I'm so confused about my mint!

[sweetbeefaerie]

So I bought a mint seed packet from Walmart, and planted it and it's grown a bit but not how I've read mint should be growing. Plus the picture on the front of the seed packet is completely different than whatever is growing in my pot. The leaves on the packet are how I'd expect mint to be, bubbly surface with jagged-ish edges, but the leaves growing in my pot are smooth, lighter green and the edges are smooth and rounded. pretty much a different shape than the leaves in the picture too. When I realized this was strange, I went and found the seed packet to make sure I had in fact bought mint, but apparently I had cut the top off of it so the only thing I can see on the packet is the word "Menta" at the top of the picture of mint. I tried Googling the word "Menta" but it kept correcting it to "Mentha" and I couldn't find that this seed packet even existed anywhere.

I am so completely confused...the plant growing doesn't even smell like mint at all either-it doesn't even have a smell that I can tell. And another weird thing is in one of the pots I have it growing in, a seperate looking plant suddenly started growing next to the "mint" plant and weirdly enough THAT random plant looks like mint! I don't know the smell yet because it's still small, but it looks just like mint while the actual one I planted does not at all. I can't tell if they're attached, or if maybe there was some other seed in the soil (I may have reused soil from failed attempts at growing things in other pots)...

I've included pictures of the seed packet, the plants that are growing, and the weird random actual mint-looking plant. If anyone can get me unconfused it would be GREATLY appreciated! <3 (the bigger smoother leaves are the ones I intentionally grew, and the smaller more bubbly leaves are the weird accidental ones)

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[ChanellG]

The smaller plant does look like mint, but before I get into that, let's talk about your soil. Mint planted in a flower pot needs a loose soil with good drainage. Did you add compost to your potting soil?

That second plant looks like spinach. I would separate the two into separate pots since the one that does look like mint will need a lotm more space to spread out in.

 

[sweetbeefaerie]

You know, I tasted the leaf from it and it could taste like spinach... What I'm the most confused about is how on earth did I get supposedly spinach from a seed packet for mint with mint on the picture? Did Walmart mislabel this seed packet and is there any action I can take regarding this?

 

[ChanellG]

You know, I tasted the leaf from it and it could taste like spinach... What I'm the most confused about is how on earth did I get supposedly spinach from a seed packet for mint with mint on the picture? Did Walmart mislabel this seed packet and is there any action I can take regarding this?

Well, I doubt Walmart had much to do with it. I'm guessing the seeds were handled some place that also handled other kinds of seeds and some - or at least one - of the spinach looking ones got mixed in. Depending on where you got your soil, it's also possible the other seed came from there. I've had that happen before.

 

[taki]

Yummy. Minty spinach. lol. It is rare to get mixed up seeds but as you can see, it does happen. Mint is one of those herbs that I generally plant and forget until I need some for the stew pot. The stuff is easy to grow in my area and we always have enough for the fall and winter.

 

[Jack Rouse]

The plant on the left is mint, and should be allowed to grow, the large plant in the middle looks a little like Lambs foot lettuce, and would have a Spinach or a slightly peppery taste.

It's quite common for seeds from "cheap" suppliers to get mixed up, and to have a few oddballs in the packet.

Once the mint has reached a decent size, you can propagate it by taking cuttings and growing them, and you shouldn't really need to buy mint seed, just ask a neighbour for a couple of sprigs, they will grow. !