Clover- why you want it in your lawn

In honor of Saint Patrick's Day !

As Americans we have been sold on the idea that a good lawn should be a perfectly trimmed carpet of green all season that has nothing else growing in it but grass. This has not always been the case in fact up until the 1950's grass seed mixes included clover in them.

Your lawn should look like this or you fail!

Clover was included in lawn mixes because it is more drought resistant then grass,doesn't brown when dog's pee on it,  can stand compaction and it can add nitrogen to the soil. Clover is in the legume family, all legumes have a unique way of using bacteria in the soil to help the plant actually pull nitrogen from the air and store it on little node on it's roots. There is a lot of science behind this I won't get into here but essentially they add nitrogen (fertilizer) to the soil.

If this is so why do they tell us clover is bad and we don't want it in our lawn? Here is the story. By the 1950's weed killing chemicals were being used in large scale food production like wheat and corn. The companies manufacturing these chemicals thought they might make some money by expanding to the home market. The problem with these broad leaf herbicides is they killed everything except the grass- including clover. As companies are good at this kind of thing, they stated selling seed mixes with out clover and sold the idea that a lawn free of anything but grass was the look of a real American lawn.

clover and grass mixed lawn- so happy!

If you want to add clover in your lawn the best kind to use is white clover (Trifolium repens) also called Dutch clover. You can usually find clover at a farm supple store or on line here or here. This type stays pretty small and is easy to add to your lawn just as you would grass seed from mid-March to mid-April. The easiest way  to seed it is to mix the tiny seed in soil, compost or sand then hand spread it in sparse patches of the lawn. One thing to note is you will not be able to use broad leaf "weed" killer on your lawn or it will kill your clover. If you neighbors will shun you for having dandelions you can spot treat to kill them or manually dig them out of your lawn.

White clover in flower

 

 

 

I leave my grass clippings on my lawn and haven't fertilized in the 10 years I have had my home but have a green healthy lawn. Let this little plant save you time and money!

My lawn with a pretty bouquet