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Mint plant in pot

Hi,
A friend was clearing out his garden and offered me this mint plant. It looks a bit sad and I felt sorry for it so I said I’d take it! No idea of the variety. As you can see there are some nice green leaves but many of them are very small, and there are a lot of dead and woody stems too.

What should I do to help the plant recover? Just cut out all the woody bits and leave the green bits behind, or cut everything off at the soil level and let it start again (or just pop the whole lot into the compost??).

if salvageable, I presume it will need feeding at this stage, as it has clearly been neglected. What sort of feed etc should I add.

Thanks, as ever, for any advice

Posts

  • AnniDAnniD Posts: 12,585
    edited December 2021
    If you take it out of the pot you'll probably find it's completely root bound.
    No idea if this is the "right" thing to do, but it's worked for me in the past. Take it out and divide it into 2 or 3 sections. It's likely that the roots have got themselves into a fair old tangle so you might need something like an old bread knife to cut through the clump. Cut down the stalks, keep the fresher outer sections and dispose of the middle. 
    Pot up the clumps using fresh compost and put somewhere sheltered. At this time of year l wouldn't give up any feed, although others might say differently. I've revived several old mint plants this way.
    I wouldn't advise planting it directly into the garden, mint has a nasty habit of spreading like wildfire. 
  • BiljeBilje Posts: 811
    I’ve several varieties of potted mints as they run riot in a border. AnniD’s advice is exactly what I’d do. At this time of year you could just cut it back and almost ignore it then split it in the Spring. Any green shoots will readily root in a jam jar of water on a windowsill. 
  • I agree with all of the above. 
    I find a sprinkling of Fish, Blood & Bone or Growmore fertiliser each spring is a good idea. 

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • borgadrborgadr Posts: 718
    I agree with @AnniD. When I moved into this house there was a porcelain sink outside planted with mint that was completely rootbound. I tipped the whole thing out, discarded about 80% of the plant and roots and put it the remainder back in with fresh compost. 
    It will always go scraggly after flowering (I do let it flower because I find moths love it). If you cut it all back you quickly get fresh growth.
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