I obviously don’t know… :(
Edit: Thanks for the answers - now I know! Where I live it doesn’t spread that easily, and often when it’s growing well it disappears overnight or in a matter of days thanks to caterpillars or grasshoppers. I didn’t know it would grow out of control in other places.
I’m not 100% sure, but I think it’s weed.
Weeds don’t actually exist. It’s just a term we invented for plants we don’t like.
People who say this have never battled goat head burr, burr clover or bristly ox tongue. Invasive as shit, crowd out threatened species and necessary natives for plant-specific pollinators, poke through your shoes and bike tires and generally run your day.
“A weed is a plant considered undesirable in a particular situation, growing where it conflicts with human preferences, needs, or goals” - Wikipedia
“Taxonomically the term “weed” has no botanical significance” - Wikipedia
Ok…? I really don’t get this “I love all plants equally, peace on earth, bro” messaging that pops up any time someone mentions a highly invasive plant.
Some plants, in the wrong spaces, are highly damaging to wildlife on many levels. It’s not just about wanting a monocultured lawn and having been tricked by Monsanto propaganda.
I think you got me wrong. What made you think I like invasive plants? I’m aware they’re an ecological disaster. The term weed just pisses me off. People spray chemicals on their lawns to kill off native plants because they’re “weeds”. Fuck grass and fuck invasive plants (like grass). I can think of quite a few plants I hate and would like eraticated from North America actually.
It’s not weed, it’s that mint is very aggressive in spreading.
I personally like the mint growing in the yard it makes mowing the lawn smell great.
It is classified in my state as a weed
I grow my mint along the side of the house where the HVAC condensation runs out! It helps with the whole area just being a giant muddy mess since it is also on the shady side of the house.
Oh thank God I was worried there was some meme about an incel jacking off on it I didn’t know about
that’s not a meme. that’s all they do.
Oh, so it’s not weed, but it’s a weed.
Not weed if you can make mojitos with it
It can still be a weed if you can’t make enough mojitos to keep up with the growth.
Challenge accepted
Are we talking Weed Mojitos? M’confusted?
herbs are just weeds that taste and/or smell good.
Weed as a classification is bullshit anyway. Iirc, it’s whatever broad-leaf plants got killed by roundup, Monsanto declared ‘weeds’.
Clover used to be a common part of American lawns
I keep telling people to let clover grow, and half the stuff that’s supposedly bad for their lawn is actually good for a healthy patch of dirt but someone invented a problem so they could sell the solution.
I’ve actually had landscaping people knock on my door and explain that half my lawn is weeds and they can take care of it for me on a 6 month contract or whatever bs…
Like Bruh my lawn is carefully cultivated to grow all natural native plants, specifically with the intent of boosting local insect and pollinator activity, there’s a reason this half-are is the only place you see butterflies.
I’m not about to let some punk in headphones and a “Lastname Lawncare” t-shirt flatten all of this to 1/2in of plain green uniform grass. That’s boring as shit. And bad for the environment. And boring. as. shit.
Look at Mr. Green Thumbs over here!
Seriously though I’m just jealous you have a yard to do this in.
It’s not owned by me, but it’s tended by me for now. I also am tending to my parents yard this summer, and trying to transplant clover around their yard. Sofar the patches are still green but it’s not quite growing time yet to see how well it’ll take hold.
Dam dog you got a bio lawn of local fauna and flora?
This guy knows how to progress.
Prograss
Let’s fucking go!
A weed is something you don’t want to grow right there. It just means undesired plant life and changes on a whim.
Monsanto tried to categorize clover as weeds in their advertising because the plant killer that was used to kill broadleaf plants that interfere with grass lawns also kills clover. They demonized clover because it was collateral damage!
That’s why I’m doing my part to help it take over :)
My parents outsource their Lawncare to me, and I have been taking the huge patch of clover near a corn field and transplanting it around their yard. Just cutting a shovel ful of dirt out and swapping them, and watering the area.
No idea if it’ll work the way I want it to, but I guess I’ll see if it spreads this summer.
I’d love to go to my in-laws and use a big seed spreader to throw clover and other native plants around, but that would just lead to them killing it all and hiring a lawn company to replant Kentucky bluegrass or something lame like that.
