Have you planted mint under your window to add to tea and decorate your yard? In a year, you risk being left without a home, a harvest, and nerves.
Mint roots are invisible tentacles that penetrate the smallest cracks in the foundation, destroying it from the inside.
In winter, when the water in the roots freezes, it expands, widening the cracks.
In two seasons, mint can deform concrete paths, damage sewer pipes, and even destroy the integrity of the walls of an old house. But this is only the beginning.
The menthol released by the roots inhibits the growth of vegetables and flowers within a radius of 1-2 meters. Tomatoes, cucumbers, eggplants and even unpretentious parsley die near mint.
Its smell attracts ants, which build colonies under the roots, and they, in turn, spread aphids throughout the area.
If mint grows near the porch, prepare for an invasion of mice - they use dense thickets as shelter from cats and birds.
It is impossible to remove mint by regular weeding. Its roots go down to a depth of 2 meters, and each piece left in the ground produces new shoots.
To get rid of it, dig up all the plants with a pitchfork (a shovel will cut the roots), sift the soil through a 1 cm mesh and treat the soil with boiling water and vinegar (200 ml per 10 liters).
Then cover the area with thick black film for 6 months - without light and air the roots will die.
If you want to preserve mint, plant it in old metal buckets without a bottom, dug into the ground. Check once a month whether the roots have grown beyond the container, and trim them with pruning shears.
To repel ants, sprinkle the ground around the area with ground cinnamon or red pepper.
Never dry mint in the sun - the essential oils will evaporate, leaving the herb without aroma. Hang the bunches in a shady, ventilated place.
If you notice that mint has started to bloom, immediately cut off the flower stalks - they signal preparation for the capture of new territory. After removing the mint, restore the contaminated soil with green manure: sow mustard or rye, which will draw out the remaining toxins and fill the soil with nitrogen.
And most importantly: never add mint to compost! Even dead roots retain the ability to germinate. Burn them or bury them outside the plot, after soaking them in salt water for a week.
Now you understand why your neighbors are whispering behind the fence, looking at your "harmless" bed of mint. Act quickly, before it's too late.
Author: Kurchev Anton