It’s fair to say that the goal of many gardeners is to create a self-sustaining garden. This means adding plants to the garden each year that will self-seed, be perennial, or simply reliably maintain themselves. The hope is that the amount of annuals, whether flowers or vegetables, that need to be added is minimal. So you might think that active “spreaders” are welcome in the vegetable garden. A word of caution, though: if you don’t deal with them now, they’ll only be more problematic next year.

What do I mean by "spreaders"? While there are plants that are considered invasive and should not be planted, spreaders are not so black and white. They can serve a purpose and still not be considered invasive, but they will crowd out your other plants and are generally a nuisance.

Most people will not have a mint problem with mint that they plant, but mint that just appears. Birds can drop it and it will grow everywhere, and even more frustrating, it is usually not good mint. But if you do get good mint, be aware that it will spread. Mint will spread even outside of a container by its roots. For this reason, you need to put it in a planter on concrete to keep it contained.

I was excited to grow horseradish, and why wouldn’t you be? It grows by taproot, and the only thing you need to know about taproots is that they are a very effective way to grow horizontally underground. Horseradish is not a container plant, so it’s best to keep it somewhere where it can be easily pulled up at the end of the season (which you’ll want to do, because it’s delicious). Save a few roots for spring so you can replant them.