Hello comrades,

I'm not a lawn expert, but I've noticed that some parts of my lawn resist
drying out during summer droughts. These areas have a lot of clover mixed
in with the grass - so I assume the clover that is beneficent factor. Is
this because the clover leaves shield the underlying soil and grass from
the sun's rays? If so, I'd like to add some extra clover to the areas of
lawn that don't have any clover. What is a good strain of clover for this
purpose? I'd like to buy some seed and just cast it over my lawn in the
hope that some of it will germinate and take root.

I've used something called Eco-Lawn seed in the past, which contains
something they call micro-clover. This clover just has leaves that are
about half the size of common clover. I don't know what the actual strain
is. If anyone knows, I'd be glad to know.

Many thanks,

Al

"AL_n" wrote in
:

Hello comrades,

I'm not a lawn expert, but I've noticed that some parts of my lawn
resist drying out during summer droughts. These areas have a lot of
clover mixed in with the grass - so I assume the clover that is
beneficent factor. Is this because the clover leaves shield the
underlying soil and grass from the sun's rays? If so, I'd like to add
some extra clover to the areas of lawn that don't have any clover.
What is a good strain of clover for this purpose? I'd like to buy some
seed and just cast it over my lawn in the hope that some of it will
germinate and take root.

I've used something called Eco-Lawn seed in the past, which contains
something they call micro-clover. This clover just has leaves that are
about half the size of common clover. I don't know what the actual
strain is. If anyone knows, I'd be glad to know.

Many thanks,

Al


PS...
I'm thinking that the ideal clover for the above purpose would be one that
bears leaves close to the earth, so that after you mow the lawn, much of
the clover leaf remains uncut. Some of the clover on my lawn (possibly from
Eco-Lawn seed) had smaller and darker leaves than regular clover - and I've
never seen it produce any flowers...

Al

Chris Hogg wrote in
:

There was a thread on the best clover for lawns, initiated by Tim
Watts at the end of May. See http://tinyurl.com/mzf7go4
(saves us all re-writing what we said at the time!)


Thanks, Chris. That thread doesn't seem to discuss varieties of clover
though.

Al

On 28/07/14 15:59, Chris Hogg wrote:
On 28 Jul 2014 12:18:43 GMT, "AL_n" wrote:

Hello comrades,

I'm not a lawn expert, but I've noticed that some parts of my lawn resist
drying out during summer droughts. These areas have a lot of clover mixed
in with the grass - so I assume the clover that is beneficent factor. Is
this because the clover leaves shield the underlying soil and grass from
the sun's rays? If so, I'd like to add some extra clover to the areas of
lawn that don't have any clover. What is a good strain of clover for this
purpose? I'd like to buy some seed and just cast it over my lawn in the
hope that some of it will germinate and take root.

I've used something called Eco-Lawn seed in the past, which contains
something they call micro-clover. This clover just has leaves that are
about half the size of common clover. I don't know what the actual strain
is. If anyone knows, I'd be glad to know.

Many thanks,

Al
There was a thread on the best clover for lawns, initiated by Tim
Watts at the end of May. See http://tinyurl.com/mzf7go4
(saves us all re-writing what we said at the time!)


And I planted some random mixture of red and white.

Some is OK - some is *very* tall (4-5"). However, it is not a disaster -
it mows OK and is quite pretty. Interestingly, if I allow it to get
tall, the slow worms and frogs *love* it as even in the recent baking
heat, it remains moist at soil level. Not exactly ornamental though...

However, Chris Hogg recommended:

Trifolium repens

and next year when I scarify the **** out of the lawn again, I might
chuck some of that down.

Here's a random supplier:

http://wildseed.co.uk/species/category/other-seeds

Thought I do like the flowers on the red clover I used - which looks
like it might have been Trifolium pratense.

On 28/07/14 16:38, AL_n wrote:
Chris Hogg wrote in
:

There was a thread on the best clover for lawns, initiated by Tim
Watts at the end of May. See http://tinyurl.com/mzf7go4
(saves us all re-writing what we said at the time!)


Thanks, Chris. That thread doesn't seem to discuss varieties of clover
though.

Al


Trifolium repens was certainly mentioned...

On 28/07/2014 13:18, AL_n wrote:
Hello comrades,

I'm not a lawn expert, but I've noticed that some parts of my lawn resist
drying out during summer droughts. These areas have a lot of clover mixed
in with the grass - so I assume the clover that is beneficent factor. Is
this because the clover leaves shield the underlying soil and grass from
the sun's rays? If so, I'd like to add some extra clover to the areas of
lawn that don't have any clover. What is a good strain of clover for this
purpose? I'd like to buy some seed and just cast it over my lawn in the
hope that some of it will germinate and take root.

I've used something called Eco-Lawn seed in the past, which contains
something they call micro-clover. This clover just has leaves that are
about half the size of common clover. I don't know what the actual strain
is. If anyone knows, I'd be glad to know.

Many thanks,

Al

It would be interesting to get rid of all the grass and just have a
micro clover lawn.
No mowing

On 28/07/2014 13:18, AL_n wrote:
Hello comrades,

I'm not a lawn expert, but I've noticed that some parts of my lawn resist
drying out during summer droughts. These areas have a lot of clover mixed
in with the grass - so I assume the clover that is beneficent factor. Is
this because the clover leaves shield the underlying soil and grass from
the sun's rays? If so, I'd like to add some extra clover to the areas of
lawn that don't have any clover. What is a good strain of clover for this
purpose? I'd like to buy some seed and just cast it over my lawn in the
hope that some of it will germinate and take root.

