Clover – The Champion All Round Ground Cover

Clover was once one of the most popular ‘grasses’ grown in lawns around the world. It’s soft underfoot, withstands light traffic, requires very little maintenance and even even flowers in spring and summer. The introduction of herbicides soon killed off clover – as a broad leaf, clover and herbicides are not a good match.

As we move into an era where herbicides are used less frequently, clover is creeping into many lawns. It is also being added to many lawn blends as well. Here is an interesting tidbit to ponder – did you know that clover is not a grass? In fact, it fits more into the legume family and like all good legumes, it grows extremely well without any additional fertilizers.

Lawns that incorporate clover in their mix tend to be greener and thrive well because of the added nitrogen. Here is another fact to ponder – did you know you can incorporate clover into your current lawn with little work and little disturbance? You can.

The Grass Stitcher is the perfect tool for all lawn maintenance and is well worth investing in if you want a good clover lawn. To begin with, cut your lawn to a reasonable height. Then divide it into manageable sections – sections you can easily work on in 30-40 minutes. Run the Grass Stitcher over the section then sow with clover seed. Be careful, clover seed is very small so a little goes a very long way. Water well then rest the area for two or three days.

Most gardeners can completely oversow a standard lawn in a day, perhaps two days if your lawn area is large.  At the beginning of each summer, check your lawn for clover. If there are areas that appear a little thin,  use the Grass Stitcher again and resow. Clover is not long lasting but does generally reseed itself. If you are a keen mower and cut your lawn before the clover has flowered, then you may miss out on this reseeding.

One word of warning – clover is a great low maintenance lawn option. Little water, no fertilizer and hardly any mowing – but bees love clover (it makes one of the best honeys on the market) and we know how bees love feet – if you’re allergic to bee stings then perhaps a clover lawn is not for you – otherwise, an old favorite is making a comeback – join in.