready;
* put on really sturdy rubber gloves;
* put on cotton gloves over the rubber gloves;
* dip double-gloved fingers in RoundUp;
* carefully dampen just the Spreamint leaves with with the saturated glove fingers.

RoundUp will take several weeks to work, but it also kills the roots.

I am having a problem with spearmint too (even though yes, this is an old thread). It has even started to leave the landscape area and come up in the lawn! I sprayed some Round-Up today and we'll see how that works. Hopefully one day all people (who wish to be) will be mint-free!

Wow, I didn't know it was that aggressive. I just put some spearment into my herb harden (in-ground) this weekend. I noticed that it was rootbound in the pot, so took it out of the pot and put it into the ground. Should I dig it out and put it in a large pot instead? I did notice its agressive root system.

Lali

I think it depends a bit on the conditions you are able to provide. I am in zone 6, with heavy, usually-dry clay, and although I once had an "experience" with peppermint, it eventually got shaded out and went away. I have tried to establish spearmint several times unsuccessfully in non-garden areas.

If you are putting it into prepared soil with adequate moisture, though, watch out! Most people who have additional ambitions for their gardens keep their mints in pots.

If someone has an area that is solid spearmint, though, why not try to sell some through your local farmer's market? It's a shame to try to kill off such an enthusiastic plant. There are still pots to put other things in....

:o)

Good advice.

I was joking with a fellow herbalist yesterday who said peppermint has taken over at her place. I suggested just start wanting it to grow and actually harvesting it. It sometimes seems the more you want to harvest something, the less vigorously it will grow - and the reverse as well. She said that was probably true for her since she hates mint tea. :)

Eibren, you and I have had similar mint experience. I have heavy clay in Western NY State and I'm on my fourth attempt at starting a mint patch. I think this one might actually make it. Yeah....I actually want to harvest and use it. Like I said, just want to use it and see what happens!

FataMorgana

I have a area where I would love the mint to take over! I planted a few different mint varieties just because of all the stuff I want to do with it!!!!

I think I am going to take a chance and put some chocolate mint in front of some shade plants I have growing at the side of our driveway. I have tried chocolate mint unsuccessfully in several locations, but I've noticed, to my surprise, that plants seem to be doing fairly well in this spot. It usually gets quite dry in the summer, but several years ago, when I wasn't fully back to gardening after a hip replacement, we had a truckload of mushroom mulch put there that never was fully used. It can't be removed now, without difficulty, because the pine tree there has put feeder roots into it....

Serendipity, full team ahead!

;o)

I live in an apartment which has done almost nothing with the landscaping, choosing instead to focus on the buildings. My back patio faces the north-east, and I'm down at the end of the building on the low side beneath some trees. There's nothing but dirt down here, no grass even, and some sort of ivy that has been allowed to run wild.

Each bottom-floor patio has a gravel area extending in a half-moon from the cement patio. This gravel is actually more attractive than the dirt! If I were to plant some mint, could it potentially spread like a ground cover?

I have some potted plants, but nothing in the ground. If they're willing to let ivy go hog-wild and choke the trees back here, I can't imagine that they'd care if it was mint instead.

Having learned the mint lesson long ago, I sunk a large pot in the garden (drainage holes provided) and planted my mint there. So far the mint is corraled in.

However, having recently discovered the pleasures of Mojitos - Rum, lime juice, simple syrup, sparkling water and bruised mint sprigs, I'm kind of jealous of your over abundance of mint!

Those Mojitos sound wonderful...definitely another reason to let mint run wild!

I planted my chocolate mint in abovementioned spot--so far, so good.

Annekindness, those were my thoughts exactly! Mohito party!! :-D If you stick the sprigs of mint in the bottle of rum and let it marinate in the fridge a couple days, you get an awesome mint flavor and you don't have to mess around with a mortar and pestal.

I planted mint in the ground out front about 10+ years ago. I have spent every year since trying to get it out. I tried everything, including Round Up. It doesn't care if you pull it up, spray it, etc.

I planted an herb and vegie garden out back last year and wanted assorted mint plants. I put one in a sunken pot in my garden, (I did not cut the bottom out as some suggested, thank goodness!), the roots grew through and it started to pop up all around. I think I got it out, this year will tell.

Do NOT plant mint in your garden, unless that is all you want to grow. Get a big pot and it will do just fine. I have had spearmint, orange mint and chocolate mint that have grown for years in a pot. Tried apple mint last year and banana mint new this year, (don't think it is very "banana-y")

I planted mint (I forget which variety) in a 10" pot. I then put that 10" pot in my herb garden, but only put it in 1/2 way (1/2 the pot is still sticking out of the ground). I noticed that the mint is starting to cascade down the side since it seems that it's getting a bit crowded in the pot. If the mint cascading down the side touches the soil, will that piece start growing roots? I really don't want mint to grow in the herb garden, just in the pot that I put it in.

thanks,
lali

"If the mint cascading down the side touches the soil, will that piece start growing roots?"

Usually, yes.

If your soil is the type mint likes to spread in, your cascading sprigs will eventually form roots.

If you catch them in the early stages, you can just clip off those sprigs and plant them as starts in new pots.