how can i get rid of the creeping charlie without hurting my toads, frogs and worms?

Question

I have been focused on refurbishing the house I purchased five years ago... I have mowed the lawn and at times watered the lawn when it was scorching hot...i added lime once in the five years....the lawn was never great to begin with...except for the part over the leaching field..OF COURSE.....the lawn is half sunny all day and  half shady all day.....the shady part seems to be thicker with the creeping charlie..... but that could be because the grass was never thick there either.....I am surrounded by natural woodlands with lots of jack in the pulpit, solomon's seed, ferns etc......I have noticed some creeping charlie over the past few years creeping .. and creeping.....I have kept it out of the flowers beds that I have begun to establish.....but I now see the miles and miles of creeping charlie root system lying all over the grass surface.....I have been raking it up..in heaps and piles....my neighbors have even come over to ask me what I was doing ....there are mounds of creeping charlie piled everywhere. my lawn is about an acre..yeh alot of raking to do....... I plan on putting the creeping charlie in black plastic bags to bring to the dump....I do not think I should put it in any compost or use it for fill...as it seems to be invasive.....I know i will not get it all by a LONG....but how can I start to reverse the growth without killing the habitat for the toads, frogs and worms?

Answer 1

When you cut the grass, use a grass catcher to catch all the seeds and take to the dump................there is an herbicide that you could use in the winter when the animals are safe tucked away for the cold weather.  another thing is you have a lot of ground..........at first site of it.....hoe it down and bag & trash, a second way is to cover one area for a week with a heavy tarp and put rocks on it to kill them..........they pull them out..........or pull out by hand.....invite friends over and have a creeping charlie pulling picnic and right into a bag or box and get rid of them.........the seeds keep them going from the blue flowers.

Answer 2

When it gets cold the wildlife goes back deep into the ground or water...........Try to find something that you can only use in that fall winter time...........Happy Spring.