Very nice. I've added all the white dutch clover that I could this year which is in the pathways along with flattish large cobble stones in the vegetable/herb/flower garden. There's also some alfalfa that I mixed in with the clover. To trim it down I've used manual hedge clippers and in a few places large scissors. It really hasn't been much work. The clover seems to be getting a bit beat up with foot/wheelbarrow traffic but I doubt it's enough to kill it off.

I thought the clover would attract bees but I haven't noticed that many. They seem more interested in the borage and the now flowering oregano.

You sure have a lot of patience! It sounds wonderful...

I hardly have as much patience as I'd like to think.

Does it all use more water than before?

Jennifer

The water seems to be less - the lawn doesn't dry out as quickly, but I don't measure it, just eyeball the dry spots.

I think thats more a function of building organic matter up in the soil - those happy worms, but I should mention that I have irrigation water which, if I don't use it, runs by in the ditch.

Just out of curiosity, which clover has done better. From what I've read, the Dutch white is more drought tolerant, but strawberry does better with alkalinity. I used Palestine strawberry clover because that's supposed to be the best strawberry clover for drought. It holds up well with the water I give for the wheatgrass and sheep fescue (3x a summer, but only if it needs it).

Here is something that seems odd to me:

There is an area of Dad's front lawn where cars are often parked. It was actually covered with crushed rock about 30 years ago but the rock was just laid over the soil and soon plants were growing thru it. Dad just mowed it with everything else. Cars are usually parked on the concrete driveway.

But, that ground doesn't grow grass. It grows Dutch clover!

Sprinkler water will pool there a little, perhaps just because it is lower than the surrounding ground, perhaps because of the compaction of the soil by tires. The soil beneath is very rocky also and a pool of water is soon gone, but it does seem a little strange.

What is strangely good, however, is that this part of his lawn is a pleasant green -- with lots of white clover blossoms about this time of year!

In my own yard, there is one "spot" in the full sun that gets plenty of water. Really, too much water -- what grows there? Clover. I'm sure there are more clover plants than grass plants in that spot.

They are elsewhere in the yard. In fact, clover is the savior of the lawn violet . . . if it wasn't for so many clover plants, I'd be spreading some-kind-of herbicide to get rid of all these lawn violets!!!

Steve
who also mows thru the growing season higher than he needs to . . . thinking that it is, somehow, a good thing to do.

Hi bpgreen! I mixed the two varieties loosely by hand in a bucket, then used a seed spreader to broadcast the mix out over the lawn. The strawberry clover is in a few patches where I have water seeps that show up in the summer, so it would be more alkaline than the rest of the place. They sort of co-exist with some really tough, light green colored grass that seems to like the same micro environment - lots of sun exposure, shallow leached soil, in a late dry fall or early spring when the soil is dried out, these areas turn white with the accumulated salts. And there's the strawberry clover.

I fairly often see the Dutch White turn brown from lack of water, but it comes right back.

Another comment on the sod web worms, I still got quite the herd out there, judging by the little moths that I kick up. I just recently read that the damage is worse in areas of full sun, and a lot less with shade - which I'm seeing as well. The clover masks that very well, but the areas in full sun that don't yet have established clover are getting hammered.

Steve, its sort of interesting where it decides it likes to grow - some of my best patches are along the edge of the gravel driveway. It might be because they can get their roots down deep enough for the moisture, with no competition. My brother planted it in his worst lawn spots, and is pretty happy with the result. He also has the daffodils.

I wonder if the light green grass is streambank wheatgrass. Are the blades really fine, like fine fescue?

No, this is something different. Excuse lack of botanical lingo, but very short blades coming out of an above ground stem-runner thing, but growing out close together. The stem-runner bit also puts down roots. It's very slow growing.

Actually, yesterday I was looking a bit more carefully, and the strawberry clover is mixed in there fairly well. Far from dominate, but its there. The heads are going to seed and its easier to spot.

Buffalo grass maybe?

The stem-runner sounds like a stolon. Buffalo grass is probably a good bet. Does it go dormant when it gts cold?

I believe so - I checked some images of buffalo grass, and that might be it - where I notice the stolons is on very, very shallow soil/rock, but it isn't as predominant when its in deeper soil.