Root maneouvers

You may remember my concern about that rabidity of mint in a previous post. This brief epilogue concentrates on the method behind the minty madness. Roots.

It's no surprise that for a plant to dominate its roots have to be both strong and clever. Without nutrients they will die, and it follows that they really should do anything to make sure they survive, that they get to the nutrients first lest someone else make more out of it than they do.

Today, that aforementioned patch of garden mint finally destroyed the other herbs and was in the process of destroying itself. Time to dig up and start again.

Rotting from the bottom to the top

As I reflected on just what mint had managed to achieve in this crowded container, my thoughts turned yet again to just how News of the World has managed to poison our society whilst remaining in many eyes something to be proud of (witness the final print day defiance of ex NOTW staff in front of their adulating peers). Could it be that mint offers a close to home understanding and reminder of how we should consider not just the NOTW but the print press in general?

Here is a herb that has a reputation for spreading quickly that it takes in all in its path. Dominating without apology, justifying itself simply by the need to have it.

I, of course, wanted it. It lifts a dreary meal, spices up a summer drink and is just something that I had always grown up with. In truth, it despite us gardeners knowing how invasive it is has a reputation carefully honed on the access to us given by ice cream makers, after dinner confectioners and pea chefs over the years. Keeping its methods hidden only until one stops to consider the extent of its influence:

Mint roots

I was genuinely taken aback at the size and reach of these roots. No wonder everything else cowered in the face of this insidious herb.

My mint has been destroyed, I will be replanting herbs next weekend with some care and thought (not least to work out if I can grow through the autumn). If monitored properly I do hope I can have my mint and not let it ruin the lives of other herbs.

I don't often like to get serious on this blog, but discovering what was going on in that soil, does make me think that unless we have proper transparency about what goes on - who politicians and police meet, when, why and what they talk about, and a proper debate about whether journalists and media outlets are indeed uncovering the truth or just selectively creating narratives however honestly intended, then we are only ever going to remain addicted to society's equivalent of mint whilst it spreads its ever invasive and powerful roots through the compost of Westminster and beyond.

I promise to find my humour again soon, and to take your mind off it all a little tune to lift your spirits and take you back to the title:

Mint imperials

Herbs are fashionable, and rightly so.

They can lift even the most basic cooking from dull to sharp quicker than you can say mint. Go on, say it.

Mint.

That's quick eh?

This is the second in my series on herbs, the first taking issue with basil. I've been asked by a Twitter follower, @MissilePanda, to write more about good herbs to plant that will survive. I reckon mint is a good starter. But...one of the first things I was told on planting mint was to put it in a container. Leave it in open soil and it will colonise.

So of course  in the open soil it went,  to see just how much it colonised. First of all it claimed the fledgling celeriac, then the young third batch of broad beans. I had to have a mint cull.

This year I clearly didn't learn my lesson. Yes, I put  them in a container, but I gave it companions. Like minded woody herbs that it would surely show some respect to?

Ah how naive, mint does nothing but dominate and subordinate:

What you can't see underneath all that mint are the rotting corpses of thyme stalks, all grey and decrepit. The mint really shows no mercy in its march to dominate its territory. Imperialism indeed.

The only way to keep mint in check is give it a container of it's own, and allow your other herbs space to breathe.  It might mean a bit of outlay on pots but you can then take time to arrange your pots in a nice way, thinking about which herbs look good together, which take pride of place.

Or develop a Mojito habit.

B&Q isn't expecting a run on containers this summer.