I've used something called Eco-Lawn seed in the past, which contains
something they call micro-clover. This clover just has leaves that are
about half the size of common clover. I don't know what the actual strain
is. If anyone knows, I'd be glad to know.

Many thanks,

Al



You would have to wait for cooler, moister weather, but one way would be
to cut a turf of your clover lawn and swap it with a turf of your
un-clovered lawn. Once established, the clover would soon colonise the
plain grassy areas. Another way would be to mow without the grass
collection box (again, when the ground is reliably moist). You should
find that the clover fragments root into the turf and establish. This
is what happens with my lawn when I leave the grass box off.

--
Spider.
On high ground in SE London
gardening on heavy clay

David Hill wrote in news:c3nqrkF2uinU1
@mid.individual.net:

It would be interesting to get rid of all the grass and just have a
micro clover lawn.
No mowing


Agreed. I find clover rather nice to walk on in unshod feet. I wonder why
we hear about chamomile as an alternative to grass, but not clover (well, I
haven't anyway)!

Al

Spider wrote in :

You would have to wait for cooler, moister weather, but one way would be
to cut a turf of your clover lawn and swap it with a turf of your
un-clovered lawn. Once established, the clover would soon colonise the
plain grassy areas. Another way would be to mow without the grass
collection box (again, when the ground is reliably moist). You should
find that the clover fragments root into the turf and establish. This
is what happens with my lawn when I leave the grass box off.

That's interesting. I will have to try that, rather than fork out good
money for seed.

Al

Tim Watts wrote in news:92diab-quk.ln1
@squidward.local.dionic.net:

And I planted some random mixture of red and white.

Some is OK - some is *very* tall (4-5"). However, it is not a disaster -
it mows OK and is quite pretty. Interestingly, if I allow it to get
tall, the slow worms and frogs *love* it as even in the recent baking
heat, it remains moist at soil level. Not exactly ornamental though...

That's interesting. I was looking at edvertisements for red clover, and
thought the flowers look more appealling than white clover.

I too have frogs in my garden (they're like little friends), so perhaps
I'll buy some red clover seed and grow a patch or two of it for them to eat
,and for me to gawk at..

Al

"AL_n" wrote in
:

Tim Watts wrote in news:92diab-quk.ln1
@squidward.local.dionic.net:

And I planted some random mixture of red and white.

Some is OK - some is *very* tall (4-5"). However, it is not a
disaster - it mows OK and is quite pretty. Interestingly, if I allow
it to get tall, the slow worms and frogs *love* it as even in the
recent baking heat, it remains moist at soil level. Not exactly
ornamental though...

That's interesting. I was looking at edvertisements for red clover,
and thought the flowers look more appealling than white clover.

I too have frogs in my garden (they're like little friends), so
perhaps I'll buy some red clover seed and grow a patch or two of it
for them to eat ,and for me to gawk at..

Al


PS...
By red clover, I actually meant "crimson clover" (i.e, the *really* red
stuff):
http://www.greenmanure.co.uk/seeds/c...-manure-seeds/

What they call "red clover" seems to be pink rather than red.

Al

Chris Hogg wrote in
:

DLF own Johnsons Lawn Seed, and a number of lawn seed mixes sold by
them contain microclover. http://www.johnsonslawnseed.com/ and
http://www.johnsonslawnseed.com/easylawn.php

Ivisons also do an EcoLawn grass seed mix with microclover. Available
on e-bay. http://tinyurl.com/pbzw749 Scroll down for more details.
Don't know if it's the same microclover.

EcoLawn seed is what I used for my lawn. I did the lawn in three sections )
in three successive years). Unfortunately, one of the batches of eco-lawn
was bogus; it contained large-leafed clover. I have just attempted to
eradicate that with Verdone.

It's a shame that DFL/Johnsons don't sell, separately, the specific
microclover that they use in Eco-lawn.

So I'll probably do some turf-swapping. A bit more labour-intensive but
it'll probably look acceptable after a year or three.

Thanks,

Al

On 29/07/2014 17:08, AL_n wrote:
I too have frogs in my garden (they're like little friends), so perhaps
I'll buy some red clover seed and grow a patch or two of it for them to eat
,and for me to gawk at..

Frogs don't eat clover. They eat all the little bugs that eat your plants.

Andy

In article ,
Vir Campestris wrote:
On 29/07/2014 17:08, AL_n wrote:
I too have frogs in my garden (they're like little friends), so perhaps
I'll buy some red clover seed and grow a patch or two of it for them to eat
,and for me to gawk at..

Frogs don't eat clover. They eat all the little bugs that eat your plants.

If your garden floods, the tadpole stage of frogs might well eat
the clover :-)


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

(Nick Maclaren) wrote in
:

On 29/07/2014 17:08, AL_n wrote:
I too have frogs in my garden (they're like little friends), so
perhaps I'll buy some red clover seed and grow a patch or two of it
for them to eat ,and for me to gawk at..

Frogs don't eat clover. They eat all the little bugs that eat your
plants.

If your garden floods, the tadpole stage of frogs might well eat
the clover :-)

I wish I could train mine to eat more slugs!

Al