mint and chive plants

[paganfrog]

i purchased a mint and a chive from the local supermarket because they were near dead and reduced in price. i thought id only manage to make use of them for a short while like many of my past herb plants i have purchased.

this particular mint plant however has sprung back into live and is getting very leafy and i would like to try and transfer it into my garden.

the problem is, i live in the far north of scotland near the coast and the weather can be somewhat harsh with wind, cold and rain/snow. and im not sure our soil is very friendly to plants unless they are woody and hardy plants.

can anyone give any advice on keeping my mint alive enough to become abundant?

[Deleted]

Just stick it in the ground, Paganfrog. Trust me, it'll grow just fine. I live in South Dakota, in Zone 4, and my mint comes back every spring. I have new sprouts right now, about 4" tall, as we speak. I think Scotland is a lot more temperate because of the ocean, than South Dakota. What zone are you in, do you know?

My chives are thriving here too, this is their 3rd Spring here since I planted them. Not only are they growing strong, but the last few days they've started making flowers! So I might have even more next near. ;D

For comparison, we usually get down to 15 to 20 below zero (Farenheit) here in the winter, and winds are brutal, believe me. So if you're warmer than that, both of them should thrive. You know about mint traveling, don't you? That you should contain it?

~Lannie

[paganfrog]

thanks for the advice lannie, you would have thought that with me growing up with a gran, mother and father who were gardening nuts, i would know all this sort of thing wouldnt you? lol

thanks for the help

[labrat]

paganfrog said:

i purchased a mint and a chive from the local supermarket because they were near dead and reduced in price. . . .this particular mint plant however has sprung back into live and is getting very leafy and i would like to try and transfer it into my garden.
. . . and im not sure our soil is very friendly to plants unless they are woody and hardy plants.

can anyone give any advice on keeping my mint alive enough to become abundant?

paganfrog, as Lannie stated, don't worry about the plants surviving, they will continue to flourish under no matter what circumstance and your harvest will enlarge without any input from you. You will find the plants have spread seeds via the wind; bees also will drop the seeds throughout your garden and elsewhere.

[dlangland]

If for some reason you can't or don't need to use your chives for a length of time, it's a good idea to trim them occasionally. I just did mine today. All I do is take a regular household scissors, grab the entire clump of chives into one hand, and cut them off 2-3" above the ground. If you don't need them, just compost them. In a few days, you will have as many or more as you started with, because this method encourages the clumps to bunch out under the soil. The 2nd season is when they really seem to take off. Both mint and chives propagate underground in addition to producing seeds. If you trim the mint occasionally it will bunch out for you.

As the others said, if you are like most people, once you get mint started, you might wish you hadn't. It is very difficult to kill, multiplies a little too fast, and is not at all fussy about soil. I have even grown it in rocky, sandy areas. If you don't watch out, before you know it you won't have any friends or relatives left to give a clump to. Please let us know how they are doing. Deb