This is my next fight and here is what I found oput about it. If anyone else has had a problem with this weed I would like to hear about your experience and results!!

Based on many years of answering homeowners' questions about lawn care, I'd say the number one weed people worry about is creeping charlie, Glechoma hederacea. Known in various parts of the country as "ground ivy" or "creeping jenny," this invasive member of the mint family was introduced to our continent by early settlers who thought it was a good groundcover for shade. Boy, were they ever right!

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The problem, as everyone knows, is that it takes over in shade, then happily expands into sunnier areas. And it's difficult to eliminate. While you can pull it out of a garden quite easily (it comes up in great long ropes), pulling it out of the lawn is next to impossible because it roots down wherever leaves sprout from its viny stems. Any little bit that's left behind in the soil after pulling will continue to grow.

The best way to attack creeping charlie is to spray it with a broadleaf herbicide once or twice in autumn, after summer temperatures have cooled. You can spray now, but results may only be so-so, and there's more potential for injuring tender new growth on other plants in the vicinity.

Many people have been intrigued with the idea of fighting creeping charlie with borax, though reports of its efficacy have not been all that positive. To try it, buy Twenty Mule Team Borax, then apply it according to the following directions. Assess your results next autumn.

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A solid stand of creeping Charlie. Photo credit: Deb Brown

Boron, the natural herbicide in borax, will not break down or dissipate in the soil, so you should only use it once or twice in the same area. If too much is applied, not only will creeping charlie die, but desirable grasses will die too. To sod or re-seed you'd have to scrape up and replace the "contaminated" soil.

DIRECTIONS: Dissolve 10 oz. of Twenty Mule Team Borax in 1/2 cup of warm water (or enough water so it actually dissolves).

Dilute this solution into enough water to total 2 1/2 gallons.

Spray the mixture evenly over 1,000 square feet of lawn.

A day or two before applying the borax mix it's a good idea to walk around the 1,000 square foot area and spray it with 2 1/2 gallons of water, just to get a feel for how rapidly you must move to spread the solution evenly. If the area you wish to treat is less than 1,000 square feet, reduce the amount of water (and borax) accordingly.

Remember, if you kill the creeping charlie, but you can't get anything to grow vigorously enough to replace it, the weed will reappear, regardless of how you got rid of it originally.

Creeping Charlie Photo credit: Deb Brown