[Sca-cooks] Sekajabin

[jenne at fiedlerfamily.net]

> Well, Jadwiga, your neighbor likely did you a favor ;-) I was growing
> peppermint in Ohio, and my ex very helpfully mowed mine down because "he
> didn't know" (Yeah, like he hadn't seen me, during its first summer,
> fertilizing and watering it, to give it a good start in difficult ground.)
> What he didn't realize, was that this was the Mint That Would Conquer the
> World, and that by mowing it, he just made it mad- it started growing twice
> as hard ;-)

Basically, that corner (fully enclosed) now has mint, lemon balm, and
tansy in it because I got tired of fighting with the ornamental
strawberries (ick) and the weeds, and just put in invasive plants instead.
The neighbor's house has a similar area, and I'm going to plant some more
mint in it (it's a rental, and that area simply shelters weeds) for her to
enjoy.

The trouble was just that I needed it right then.

At my mom's house, we were trimming out the mint to give the Peony which
was originally NOT in the middle of the mint bed some air... When I
lived at home, I would harvest what I could, then we would mow over the
mint bed 4-5 times a summer. Mom is moving the mint into the area that
covers her septic hook-up, since it will grow anywhere... but yes, it does
need to be cut back periodically or it gets aphids because it grows so
densely.

-- Jadwiga, who has a great fondness for invasive useful species, and has
reached a detente with the sweet peas and the morning glory in the back
yard, but is enduring another sneak attack from the violets...

-- Pani Jadwiga Zajaczkowa, Knowledge Pika   jenne at fiedlerfamily.net
"In the nonstop tsunami of global information, librarians provide us with
floaties and teach us how to swim." --Linton Weeks, Washington Post 1/13/01.