Mint query

freezspirit

I know it sounds like a daft question but I'm getting a couple varieties of mint and have been told not to have them next to eachother for cross pollination reasons.

So what I want to know is what's the minimum distance I can have them. They are a chocolate and ginger variety and will be planted in individual pots.

I'm tempted to get a couple more, possibly pineapple and apple mint but don't really want to overcrowd.

emiff6

How far can a bee fly?? Do you want to grow more mint from the seeds your plants produce? If not, then it doesn't matter if one mint is cross-pollinated by the other. I don't generally let mint go to seed, but cut off the dead flower heads to keep the plants bushy and under control. I have ginger, apple and pineapple mints all in the same pot, with another pot for culinary peppermint as that tends to out-grow the others if it shares a pot. Mint is so easy to grow from cuttings anyway, you really don't need seed. I've not heard of chocolate mint - what is it like?

freezspirit

Thanks emiff6, I will be cutting before they seed so I can place them next to eachother.

I was browsing ebay and came across the chocolate mint, it has the taste of chocolate and an unusual leaf shape. Will take a photo once it arrives.

Before I've grown the common mint (which we cut and hang to dry and then store in jars for cooking) and let it spread in the garden but this year it completely varnished.

To be honest my senses have gone so I thought I would try different varieties to try and get my smell and taste back.

cjb02

I grow my mint really close together . all grown in pots as it can take over, but as for cross pollinating. so what really. it will not hurt the mother plant. I have a few varieties and they are all grown close to each other and they grow very well. I think I have peppermint, black peppermint, apple, pineapple. chocolate, eau de cologne, lime, grapefruit and atlas mountains mint and some other which I have forgotten their names. they all have different leaf shapes, different vigour, different leaf colour and most of all, different smells. most are out in flower now and bees and hoverflies love them. good luck growing your mint and I hope your garden mint reappears next year. you never know.

mi_jardin

dont plant them in the ground! keep them in pots as they are rampant!

Smoffi

i had mint in the patch last year.. and still digging it up this year.. will never have it in patch again.. always POTS.. its spreads more than a common cold!!

redsam

If you want your choc mint to stay choccy plant several feet away from others, i have a pot of mixed mint and they all taste the same which is a shame. Chock mint goes well with deserts

freezspirit

Yep my mint will be potband just because of limited space in my new garden when I move to try and be indepenent. But in my family we use alot of mint in cooking so we do let it spread in the garden (but I can understand why some call mint a weed).

Next year I want to try to grow oregano and flat leaf parsley from seed as we use alot of that too and I will have a greenhouse. But I don't really have any success with parsley in the past.