Natural Remedy for Ground Ivy Invasions

I wrote an article a while back about my love/hate relationship with Ground Ivy or as some of you may call it Creeping Charlie. As many of you know, I belong to a forum for back yard nursery owners. Through my contacts with that group I found a link to some very useful info about how to get ground ivy out of your yard. It is a VERY invasive plant as you can see from the picture above.I don't mind it so much around my pond because it disguises the liner where it shows but it has about taken over my shade garden.

In this article by David Lundsford of the University of Minnesota Extension service I learned that Borax can be used as a spray to kill this pesky plant. Below is the dilution recipe and how to use it.

Borax Solution for Creeping Charlie Control:
Dissolve 10 oz. Twenty Mule Team Borax in 4 oz. (½ cup) warm water.
Dilute in 2.5 gallons of water.

This will cover 1,000 square feet. If you have a smaller area to treat, cut the "recipe" accordingly.
    
 Apply borax when creeping charlie is actively growing in the spring, when no rain is expected for 48 hours. The borax treatment appears to be most effective during warm summers when soil moisture is ample.

Remember: The borax recipe has been tested only on creeping charlie and is not to be used on other broadleaf weeds. Be sure to use the borax spray only in the lawn because research shows established grass is tolerant of the spray. It should not be used in gardens.

If creeping charlie is growing in a very shady location, think about what you can replace it with before spraying this borax treatment. Unless you can establish other plants you'll find the creeping charlie sprouting again in the same location.
Treatment can be applied only once each year for two years. If you still have creeping charlie problems, then switch to a standard herbicide.

To read the entire article click here. http://www.extension.umn.edu/yardandgarden/ygbriefs/h519borax.html

For more about the backyard Gardners here is the link http://www.freeplants.com/

My favorite Invasive Herbs & How to Contain Them.

Honestly, my very favorite fragrant herbs are in the mint family. These will take over your yard if you let them! My friend asked me for a start of my Chocolate Flavored Mint because she loves the way it smells when she mows the yard. She lives in the country with no close neighbors so I gave it to her with a warning that she may not have grass in a couple of years.

I grow several mints around my pond; all in containers and I watch them to be sure no stray shoots escape. I have Chocolate (my favorite) Pineapple, Lemon, Orange and Grapefruit (above). I have heavy clay soil so I have planted Cat Mint and Apple Mint to disguise my pond pump and wiring. Even in the clay I still have to pull it up when it creeps out of bounds.

Lemon Balm smells wonderful! I have let it escape in a couple of flower beds so I spend lots of time in summer pulling it up. If I had it to do over I would put it in a big tall pot and place it near my back door so I could smell it as I brush by.

When I was a child my Nanny's yard was totally covered by something she called Ground Ivy. It smelled so good and had pretty little blue flowers in spring and summer. It was evergreen too. Well, I have it in my back garden now and no, I didn't plant it. It grows wild here in Tennessee and is a real pest. I have a love/hate relationship with Ground Ivy. I still love the fragrance and the pretty flowers but I hate pulling it out every time I walk down the garden path and trying to keep it from smothering out my Creeping Red Fescue. You guessed it -mint family!

One other "could be" pest is a beautiful ornamental grass called Moudry. It is only about 2 feet tall and has wonderful dark purple blooms in fall and is in the Pennisetum family of fountain grasses - perfect for a small garden - not! It reseeds everywhere! Those flowers drop their seeds. The only place for it is a section of garden that you don't mind being covered with Moudry. I actually put it way in the back corner of my yard where I couldn't get grass to grow and had difficulty getting in with the mower. Perfect!

Post a comment and tell us about your favorite (or not so favorite) invasive plants.