Juncos did not succeed in eating all of the clover seed. As you can see, they were kind enough to leave quite a few. Josh mowed it yesterday for the first time since we started the clover lawn experiment. At the beginning of last November, the front yard was a new-construction and drought disaster of hard clay, stoloniferous weeds, rocks, and a tiny bit of gone-to-seed grass that had been put in when the house was built. Every time it rained (which was rare, thanks to the drought), we had a river of mud and rocks eroding its way to the street. Here’s what it looked like as of about 10 minutes ago (after the jump):
I know you can hear the heavens singing this lawn’s praises. Me too. It’s a mix of white Dutch clover and fescue, and has increased in greenness and lushness throughout the winter. No extra watering, no fertilizing beyond the nitrogen that the clover draws into the soil. Our neighbors laughed at first on hearing that we were intentionally planting clover, but they see now what we were trying to do. (Our tree guys totally got it, though; kudos to them.) The soil is much improved and already hosts a population of earthworms and ladybugs, and it’s looser and richer when we dig in it to plant stuff. The clover will bloom this summer and support honeybees and other pollinators, and just look and smell lovely. So far, so good. We’ll see how it holds up in the summer heat. Stay tuned…
2 responses so far ↓
1 Willem // Apr 28, 2008 at 2:18 pm
Im trying to grow my clover lawn this year too. So far so good, I starte dmine in soggy March so its got a good jump.
I have a question though, if my clover sprouts well and grows well but then takes a turn for the worst (every time) after about 4-5 weeks) does that mean the soil PH is off?
SOmeone told me it mioght be too acidic and once clover matures to a point, the acidity wont let it flourish?
anyone agree?
2 Iris // Apr 28, 2008 at 3:48 pm
Willem, I confess I don’t monitor the pH or acidity of my soil, so I can’t speak for the effect acidic soil might have on clover. I can say that I’ve wrangled a good stand of clover on both a thick layer of compost and bare red NC clay. The only thing clover doesn’t seem to care for is fertilizer. Fertilize it and it’s a goner. Pure speculation here, but it could be that because it fixes so much nitrogen on its own that the extra wallop in fertilizer sends it over the edge.
Also, clover and grass tend to seesaw. If the grass is doing well, the clover tends to die back a bit. But then as the grass hungers for nitrogen, the clover rebounds, consequently adding nitrogen to the soil and improving the grass again. Eventually it should find a balance, but you’ll probably always have some fluctuation.
It takes a couple seasons to fully establish the clover lawn, too. I toss around a few handfuls of clover seed every once in a while just to give it a boost. Eventually I won’t have to do that. Or at least that’s the theory…
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