If they are perennials hardy in your area they don’t need any prep for winter, although mulching is a good idea. They die back to the ground but the roots, and sometimes some basal leaves, survive. The original plant returns. Although it might reseed, that isn’t necessary for its survival.

Annual plants do not survive winter. They continue from year to year by dropping seed.

eta are these in containers? If so they are vulnerable to freezing to death unless you take them into a frost free place.

Mint has the capability to take over your garden, then it moves on to world domination. Otherwise known as a garden thug.

Perhaps you planted your mint in a container, which is the best way to deal with it...

you dont need perennials to reseed... they come back.. wait for it.. perennially ... once they get big enough.. if you want more plants.. you can divide them ...

i think of strawberries as biennials.... this years plant.. berries.. and then puts out runners.. and then the mother plant dies ... there are variations on the theme though ...

in summer or fall.. you can set the runners so they grow where you want them to ...

you usually buy bundles of strawberries fro spring planting ...

where are you.. big city name.. and i use the term loosely in mid MI .. lol ...

if your ground freezes .. and you have snow cover.. winter is not brutal at ground level.. because the snow insulates the ground .... dont make presumptions on this dynamic ...

ken

i would think moo U would have trail gardens on campus.. might be a nice day trip to lansing to see how they do it all ... and thats about as central michigan as you can get ...

ken

https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffnt&q=msu+trial+gardens+lansing&ia=web

From other posts by the OP I believe they’re growing in containers but they haven’t come back to confirm. If that’s the case the issues are going to be different from in ground growing.

So Right. Missed that.

Just say no to planting mint in ground!