Mint should only be planted next to these certain plants or it will take over your garden
Mint has many great qualities, but it's also an aggressive herb that can overpower your garden. Here's what you should, and shouldn't, grow it next to.
Mint is a great herb to have around.
The plant's fragrance is sharp and refreshing, pleasant to humans but repellant to pests. It can help keep your garden safe from bugs and rodents.
The flavour also pairs well with certain salads, pastas, dessert and even cocktail recipes. Mary Berry has a healthy mint and pea soup that’s the perfect remedy to seasonal allergies, while Jamie Oliver uses mint in his buttery swiss roll.
The herb is even easy to grow. In fact, it may be too easy.
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The aggressive plant can overtake your garden when not planted correctly. Its roots will spread throughout the soil, and it can overshadow your other plants, causing harm to them.
It’s best to know what plants are hardy enough to be grown next to mint. The Meadow Lark Journal shared certain pairings that will promote a healthy life for your mint and other plants.
Mint should be grown next to plants that won’t be overpowered by it, as well as those that can benefit from the mint’s pest repellent quality.
Beets are a great partner with mint because the smell of mint helps repel leaf miners and other bugs, Gardenia reported. The shade from mint leaves also cools the soil, which is beneficial to beets in the hot weather.
Onions, broccoli, tomatoes and beans are also good choices to be grown next to mint.
You should never grow mint next to other herbs, like oregano, parsley or rosemary. The roots will spread too far and it can suffocate your other herbs.
Because mint is unpredictable, it can also just be grown separately in a pot. A gardener on Reddit asked about the best way to grow mint, and many lamented that it should be grown in isolation.
One user wrote: “It’s manic. Keep it in a pot. Love the stuff but even my pots are rammed with it.”
“Mint roots can grow quite deep, they are not simply a surface root. They will steal all nutrients for themselves and choke out anything else.”
