# Overwintering a spearmint plant



## HilltopDaisy (Feb 26, 2003)

The plant is beautiful and healthy, but as I have it growing in a very large pot, what is the best way to bring it through our frigid NY winter? Thanks!


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## copperhead46 (Jan 25, 2008)

If you can get it into a garage or basement it will do fine I have mine planted in the ground and it comes back every year, no problem


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## mnn2501 (Apr 2, 2008)

You can't kill mint without a nuclear warhead. I've dug and burned and roundup'd and it still comes back.
:run:


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## Danaus29 (Sep 12, 2005)

Yes you can freeze it. I lost a few pots of mint by leaving them outdoors. You have a couple options; dig a hole large enough for the container and put the whole container into the hole, or take the pot indoors for the winter, or plant some into the garden and take the pot indoors, or divide the mint that is in the large container and plant the small sections into small containers and the garden.


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## BlackWillowFarm (Mar 24, 2008)

My mints plants winter over fine and come back bigger and stronger each year. We get below zero temps here. Not often, but it's danged cold in January and February. Usually in the teens.


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## City Bound (Jan 24, 2009)

Hilltop, I have a few herbs in pots and I group them together, place straw between the pots, then I put a blanket of straw on top of the pots. Come early spring I take the staw off the top so the new growth wont rot.

I would place it agaist a south facing wall outside the house, then cover it in straw. If you have strong winds then you will have to find a way to keep the straw in place when the wind kicks in.


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## City Bound (Jan 24, 2009)

mnn2501 said:


> You can't kill mint without a nuclear warhead. I've dug and burned and roundup'd and it still comes back.
> :run:


Try growing it in containers instead of the ground, it is easier to control that way.


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## mnn2501 (Apr 2, 2008)

City Bound said:


> Try growing it in containers instead of the ground, it is easier to control that way.


Yeah, where were you 3 years ago with this advice?


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## HilltopDaisy (Feb 26, 2003)

Thanks everyone. I'd hate to lose this plant because it's really nice. No room in the cabin; I think I will dig a hole for the pot and put a thick layer of straw over and around it. Thanks again!


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## City Bound (Jan 24, 2009)

mnn2501 said:


> Yeah, where were you 3 years ago with this advice?


Ok, here is a way to keep it under control and to make some money at the same time....Dig it up, pot it, and sell it at a church sale or flea market, or a yard sale. Sell them for a buck a piece and you make money clearing your yard.

Or just keep harvesting them and dry them to make tea, and you can sell the tea.

Maybe that will help, if not call in the napome pilots to bomb the place.


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## RedDirt Cowgirl (Sep 21, 2010)

Spearmint is drought hardy, and freeze hardy too, and the roots are woody and tough - likely to stay alive no matter what. Other mints, like Bergamot (orange) mint can be delicate and hard to keep. Peppermint seems to fall in the middle. Fuzzy variegated mints, like apple, can be finicky too. Lemon balm spreads if it seeds out, but doesn't spread by runners. 



mnn2501 said:


> You can't kill mint without a nuclear warhead. I've dug and burned and roundup'd and it still comes back.
> :run:


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## TNHermit (Jul 14, 2005)

Come here I'll give you 1/4 acre of it. Planted it round the house cause the meeses dont like it. And we get below 0 here. And it grows bigger eevery year. Saves mowing  And I rarely have an upset stomach


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## Tommyice (Dec 5, 2010)

I haven't lost any mint yet. I've got in planter boxes, not the ground and do nothing special for it over the winter. Some springs it comes back fast and furious, others just mildly.


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## salmonslayer91 (Oct 10, 2010)

ive got all my mint in small pots what ill be doing in placing them all in one of those huge tree pots and fill the voids with straw cover with a bag so it doesnt fill with a massive amount of rain or snow  im glad i learned early not to plant it in the ground if i didnt want a mint pasture


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## HermitJohn (May 10, 2002)

Spearmint took over my Mom's garden along with creeping charlie and seedling parsnips in Iowa. After her death, I brought samples of stuff down here. And pest plants came along. Well not parsnips, they just dont survive summers down here. But the charlie did fine and the spearmint survived. Spearmint struggles, comes back each year where it originally took hold, but doesnt spread or get lush. The charlie spreads but nothing like it did in Iowa.


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