Battle Plant Update: The Mint Wins In The End

So after a hard fought battle between left-over Mint plant seeds and left-over Bachelor Button plant seeds, the Mint has finally taken over the pot.



Back in April when I planted these seeds I was expecting the Mint to take over and squeeze out the Bachelor Buttons very quickly. I was surprised when I did get some flowers from the Bachelor Buttons, and the Mint has not taken over that side of the pot yet. The Bachelor Buttons have since given up due to the climate - there is a lot of construction being done on the outside of my appartment building, and the construction workers have to keep closing the windows of the balcony... thus making an oven out of my balcony. So I will remove the sad Bachelor Buttons from the pot soon... when we get a cloudy day.

All in all an interesting experiment with plant seeds that didn't seem to be viable, but I gave them a chance anyway. And I'm looking forward to more Mint Tea. I wonder what I will plant next Spring...

Battle Plant Update: Tea

A fitting update for my 42nd post, a nice cup of tea with mint flavour added by steeping some of my mint leaves in hot water and adding them to tea from my favourite blend!

There are still some flowers coming out from the Bachelor Buttons, and now I've been able to have some mint added to my tea. Not bad for having a pot with no plans for growing anything in it and old seeds that didn't do anything last year, so may not have even sprouted! I think I'll try this kind of random planting again!

Battle Plant Update: Flowers!

An early winner in Battle Plant! The Bachelor Buttons may look a bit short and the leaves are a bit stressed, but there are flowers!



I don't remember the Bachelor Buttons I grew last year actually flowering, so the left-over seeds that I planted this year just in case something would grow have done quite well!



The mint is getting a bit more bushy as well, but it hasn't taken over the pot and I do have flowers, so this is actually working quite well. I hope to report a surge in the mint so I can make some mint tea in the near future, I will wait and see.

Battle Plant Update: Mushrooms!

On Friday we found new univited guests in our battle plant pot! Mushrooms!



By Saturday they had, well, mushroomed!

This was an unexpected learning experience... so that's what the term "mushrooming" means. I always though it meant blowing up like a nuclear explosion that resembled a mushroom in shape. Now I see it means growing and poofing at an incredible rate like a mushroom plant - we could almost see them get bigger!

And the next day, they were shriveled and gone, so I removed the carcasses... but they have left a fine dust on the pot and soil which will likely grow into more mushrooms. This could be a problem. I have other plants in other pots that I don't want to be part of this experiment... will I be fighting battle mushroom for the rest of the summer???

Mint vs. Bachelor Buttons: Update!

In our last look in on Battle Plant, our intrepid plants had been overrun by mold. But being the sturdy - some say weed-like - plants that they are they have survived for another installment of who will take over the pot?

At this point, I can tell that the little plants are the mint, and the tall skinny plants are the bachelor buttons.

In terms of numbers, the mint seems to be winning. In terms of how much room it has taken over in the pot, the bachelor button seems to be winning.

I think the mint will eventually prevail, but will the bachelor button plants flower before they loose the battle? Stay tuned for more Battle Plant installments!

Oops! Did I just kill my plants?

Sad to say, battle plant may be compromised.

We went away for a week, and I didn't want the plants to dry out, so I gave them lots of water before we left. Too much water.

When we returned, I had a colony of mould growing on the surface of the soil. I've removed the mould as best I could, but I removed some of the plants too. I'm not sure if they will recover.

Should I label seeds when I plant them?

In my second installment of battle plant, you can see from the May 2nd picture that both sets of seeds have sprouted. Well, if you look closely you can see the small ones, they are up, but they seem to be lagging behind the bigger ones.

So I'm wondering which is the mint and which is the bachelor buttons. I'm sure I'll find out soon enough, but perhaps I should have labeled them...

Mint or Bachelor Buttons: Which will dominate?

April 20, 2008: After 1 week

As I started my Spring planting last Monday, I found seeds for Mint and Bachelor Buttons in my pile of unused seeds from last year. Neither of these plants grew so well last year, so I wasn't too interested in trying to grow them again this year, but I did have a pot full of soil that I wanted to plant something in, so I planted them.

All of the seeds in one pot – roughly one half Mint, the other half Bachelor Buttons.

Mint has the reputation of taking over gardens, and Bachelor Buttons also grow like weeds in the right conditions, so I figure both plants have the potential to take over the pot. The question of the summer will be... which plants will dominate the pot?

The 2008 epic battle of my balcony:
Mint or Bachelor Buttons – which will dominate?
Stay tuned for occasional updates!