getting a clover lawn?
shellva
16 years ago
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squeeze
16 years agoKimmsr
16 years agoRelated Discussions
Lawn getting overrun with clovers and bald spots
Comments (2)I mostly agree with maynard. I would wait a few weeks to start that plan. If a total redo is in your budget, spray with RoundUp to kill everything. Then continue to water on a daily basis to try and sprout all the sticker and weed seeds you can. After a week of daily watering, spray Roundup again to kill any new weeds you started with the watering. You can collect the stickers by dragging some fabric over it. Drag until the fabric is full of stickers and then scrape them off somewhere so you can collect them and burn or discard them. (I never said this would be easy). Continue dragging until you are fairly happy that all the stickers are gone. This dragging might be a superfluous step depending on your stickers. Down here in Texas the stickers will not come back if you have a dense lawn. After you have done that, it is best to run a vertical blade tool like a power rake, slit seeder, or verticutter to chop up all the grass and weeds that were there. Rake up all that chaff and compost it. Now you have a seed bed. Now is the time to flatten the ground. Do not rototill it or you will be facing an increasingly bumpy lawn for 3 years. Just scrape the hills into the holes and you are good. Scatter the seed and roll it down with a water roller (rented). Water the seed 3x per day for 5 minutes to keep the seed moist. Do not saturate the soil. Continue this until you get 80% germination. Rye grass comes up in a week. Fescue comes up in 2 weeks. Kentucky bluegrass comes up in 3 weeks. This little fact can be a problem if you have a triple seed mix and stop watering after the first seed comes up. Then all you would have is rye. When the grass is up and maturing, you can start to back off on the watering frequency and start watering longer. Eventually with a mature lawn you will be watering one full inch per week (when temps are above 90 degrees F), every other week (when temps are above 80 degrees), and once every 3 weeks when the temps are lower than 80 degrees). Fertilize with chemical fertilizers on Memorial Day, Labor Day, and, for you in SD, probably don' wait until Thanksgiving. Maybe Halloween for the final app of the year. These are timed so that you don't apply in early spring or mid summer. Or you can fertilize with organic fertilizer any day of the year....See MoreWill a lawn of strawberry CLOVER spread & invade neighbor's lawn?
Comments (4)You might consider Dwarf White Dutch Clover which is often included in lawn mixes. Is your neighbor's lawn immaculate..no weeds at all? If not and your clover did go visiting next door he might not object...constant lawnmowing keeps this clover very low-growing and actually it is good for the soil and thus the grass usually quickly crowds the clover out. If neighbor is fussy about his lawn he probably uses preemergent weedkillers etc. which to my mind would likely be a much bigger worry for your plants/ponds than your clover would be to his lawn. I think you're nice to consider your neighbor...josh Here is a link that might be useful: Dwarf Dutch White Clover...See Moregetting a clover lawn....
Comments (4)I'm not sure which Camden you live in but they're all east of the Mississippi, so your soil is probably perfect for Dutch white clover. When I was a kid you could find clover seed everywhere. I haven't looked for it recently but certainly the technology is there to get it out. If you seed it over the entire yard, you should have a clover lawn next season. Clover is good for many reasons. One of those reasons is you don't have to mow it. If you let it get tall, it should provide enough shade on the soil to prevent all your other weed seeds from sprouting. If you watch it carefully and learn to sense the wilting and prewilting signs from lack of water, you can start to water only when the clover needs it and not when the weeds need it. That should be about weekly in the heat of summer....See Morea substitute for lawn that growns shorter then clover? any?
Comments (11)I'm surprised no one has mentioned dichondra. I think it's the obvious solution for your setting. The basic green is nice, but there now several leaf forms and colors, including a frosted, silvery one. Creeping Jenny, Mazus reptans and Ajuga (many wonderful forms and colors now) are other options if you have stepping stones or a walkway -- they won't bear much foot traffic. Dwarf mondo is slower to establish, but will bear some foot traffic. The beautiful mini-mondo that has only been around for a couple of years would be ideal, but it is expensive and it is terribly slow to spread....See Moreshellva
16 years agotclynx
16 years agoshellva
16 years agolou_spicewood_tx
16 years agolou_spicewood_tx
16 years agoKimmsr
16 years agodavid52 Zone 6
16 years agodchall_san_antonio
16 years agotclynx
16 years agobarton
16 years agoplantnfool
16 years agoshellva
16 years agoplantnfool
16 years agoHU-283641922
4 years ago
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