Can I overwinter my mints here on the west coast of Michigan near Grand Rapids? Some are in large pots, some in small. Should I plant them in the ground for the winter?
Overwintering container grown Mints
Are you planning to overwinter the pots indoors or out? I don't think overwintering things in pots outdoors is good in your zone unless you have a way to keep the soil in the pot from freezing. I also wouldn't plant them in the ground, if you forget about them or go too late in the spring to pull them out they may have taken off on you (mints can be rather invasive and hard to get rid of once you let them loose in your garden). You could bring them in for the winter, or if you need to leave them outdoors, I would dig holes in the garden and sink the pots in, then mulch over them. That'll give the effect of them being in the garden soil so they won't freeze as easily, but it won't leave them an opportunity to take over the garden.
Thankyou. I can't keep them alive indoors...no sun. :-(
I will byry them and mulch them. But one pot is too huge to move. Maybe I can just pile strawbales around that pot?
You can try that--hopefully someone from closer to your zone will check in and have some ideas for you. If it's a really big pot it'll take the soil longer to freeze so hopefully bundling it up a bit will help but I'm obviously no expert on how quickly soil in a pot will freeze!