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<\/a><\/p>\nThe mint won.<\/p>\n
A friend came over and told me I should have planted that mint in a container.\u00a0 Or else it would be sure to spread everywhere.\u00a0 I figured she was exaggerating.\u00a0 She’s the kind of friend that asks you to excuse the mess in her house.\u00a0 When there’s a coffee cup in the sink and a throw pillow crooked on the couch.<\/p>\n
I shrugged.<\/p>\n
“It’s the only thing the squash bugs didn’t eat.\u00a0 Maybe if it spreads everywhere it’ll keep the squash bugs away.”<\/p>\n
Turns out that when mint spreads all over your garden it doesn’t actually deter the squash bugs.\u00a0 But it does deter this:<\/p>\n
Crabgrass.<\/p>\n Crabgrass has been a problem in our garden for a long time.\u00a0 It starts in the mulched areas and spreads into the raised beds.\u00a0 Or vice versa.\u00a0 It grows through mulch and on top of mulch.\u00a0 It lays low enough to the ground that you can scalp it by mowing, but not kill it.\u00a0 And as the weather warms, the crabgrass spreads and begins to root itself at the nodes instead of just the center.<\/p>\n Europeans originally imported crabgrass from Africa where the seeds are still used as a diet staple.\u00a0 Europeans used it as a forage for animals and fermented the seeds for beer (how did Africa fail to notice that little benefit, I wonder?).\u00a0 Immigrants to America brought crabgrass in order to use the seeds in breads and porridge.\u00a0 Until someone invented oatmeal.\u00a0 Which I’m guessing was a huge step forward in the porridge world.\u00a0 Of course, the previously cultivated crabgrass was immediately deserted and left to it’s own devices, which included spreading throughout North America.\u00a0 Because bringing over small pox wasn’t drastic enough.<\/p>\n Crabgrass remains to this day.\u00a0 If, like me, you spend March celebrating your birthday, and April recovering from celebrating your birthday, then you will head to the garden in May, and find the crabgrass was celebrating a whole lot harder than you.<\/p>\n But not this year.\u00a0 This year the mint was doing the celebrating.\u00a0 And it didn’t leave an inch of soil for the crabgrass to take root.<\/p>\n For a while, I thought I had made an immense mistake.\u00a0 With only 1 day before I planned to transplant all my summer veggies, I thought I was looking at days of weeding to clear the raised beds.\u00a0 It was shocking.\u00a0 Overwhelming.\u00a0 Typical.<\/p>\n I sighed and pulled on my gardening gloves.\u00a0 But that first clump of mint came up with surprising ease.\u00a0 So did the next clump.\u00a0 As a matter of fact, one handful of mint successfully ripped out a section of the herb that was 1 foot square.\u00a0 Turns out that mint spreads by rhizomes, which made for a dense root base but one that was shallowly rooted for the most part.<\/p>\n All those roots had kept the soil loose and aerated so that as I pulled them, the raised beds turned into soft and crumbly hills perfect for planting without even breaking out the hoe.\u00a0 Never mind the existence of huge worms as evidence that soil was a ripe with active microorganisms.<\/p>\n Best of all, as I yanked the mint from the ground it released a refreshing and invigorating scent.\u00a0 Instead of being immersed in the drudgery and misery that weeding usually entails, I found myself humming happily as I tore down the rows.\u00a0 I pondered the delightful warmth of the sun on my shoulders and the cool spring breeze on my face.\u00a0 I marveled at the abundance of birdsong, the companionship of the guineas, and the busy buzzing of the bees in the blossoming blackberries.<\/p>\n As I carried mound after mound of mint to the animals in the pasture, I rejoiced in the health and strength of my body, despite my best efforts to weaken it with ice cream and french fries.\u00a0 And I admired the intricacy of the food chain—-the land feeding the animals, the animals rejuvenating the land, and the people welcomed into that impressive circle of life.<\/p>\n I even gave thanks for The Other Half.\u00a0 Who was smart enough to spend his youth working and saving for the land and house that our family lives on now, despite the fact that all his friends were spending their time and money on parties, alcohol, and fast motorcycles.\u00a0 Well, he did have a motorcycle.\u00a0 But he sold it to buy me an engagement ring.\u00a0 I told you he was smart.<\/p>\n In about an hour, I had the rows cleared that I needed to transplant summer veggies and was practically euphoric.\u00a0 Ah, the power of aromatherapy.\u00a0 The hippies really do have it right.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n