Clover is pretty hardy and in my experience doesn’t even fight the grass aince they thrive on different nutrients or something like that.
The bur seed clover in my lawn, shits a nightmare to deal with. Dogs get the seeds in every inch of fur, spread it around the lawn and hack them up when grooming themselves.
It’s mostly under control after a few years of tackling it.
I’d love another variant to replace the horrible one I’ve got.
Ok, that sounds like it sucks.
But that isn’t the clover we are talking about when we say clover is awesome. White clover is generally what people are referring to when they are talking about lawns and landscaping.
Red clover is native to the west coast, it’s edible, makes a good incense apparently, and it looks rather handsome imo.
Once it gets going … it’s hard to get rid of
Depends on where you live. Mint does have limits. It really dislikes dry and cold. We’ve planted it several times here and it’s quite difficult to keep it alive. Our growing season is quite short so it’s a bit depressing to have it die so quickly.
Everytime I now the grass it smells minty!
So we moved.
*mow
Just nowing my loan so autocorrect can get a heart attack.
Whats actually wrong with this? I feel like a lawn full of mint is infinitely better than the short grass suburb lawns that are so pervasive.
Trading one invasive monoculture for another isn’t really an upgrade, though you may get more utlity from mint. And your neighbors may set fire to your property.
The problem is not that it spreads. It is that it then suffocates other plants that can’t handle staying near it.
Of course having the ecological wasteland of lawns isn’t good either. You want to create the conditions for a balance habitat to establish. Mint can be an obstacle to this and be detrimental to the biodiversity in your garden, if left unchecked.
We did it like 15 years ago, it took years to finally get rid of it…
One time I did that, and was horrified to see that the next day the gardner removed it and disposed of the body.
It was my baby and it was literally choking itself in every pot I planted it because it would just grow until the entire pot was roots.
I now know that it had to be done, this is what it means to be an adult. To know that sometimes murdering a baby mint is for the greater good T_T
A lot of being adult is finding the justification and necesity of certain evils.
They are not welcomed, but we find peace in embracing, acclamating them.
I first learned this with pets. My brother in law, in his youth, would stone puppies to death. A cruel act but they would endanger the food rations. I am thankful I did not have to live that life.
I am thankful more humane and proactive measures exist now.
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Now there are. However this is country mexico decades ago. Not all are as luxurious as we are.
If the animals are left to live they will grow wild, it is why we neuter in modern civilization. Dogs and cats are especially invasive species and become a problem to local wild fauna. If we maintain them they would increase upkeep costs of food, another mouth is why we dont have kids loosely and willy nilly.
It is why in nature a mother cat or dog will eat their children. Starvation and malnutrition, by eating one the mother can live and feed the rest. To hope and give them a tomorrow.
You act as if these are things openly embraced. It is a merciful and swift death for we peasant folk. I apologize you have lived a life coddled from death and true necessity.
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Spoiled rich country comment
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Torture? I think you do not understand what a swift death entails.
Neither did my brother, then again you can’t even distinguish I said ‘in-law’ so what would you know of any three of these subjdct matters.
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Yes, you grab a stone and hit them directly. Quick, strong, and without hesitation.
Hesitation will bring undue suffering.
“It’s tragic that in ignorance there truly is bliss; we can never cherish it while we have it, but we still mourn it’s passing when we lose it.”
Throwing a rock to protect your food is humanity at it’s most fundamental level. It’s the reason we were able to develop as a species. When you’re reduced to that point, you do not have the luxury of extending your morality to the things that threaten you and yours. I’m sorry you have to confront this today, but this is the reality of life for most people in the world. It’s despicable by your standards, but your standards have gone generations without facing extreme hardship. I sincerely hope you never have more experience with the subject than discussing it online.
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Were this true, we wouldn’t be discussing it. This is not an issue from hundreds of years ago, this is the reality lived by more than a billion people every day. There are places where attacks from feral dog packs are a present concern (example, example), there’s countless reports about this it truly is not difficult to verify. How would you approach this, if you had less than $2.15/day to survive on? A thrown rock is a great deal more effective at addressing the problem than even the most fervent moralizing.
