Mint as insect repellant

[ducks4you]

....bad boyfriends.......

 

[Rosalind]

I live in an old house that becomes infested with ants in the spring/summer and when it rains heavily. I have heard that mint will help repel them and I am interested in planting it around some of my foundation plantings. Would it make a good ground cover around shrubs? I know it is very invasive.

We've got mint all around the foundation in raised beds. Totally did not work. I completely understand the old house thing--there is just no way on this earth that an elderly house can be reasonably caulked against the Great Ant Invasion, we can't even keep out mice.

What did work was dusting around the baseboards and cellar with diatomaceous earth (the kind that is rated food-safe), and putting those bait trap things outside around the patio cracks where they like to hang out. You'll have white floury DE tracks all over the house, but it's sorta temporary: ant season will be over in a month or two, and then you can just vacuum it up.

The more traditional insect repellant herbs, pennyroyal, tansy, pyrethrum daisies, southernwood and citronella geranium, only sorta-kinda worked. They were no defense against DH's nasty habit of leaving dirty ice cream bowls in the sink, for sure--ants are willing to put up with a little lemony smell to get such a treasure.

 

[Wildsky]

Look at Catnip for insect repellent, mostly for mosquito's.

You'll scare off mosquito's and attract the neighborhood cats!

 

[hoodat]

I've never found it that much of a problem. The roots don't go all that deep. I just chop around the clump with a spade to get it back to the size I want and then loosen the soil and pull out the runners.