Tell me about mint (herb)

[IShitGlitter]

Am a novice gardener but am getting better. I have an empty flower bed about 2m x 0.8/1m its next to my bedroom patio doors (ground floor maisonette) I have a photo somewhere will find it.....

Anyway this year I want to plant a mint plant I know they grow fast and spread but this is what i want so it will be a lovely big full mint bush.

I wont be using it for cooking It may get used in the odd summer cocktail. I want something that when you brush against it the smell will be unreal and will be nice to smell late summer evenings with the patio doors open.

Can anyone recommend a variety of mint that would be ideal? I will find a picture of the flower bed.

This is from last year when I prepped ready for runner beans. I had mint in that little pot and the rosemary bush is gone now too so its just a blank space now ready for mint.

Mint will grow everywhere, best contain it in a pot, even then it somehow jumps like a ninja. It’s like an infectious disease, keep it well away from other soil

I don't know what varieties you have there (am in USA) but here, mint doesn't grow more than about knee or thigh height. It spreads quickly and widely though. Just be aware that it will likely spread to every open piece of dirt you have on your property, and it will come back every year without you doing anything at all. I don't actually know anyone who has ever planted or bought a mint plant!

I think English mint is the fuzzy, greener kind? I think it might be slightly more delicate too. I have spearmint in my garden and it's very hardy (and good for mojitos).

If you don't need to use it for eating/drinking at all, you could try planting catmint (nepeta). It's not for eating but it has pretty purple flowers (good for bees and butterflies), spreads easily, and needs absolutely no care at all so far as I can tell. It's also a prettier plant overall than regular mint.

theres no other soil close enough to that bed for it to reach over to spread.

I will look into catnip aswell that sounds like an option although would it attract local cats?

My BIL has a huge lemon balm which is around waist height is lemon balm a type of mint?

catmint not nip

Do not plant it in the border. You’ll never get rid and it’ll grow EVERYWHERE

I’m still weeding the bloody stuff from my entire garden 10 years later

this is an enclosed flower bed with concrete at the sides of it the next flower bed is a good 3m away with brick borders surely it cant spread from there?

Catmint is not catnip and my cats have no interest in it, nor do the others in the neighbourhood.

Yes lemon balm is a type of mint and it has a nice scent. I have that too actually! It hasn't spread as much as the spearmint. The catmint spreads a lot but it's just nicer than regular mint and easy to pull out.

"Surely it can't spread"...mint will start growing even in the 6mm spaces between my paving stones - which have clay soil between them...

NB none of these plants have a scent unless you rub the leaves though. I think if you want that summer evening scent without squeezing greens then you need jasmine or something.

Lemon verbena, lavender or one of the heavily perfumed Daphnes might make more sense.

Soil and sun is important for a lot of the Mediterranean herbs, which is why most are planted in pots. Mint will take over and as another PP said, will appear in gravel and paving.

oh I might have to rethink the mint maybe?? I wanted something perennial hardy with good cover so i dont have to weed the space out. Is lemon balm just as agressive as normal mint.

Lemon balm can look a bit dishevelled if you don’t look after it.

How about Rosemary? Evergreen, quite hardy and apparently a house where there is rosemary at the door is a house where the woman rules the roost.

How much sun does the border get?

full sun until about 2/3pm I think

In that case, for evening scent, you could try night scented stocks

www.thompson-morgan.com/p/stock-night-scented/1910TM

But that won't fulfill your no weeding plan.

I would grow a variety of different mints. I have chocolate mint which has beautiful flowers, apple mint which has a variegated leaf and ginger mint. Strangely enough the one mint that will not take in my garden is the common garden variety that everyone want to get rid off.

Another lovely plant that is easy to care for and smells divine is lemon balm.

I really would think twice about mint. It's an utter bastard. Can I suggest...

Hebe is no maintenance, looks lovely, and has small honey-scented blossoms. They fill out quickly (you'd probably want 4-6 in that area), evergreen, very nice.

Lavender, although you will have to trim it back after flowering.

Mixed herbs - thyme, oregano, parsley, sage, rosemary. Super for fresh herbs in the kitchen and low maintenance (just a trim to tidy now and then).

That's a nice-sized little spot for a kitchen garden!

Catmint will attract local cats. I have quite a lot of catmint in one border and love watching the neighbourhood cats rolling around in it.

Nothing, but nothing beats the evening scent of nicotiana. I know it's an annual, but it truly is worth the few minute's effort each year of planting them. You could grow them in with a mixture of herbs.

scented leaf geraniums/pelargoniums are nice to brush against but they aren't hardy.
Also consider salvias (sage) for aromatic leaves, perennial wallflowers for scented flowers- both of these can be pretty much evergreen in sheltered spots , but they can both get a bit leggy after a few years.

I'd go for something leafy like the hebe suggested above plus a perennial wallflower, and then complement it with annuals or biennials like nicotiana, night-scented stocks, annual stocks. And you should have a climber! You could have jasmine, clematis..
If you want to avoid weeding, you could plant a low-growing perennial that will just run about and fill the empty spaces; eg alchemilla mollis, prunella ('self-heal'), some veronicas.

Chocolate mint ‘after eight’ is my favourite.

I have it in the border!

As long as you are vigilant about pulling up seedlings and pruning it’s absolutely fine.

Be aware that it spreads via underground runners as well as seed so careful management to keep it in bounds.

I have lemon balm also and love it.
I keep it pruned as a short, dense hedge.
Be aware that it, and mint, often die down over winter.

Rosemary was tender for me and died, gutted 😔

Roman camomile is nice, lovely, perennial, springy evergreen ground that smells of apples and covered in daisies.

Oregano is a nice hardy perennial aswell, does die over winter though.

Make sure you only grow one type of mint!
They interbreed otherwise...

I like mint and have it in the lawn. It smells lovely when I mow. The lawn is contained and it hasn't spread.

i did have a herb garden there but everything died and was over took by weeds i will look at hebe i seen some in morrisons last week in fact.

I love hebe, make sure you give it a hard prune once or twice a year like Lavender otherwise it goes woody at the bottom