I’ve faced a lot more hardship than you
The playgrounds I grew up on could only be visited while armed guards were there. That many children in once place made too tempting a target to be left otherwise unprotected.
There are less cruel ways of killing a puppy than stoning it to death. Also, what’s the difference between welcoming and acclamating?
i mean, what way would be more accessible? Choking it? Slamming it’s head against the ground? Shooting it? (not highly accessible or necessarily legal)
Finding a suitably big rock and delivering a suitably heavy blow is about the most efficient.
Do you want to kill a puppy? No. He however needed to, did so, and accepted the consequences of his actions. Not easily or lightly done, pain and misery will be felt by both. The pain however will be larger if the food rations do not last, interfere with economic liability, or become unsustainable. In that sense all would starve.
You have to accept that if this animal lives it will feed, it will grow and it will feed more. We disallow and ban killing of humans, this does not mean we do it to animals lightly. It is still murder, but one we must commit to survive.
You do not want misery or sufferinh, however it must be embraced in order to reach catharsis. You do not welcome it, however you will acclamate it. Or it begins to control you.
… How would you prefer it were done?
I thought it only really thrived near water.
ENJOY THE MINT EVERYONE
Maybe add some white cover, some comfrey, sunchoke, raspberries, and you’ve got a permaculture paradise!
You expect them to survive in a mint-infested ground?
Its funny I tried basically all those and none of them could survive or compete against my neighbors accidental thistle farm.
Not even the mint.I didn’t realize how raspberries propagated until after I’d planted it in my tiny bed. The fucker spends every spring plotting world domination.
Fun fact: you can peel and eat young raspberry canes! Harvest when green and flexible, eat raw or steamed. Same for most blackberries and such, as far as I know.
Mint
plantfield.FTFY
Lol 😂
Meanwhile kudzu is over here like… what trees?
Sweet home Alabama…
Goats.
I’ve read that kudzu is nutritious, comparable with potatoes, and is cultivated in China.
Huh, I didn’t know that. Neat.
My dad used to cook it when I was a kid. Tastes like butterbeans.
When we bought our house 2 years ago, the previous owners had planted mint in the ground, despite having a raised garden bad. My wife and I spent an entire afternoon taking back mulch and digging to remove the mint. We built a 2nd garden box and put it over the top of the mint spot, but I’m already seeing bits of mint poking up from under the box…
Why don’t you just…eat it?
It strangles the other plants. And the underground root growth means it’s really hard to get rid of after it breaks containment.
What are your other plants?
Personally? Gravel, tar, some cancerous chemicals holding the two together…
Wait then why not just let the mint grow?
I think there’s been a misunderstanding. I don’t have anywhere to grow anything unless it’s in pots. I’m talking about mint generally, and why people don’t like it growing in ground versus in pots.
Yep! It also spreads like a weed.
Maybe plant some bamboo to help it
I have some kudzu i could sell you
I wonder what happens if you plant kudzu and bamboo in the same spot, endlessly climbing plant tower?
The solution to the space elevator was sitting there the whole time.
BET YOU WANT TO SELL ME LOW GRADE COPPER INGOTS TOO Ea-nāṣir
No, my friend, only the highest grade copper! And for you, special price too!
Cu must be kidding me!
And some blackberry, too! We could have blackberry mojitos made with bamboo muddlers.
Tbf it would be an awesome garden with endless blackberry and mint! can even smell.it
Now that you mention it, I wouldn’t mind living in that environment.
Evil.
bamboo is the most evil of all of them for sure lol
I thought I finally killed mine but after about a year it’s back again
Strawberries too. If you don’t plant them in containers you’re gonna have a bad time.
or a good time…
I could never get them grow tho
The previous owners of my house did this and I’m so thankful. Wild strawberries where I live slowly replace the grass and never grows very tall so this means I don’t have to mow nearly as often.
I’ve tried to plant strawberries and they just get smothered by other weeds.
I’ve got strawberries growing freely in my yard. I don’t see a problem. It stays pretty low to the ground and doesn’t out-compete everything like mint does.
Don’t worry just let my dad do the gardening. He killed the mint, the rhubarb, the blueberries, the redberries and the apple tree with his genius ideas!
