Parsley and mint over winter

[Peggy Sue]

Yes I'm the the que not to be rated too

My mint lives in a pot by my back door, I think that seems to be enough to keep it just about green in parts over winter, but my friend in Driglington near you can't keep her mint alive over winter, so that may be an indoors job or freeze/dry.

My parsley happliy overwinters no clotche open on the allotment, tides us over til the next sewing starts coming thoguh in spring...however for Yorkshire maybe you would need a clotche or a bit of fleece. We barely get a frost here, although it did make it through the (relatively) heavy snows last Feb (more than an inch in Cambridgeshire is heavy )

[MuddyWitch]

I was told, by one of the lovely people on Jecca McVicker's stand at Gardeners' World Live several years ago, that mint needs to be repotted every alternate year if it's in a pot. Otherwise, (I'll quote the bloke), 'it just ups and dies of boredom.'

However, I've repotted mine every other year and it's still going strong. The pot doesn't have to be any bigger than it's previous one, but I do tickle some of the old compost off & renew it.

So if you wanted to bring a bit indoors for Winter, (onto those 200ft long, South-facing kitchen window sills that all garden programmes assume we all have!), just repot it regularly and it should do well.

MW

[Peggy Sue]

Well my mint definitely lasts more than 2 years in the same pot- tough luck if it's bored, we all have a job to do!
Perhaps since it's just outsie the kitchen door it gets plenty of entertainment?

[MuddyWitch]

Why? What do you get up to in your kitchen?!!

MW

[Odsox]

I was told, by one of the lovely people on Jecca McVicker's stand at Gardeners' World Live several years ago, that mint needs to be repotted every alternate year if it's in a pot. Otherwise, (I'll quote the bloke), 'it just ups and dies of boredom.'

Isn't it strange that the people who make a living out of telling people what to do, haven't got a clue what they're talking about.
My mint has been in the same container every since we moved here 14 years ago, and it never gets fertilised, still in the same garden soil it was planted in.
But then it is in a fancy Chinese style pot, maybe it's so inscrutable it doesn't dare die.

[Peggy Sue]

Why? What do you get up to in your kitchen?!!

MW

Well apart from the dog scrounging any bits of pastry I drop I've normally got at least one too many things on the go and tripping over the dog to catch up time so I can race back out into the garden. It gets lots of slops thrown into it as the nearest tub so it's eaither being drowned by the water that I've washed the spuds in, getting dug up by the dog to bury her chew (fares much better than the lettuce on that one) or being picked for a quick mint tea.

It's a busy kitchen with an active doorway and I guess it has been knowcked over from time to time too (another dog hazard), mainly when the crows caw- thats not allowed you see...they need a good barking at, all engines scrambled, dog flap also scrambled and mint lucky to be dodged (or is that dogged!)

[MuddyWitch]

getting dug up by the dog to bury her chew

ah-hem

MW

[Millymollymandy]

Do you all let your mint flower or chop it back? I just wonder cos mine only has nice leaves worth picking in the spring and after that it's tough as old boots, with yellowing leaves and flowering stalks.

When I can be bothered (every 2-3 years) I take it out the pot, cut it in half or quarters, put one bit back in the pot with fresh soil and take the rest to the tip!

[Mrs Moustoir]

I let mine flower - the bees love it - and then leave it to die back during the winter. I pull out the crispy bits when it gets too untidy. It really is a thug though and I must admit, I've just let it rampage through the herb bed. For so many years, I struggled to grow it but now we're never without a sprig of mint for the new potatoes or Pimms.

[Peggy Sue]

Well it does pretty much as it pleases as it deosn't seem to NEED lots of attention so it gets a tidy up/ repot as and when I have time- which is pretty infrequently

The leaves are better in spring but I carry on using it once it's flowered too, I like mint tea and it doesn't make much difference for that, nice new bits I use for the potato salad.

Does get grazed a bit by the dog too! (hey Muddy witch no it's not a greyhound!)