Creeping Charlie

littlemommy1

I want you gone. Please quit trying to take over my garden and my yard.

I don't want to use a nasty chemical to get rid of it because I have dogs and kids who run around in the yard. I've put grass in the garden and it still finds its way. When I pull it, I can get vines 5 feet long!

MaineWifey

I'm having the same problem!  I hate that stuff.  Its gotten intertwined with one of my flowering bushes and its hard to pull it with out damaging the bush now. 

I sprayed the parts that I could easily get to with white vinegar, let it die and put a really thick layer of mulch down, and it seems to have helped control it some, but I don't think it will ever be gone. 

Inkful

Thanks for posting this.  Just googled creeping charlie and a quick look at photos told me that half the weeds I've been pulling out in my yard are these plants.  (Grumble) wish I'd know how trouble some it was, wish I'd have been more diligent about pulling it out.

littlemommy1

I go out and pull some every day when it's nice...but it comes right back. I hate using chemicals to kill weeds, especially around the vegetable garden! Hmph.

FoxinFiji

I really hate using chemicals also but I'm coming to the realization that I'm going to have to for the millions of garlic mustard plants we have (ranked as the most invasive plant in our state...it's actually illegal to not try to get rid of it here).  I learned a tip from the head of my garden club that is good for plants that are intertwined.  Pour some roundup in a small container and brush it on the leaves of the plant you want to kill. 

 

~NB~

Spray it or brush it with Roundup (glyphosate). It won't hurt kids or dogs, just whatever plants it touches.

littlemissflip

When it comes to creeping charlie, I'm in the LTL (learn to love it) camp.  As far as weeds go, it's relatively pretty, and it smells nice.  I do pull it when it starts to creep into my gardens, but I just ignore it in the lawn. I also find the act of pulling it to be strangely pleasant and addictive.     

Re: garlic mustard, yeah, that one's tougher.  Hand pulling is generally advised over chemicals though, because of the concern about harming desired (non-target) plants with herbicides.  You just have to make sure you get the taproot out, so it's easist when the soil isn't too dry.  But if you have a large population, handpulling can definitely get tedious! I study garlic mustard, and I've spent aboug a bazillion hours pulling that stuff out of research plots, so I know how time-consuming it can be.

FoxinFiji

littlemissflip:

When it comes to creeping charlie, I'm in the LTL (learn to love it) camp.  As far as weeds go, it's relatively pretty, and it smells nice.  I do pull it when it starts to creep into my gardens, but I just ignore it in the lawn. I also find the act of pulling it to be strangely pleasant and addictive.     

Re: garlic mustard, yeah, that one's tougher.  Hand pulling is generally advised over chemicals though, because of the concern about harming desired (non-target) plants with herbicides.  You just have to make sure you get the taproot out, so it's easist when the soil isn't too dry.  But if you have a large population, handpulling can definitely get tedious! I study garlic mustard, and I've spent aboug a bazillion hours pulling that stuff out of research plots, so I know how time-consuming it can be.

I agree we have been pulling all around our property and have about 4 garbage bags full of it right now.  It's our fenced in dog yard we just created that is the biggest problem.  We had to clear away brush and regrade the area.  Guess was popped up everywhere since the seeds last for what...10 years is the new estimate I think.  Our plan is to put buckets over the groundcovers I've planted and spray everything else.  Unless the weather is bad we're going to try it this weekend.  **fingers crossed** 

mmremshard

I thought we had clover, but now that I looked up creeping charlie, that's definitely what it is. We had it on our entire front lawn. The previous owners were not ones for lawn/garden maintenance.