How Can Peppermint Be a Retardant in Your Lawn?

Plant peppermint plants around your porch. Space plants 18 inches apart and line your lawn where it comes up to your open porch. This will retard the growth of mosquitos, preventing you from having to screen in your porch. It will also add a scent that is pleasant when you're sitting outside. If mosquitos persist, add more peppermint plants and consider growing some in window boxes that you can hang beneath your windows that face the porch.

Surround anthills with peppermint. Make a circle of peppermint plants all the way around the anthill. Place the plants approximately one foot from the anthill on all sides. Space them about eight inches apart so that the circle of peppermint will be nearly continuous once the plants grow. This will repel the ants and keep them from spreading. Snip a few leaves of peppermint and drop them directly on the anthill. Repeat this process several times a week until the ants are gone.

Plant peppermint near house walls where you find slugs climbing. Slugs don't like peppermint, so the plants will encourage them to leave the area. Space the plants 18 inches apart and monitor the appearance of slugs to determine if you need to add more peppermint. Slugs tend to like moist areas, so if the soil is particularly moist, reduce the amount of water that you give your peppermint plants.

Plant peppermint near entrances to yellow jacket and bumblebee burrows. These flying insects don't like peppermint and will move far away from it. Surround the entrances with peppermint plants placed approximately one foot away. Space the plants eight inches apart until you have made a complete circle. Drop a few peppermint cuttings directly on top of the holes to the burrows.

Line the edge of your garden with peppermint. This will help deter ants, slugs, snails and wasps, as well as the white cabbage butterfly.