creeping charlie infestation

My flower beds and yard are offically infested with creeping charlie or ground ivy, I've pulled and pulled and pulled, this seems to make it worse!!! Now it has invaved my flower beds and veggie garden. What can kill it??? Has anyone fought this battle and won!!! I'm ready to go the garden center to buy some stinky awful product to attack it with but what can I use that won't harm my plants or make my veggie garden toxic. Any suggestions???
Thanks,
Becky

There are weed-specific herbicides, Becky. I was reading labels on some at the store the other day, and one said it killed creeping charlie and a couple other weeds without harming grass or other plants. I've not used such products, either...Just been hand-pulling the nasty stuff like you've been. :(

Ah, you're in Ohio. No wonder you're battling it at this time, too. Us, too!

Is this anything like what we have here that we call either creeping jenny or bindweed? If it is, you have my total sympathy. I have been fighting this demon for 10 years. Every year it gets less and less, but still it perseveres.

Joan, I think Creeping Charlie is different - it's a member of the mint family (Glechoma hederacea); while Creeping Jenny is a member of the Loosestrife family (Lysimachia nummularia); bindweed is different still - a member of the Morning Glory family.

I have the same Creeping Charlie problem, and I think the reason hand-weeding doesn't work is because any time you pull it up, you inevitably leave a bit of root in the ground, which sends up new growth.

To echo GW, I'd recommend finding a broad-leaf weed killer to try to eradicate it. Although I'm not a fan of using chemicals, I'd have to say I believe the "experts" when they say that most weed killers on the market today aren't going to have any long-lasting residual effect on nearby vegetation.

Well, I finally bit the bullet and bought can of concentrated weed be gone. I've decided to only spray the lawn an continue to hand weed it out of the flower beds and veggie garden. Since it has crept from the lawn to the beds I think this is the best route to go. I sprayed once last week, it hasn't made much difference yet, I'm hoping a second or third spraying will do the trick, but now we have rain coming for the rest of the week, so I'll have to wait.
Thanks for the support!!!
Becky

Oh, Becky. I have it all over my lawn too. A few places there is no grass left, just creeping charlie. I put a general weed n feed on the yard the 1st year we moved in, fewer dandelions, but the creeping charlie enjoyed the extra fertilizer. I don't use the fertilizer anymore. I don't know if it's true or not but I have heard when you pull it, not only do the little pieces of root that are left send up new shoots, but all the little pieces you drop root & take off as well. I guess I will need to read some herbicide labels today as I am buying slug bait too. I hope your methods work or at least improve the situation. Good Luck

My husband listens to a local radio talk show on Sat. mornings and Creeping Charlie is a frequent topic of discussion. He said that this guy, Mohammed Kahn says that the only time you can really kill Creeping Charlie is in the late fall and it takes three sprayings a week apart with your weed killer. Jerry Baker has a remedy too, but I don't know what his is other than beer and epsom salts, I think and he also recommends his recipe be used in the fall unless he has changed his tune. I have that stuff everywhere and it is moving into my vegie garden now. It has spread at least 30 ft. since last year.

If anyone comes up with a good recipe for getting rid of this stuff, please email me. I'll try to get back here from time to time, but sometimes the threads get lost on the back pages.

This message was edited Monday, Jun 10th 11:21 PM

Update---
The weed be gone spray does not seem to be working as planned I think it's actually feeding the creeping charlie!!! I am now trying to smother it with newspaper and mulch in the larger areas, maybe this might help???
AAAGGgghhhhh!!!

i just sprayed mine with roundup and it is dead! not all of it cuz its around my flowers-but its a start! Now i have to pull n pull n pull!
i hate this sh**!!!

I know what you mean about invaders, I've never had Creeping charlie but I hand cleared almost 1/4 acre of English Ivy - took me 2 years of pulling & digging, but I finally made it - now I have a hosta bed in a lot of that area and sun loving flowers where we had some trees taken out. I planted this stuff over 20 years ago just on a bank for erosion - then it got away -up trees & all - save me from Ivy!!!

I forgot to say that when my neighbor got rid of his Creeping Charlie, he mixed his Weed B Gone double strength. Sprayed three times, and it worked. He just had little spots to kill off. He says that the lawnmower spreads it too.

Had a friend in another town whose whole yard was blue in the spring. He couldn't stand it and tried everything. Finally killed the whole yard off with Roundup. The following spring, he had a yard full of Creeping Charlie again. So, in his case, the Roundup didn't do the job.