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Your Daily Lesson: Mint is Invasive

May 25, 2010

…Lest there is anyone else as gullible as I.

We are surrounded by things that should illegal: Motorcycles without mufflers, Barbie commercials that make them look like they can walk by themselves, food labeling that want you to believe a fruit snack is as good for you as the real thing, and

…plant descriptions that say, New! Clumping, non-invasive spearmint.

Wow, thought I. Non-invasive mint! Buy, buy, buy, buy. (That means I bought four of them). So excited! Plant, plant, plant, plant. And now…

Dig, dig, dig, dig.

Every. Single. Year.

I will never be rid of that mint.

You gotta admire the tenacity. It’s in the same league as my admiration for raccoons. I can’t deny they should be complimented on their tenacity. I’ve got an idea for a new breed of raccoon: hybridize them to eat mint and not chickens.

Anyway. Please, if you learn anything today, learn this:

  1. What you order at McDonalds will not look like it does on TV, and
  2. All mint is invasive, no matter what the label says.

In other gardening news:

Itty bitty apples have formed. While I can’t see the whole tree, it appears that I will have at least some apples, despite the frost. Yee ha. That means more apple jelly this fall!

Volunteer borage and sunflowers have been relocated to their rightful homes

For those of you with keen eyes, yes, this is the bed I just dug the mint out of, pictured above. Gardening for me is often this way. I go out to do something specific and find I have to complete three other tasks before I do the one thing I intended. In the case of the borage, I went out to plant the corn. But found I couldn’t plant the corn because in the bed I planned to plant it, were several borage and sunflower seedling volunteers from last year that needed to be moved.

You see, rather than start seeds or buy new plants, I just move around the ones that self sow and come up on their own. And this year, instead of putting the borage in with the herbs like I usually do:

(which always gets to be too crowed and chaotic, but you can see a borage volunteer right up against the chives, which I should have pulled but didn’t have the heart to. Oh dear…), I decided to put them in the center area where I usually have zinnias. I do love zinnias. I’m going to miss them this year. But:

  1. I didn’t start zinnia seeds yet
  2. I’m sick of buying them and don’t plan to go back to the garden store, and
  3. They always look crappy by the end of the summer. I don’t know why. Maybe I don’t deadhead them enough?

They will be replaced with the borage which

  1. Looks FABULOUS in a vase with sunflowers
  2. The bees LOVE
  3. Are nice enough to start themselves from seed for FREE

You can also eat borage and though I mean to look into this each year, I have never gotten around to it.

So anyway, I needed to move the borage OUT of the corn bed and IN to the spot planned for them. BUT I couldn’t do that because…

The MINT needed to be dug out first.

You getting all of this?

You starting to understand why I can’t get Jeanette’s brochure done for her?

Anyone want to call Jeanette for me and let her know all of this? If so, I would really appreciate it. Because I’m too embarrassed to call her.

So that’s it. I plan to go pick up my tomatoes, peppers and eggplants up today. I’m getting them from a FABIE local heirloom, organic grower. Total granola guy. He’s gonna change the world. Which is great, but all I really care about at this point are his plants. Which, if they are like last year’s, are stocky little healthy workhorses. Already hardened off. Amazing. It’s called Knightshade Gardens. If you live near me in Minnesota, you can reach them at 952-564-1714. They sell out in the western suburbs around Maple Plain.

Then, all I’ll have to do is plunk the tomatoes into the ground in their intended spot tomorrow:

GAK!

Filed Under: Garden Tagged With: weeds, Apples, self sow, invasive mint, volunteer plants, borage, sunflowers, Knightshade Gardens

Watch Out For This Garden Nuisance

April 21, 2010

And Harden Your Hearts.

Yes, I am talking about a flower: Violets. Johnny Jump-Ups. Small pansies. Whatever.

Do not be deterred. Do not be swayed by their innocent demeanor. These plants will ruin your garden.

Oh yes, they will charm you in the process, but be charmed and you have already lost the battle.

Trust me. This much, I know.

Here’s how it happens:

1) You walk into your garden on an early spring afternoon, shortly after the snow has melted and notice a single purple flower in a corner of a bed. It is breath-taking. Its tenacity stunning.

2) Each day that you are in your stark spring garden, poking around and getting the sterile gray dirt ready, or spreading the brown compost, you smile at the purple flower. It gives you hope. It is a look into the future of your garden. It makes you happy.

3) Weeks later, it is still blooming. It is sort of in the way as you plant seeds, but you have come to love this flower. Pulling it out would be wrong. It would feel like ripping your own heart out. So, you plant around it.

4) You eventually forget about your purple flower. It gets taken over by the lettuce, or the swiss chard or the beans. It disappears.

5) Or does it?

6) Fast forward 10 months. It is another first of many strolls through the garden on a warm-ish March morning: a purple flower! Where did it come from? So pretty!

7) They are more! Oh so fun! In the paths, in the dirt, in the grass!

8 ) Wait a minute… They. Are. Everywhere.

9) And you realize that something must be done. You need to take them out.

10) They are so pretty, so you dig them out and give them as gifts for birthdays of friends…

11) For your coffee table…

12) For your screen porch…

13) And maybe…. maybe…. you can leave just one to make you smile in the garden…

Filed Under: Garden, Home Tagged With: weeds, violets, johnny jump up, pansies, early flowers, nuisance, self sow, volunteers

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About Me

Jen menke

I’m a mostly-retired, pretend graphics and web developer (but don’t judge my skillz by THIS site!). We sold our dream home in Watertown, MN and downsized to a “Villa” in Excelsior, MN and built a home in our dream location of Eagle, CO and now split our time between the two states. It is truly a dichotomous life of absentee gardening and getting together with friends & family while in MN and playing hard and hermitting while in CO. I’ve let the blog go but a trip to Alaska has me resurrecting the Road Warriors series. My beloved brother is my biggest fan and I am doing this just for him.

Latest Reads:

Jennie's bookshelf: read

Trail of Broken Wings
2 of 5 stars
Trail of Broken Wings
by Sejal Badani
Started out strong and dwindled off for me. I wasn't enamored of the writing and -- maybe it's just me -- but the secrets!? I understand that you have to be willing to swallow a fair amount of incredulity when enjoying a lot of fiction, ...
The Girl on the Train
3 of 5 stars
The Girl on the Train
by Paula Hawkins
Audible book. Good, mindless listen. Pretty good action and twists. Not as good as all the hype, in my opinion, but I did enjoy. --Not enough to choose for my bookclub though: it would have been carved up by those English-teaching wolves...
I'm a Stranger Here Myself: Notes on Returning to America after Twenty Years Away
4 of 5 stars
I'm a Stranger Here Myself: Notes on Returning to America after Twenty Years Away
by Bill Bryson
Not my favorite Bryson book. However, it's been several years since I last read one and I was -- once again -- astounded by his writing style and voice. I just love him. I think this book is mostly compiled from columns he wrote over a c...

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