Mint as mulch?

I have some lettuce and carrots growing In a protected bed. Other than that and a few weeds my soil is bare and I want to cover it. I also have a lot of lemon balm that can be used. Do you think it’s ok to use fresh chopped mint as mulch? Would it be better to dry it first? Would I be better not using it at all. Thanks, Scott

Lemon balm, yes. Mint, no. They are the same family, but lemon balm is nowhere near as invasive or tenacious as mint. You could even have lemon balm growing in the same bed, but mint would take over. If you dry mint first it would probably make great mulch as long as it hasn't gone to seed. In my experience lemon balm could be used fresh or dried.

I would make sure mint is deader than dead before letting it near any garden.  

I think either would work great and I would put them on fresh, chopped up a bit, and laid down as thick as you can. If you're worried about the mint rooting (which seems a pretty remote possibility to me) then just chop it and set it out in the sun for a couple hours to wilt before adding it as mulch

Thanks for the replies. I never got a notification so this is the first time I’m seeing them. Here’s what i did.
Picture one: I could make a hundred gallons of lemon balm tea. Mulch is on my mind though.
Picture two. A makeshift drying table. Two old window screens held up by bamboo tomato stakes.
My yard smells like lemon pledge!

I would dry at least some of it for winter teas.  As for mulching, if either of them have gone to seed I definitely would not use them for mulch. Either plant is invasive where I live anyways.

I TOTALLY use mint for mulch! I planted some at my greywater outlet, and of course it's booming. I cut it down once this year, in June, and used it fresh to mulch garden plants that were coming up. None of it rooted or anything. I live in the desert so maybe in a moister climate it could be a problem, but really it wilted very fast.

I was just going to say the same thing as Rebecca. Even if the roots are exposed, unless it's really moist I don't have a problem with chopped or dropped mint taking over (it's the endless roots, instead). In fact, noticing the massive rodent problem that seems to be setting in, I might have to mulch with mint around my zucchini.......

I had to cut the drying time due to our biweekly tropical storm. I ended up taking a weed whacker to it while I had it in a wheelbarrow. I lost a lot of it. Next time I will dry, dump it all in a barrel then weed whack. So far so good though. I hastily mulched my young lettuce with it and no slug or insect pressure has happened yet.