Mint

Robm1955

I have 3 different types of mint, in pots, which were doing well. Something seems to be eating the lower leaves of each plant. I suspect it's slugs/snails, as none of the higher leaves have been touched. I have ordered some copper tape to put round the pots, hoping this will stop them. My question though, is how do I look after the plants through the winter. My mint plant last year, went 'woody' and like twigs, and never really recovered. The leaves after that, didn't really look good at all. How can I protect them?

DaftyDuck

Chop them down to ground level (a month ago would have been ideal, but now is OK). Since they are in pots, turn them upside-down, and finger-rake the debris off the soil and stems... you can be quite rough.

They'll overwinter quite easily. Try not to let them get too wet, and never stand in water. Keep the growth small and low over winter, and they should shoot like rockets early next year. Top dress the pot with soil in spring (you can brutally chop the bottom inches off the root ball if needed), or simply repot a few stems into a new pot (my favoured method, but chuck the remaining roots out, not on the compost heap!)

Robm1955

Thanks for the information. I'll cut them back today. I'll have to move them somewhere out of the rain, if it gets too much.

Davesnave

As above, you can't keep mint indefinitely in containers without dividing to remove the woody bits and refreshing the potting medium. Left to its own devices, mint eventually it strangles itself.


Your mints will likely die down and disappear completely in winter, apart from the woody bits. That's normal. The fussy variegated types take longest to re-emerge.

DaftyDuck

I have heard that overwintering with the pot upside-down, and leaving it like that until the "green shoots of spring" curl from underneath the pot. Never been brave enough to try it, but I suppose I might give that a go this winter.

Robm1955

Just had to post an update. Cut back all my varieties of mint in the winter, and turned the pots upside down. They are thriving again now. I may do as you suggest Davesnave, and re-pot them at some point. Thanks again guys for the tips.

DaftyDuck

Thanks for posting back. I did, indeed try my own tip this year (did admit I'd not been brave enough to do it yet) and those pots that wintered upside down are fantastically dense. I'm glad it worked, all the more so since you did it too.