How to Grow a Clover Lawn

For many modern homeowners, clover has become a four-letter word. They see it as something to fight. They should be embracing the clover as an ally in reducing their lawn workload. Clover brings nutrients to the soil and benefits the local environment and ecosystems. When planted alongside regular grass, clover forms a symbiotic relationship that drastically reduces the need for lawn maintenance.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

1. Choose your clover type. White, yellow, and red clover types are possible options. Yellow and red clover grow high, so white is usually suited for lawn purposes.

2. Seed the clover during warm but temperate seasons. Either spring or early fall are the best times. Early to mid-April works best for encouraging clover in an existing lawn because the clover will have less competition from the grass.

3. Spread the seed. The clover seed is quite small, so you should mix it with soil to help spread it more evenly. A few dollars worth of seed is usually enough to cover around 4,000 square feet. If you're sowing a new lawn on bare soil, make sure that the seed mix is 15 parts grass seed to 1 part clover seed. To ensure the clover is uniform, sow the grass seed first, and then the clover seed. Water the lawn for at least a week while the clover begins to grow.

4. Inoculate if necessary. One of the great benefits of clover is that it establishes nitrogen in the soil. Nitrogen-fixing bacteria that form nodules on the roots of the clover are responsible for this. If clover is already in the lawn or the area surrounding it, chances are good these bacteria already exist in the soil. If you are planting a new lawn, you should spread legume inoculant with the clover seed.

5. Mow the lawn close (between 1 ½ to 2 inches) until the clover is established. This favors the clover over the grass and allow it to spread. After that point, you can mow the lawn longer if desired.

6. Reseed every 3 years or so to maintain good clover coverage.

Tips & Warnings

• Stop mowing for about a month in mid-summer to allow the clover to pollinate. This enhances the health of the clover and the ecosystem around it as well.
• Clover attracts bees. While this is a boon to the ecosystem, small children playing in a clover lawn need to take care. If they're too young to watch out for bees on their own, they should wear some sort of foot protection.