Hi,
the weather is finally nice and we are finally ready to tackle the part of he garden that I want to make in a green square. While most of the gardens are trying to remove clover from the lawn we will be sowing our new lawn with micro clover.

Why micro clover lawn?

This type of lawn is very to maintain. If you don’t mind clover flowering then you can just leave it be, and it would grow happily – no mowing needed. However if you don’t want the flowers to form or wish to have a bit lower and tighter plants, then mow it every 3-4 weeks. The amount of water needed to maintain it is minimal, with just occasional watering in the first year. It is quite sturdy plant and will choke most if not all of it’s competition. Once established it is very drought tolerant and will stay green when other lawns are burnt.

Why not micro clover?

Even though micro clover has it’s advantages, there are still some cons to think about. It is similar in appearance and behaviour with white clover, because in reality it IS a species of white clover. Therefore you need to keep it in check. Since it is 3 times smaller then white clover it should be easier to prevent it from creeping out of your garden. But keep in mind that every creeping part of micro clover will root where it touches the ground.

Step 1 – prepare the space

To prepare the space for sowing clover remove ALL grasses, weeds and plants from the designated area. Till the soil, rake it so that is is fine and make sure it is as level as possible. Then water it and leave it for a week.

Step 2 – weed out the sprouted weeds

After one week the newly sprouted weeds should be all out. Weed them out, making sure there are no left. Then again water the lawn and leave it for another week. If you are anxious to get your lawn started, you could sow the clover now, but there is a chance that next wave of weed sprouts will be hard to remove from between the clover sprouts. So unless you are sure you eradicated them all I suggest waiting one more week.

Step 3 – weeding the rest of the weed sprouts and sowing the clover

Now the slow sprouting weeds have sprouted and we can remove them. This will allow our clover sprouts to have an upper edge in competition with weeds.
After the spot is weeds free, we can sow our clover. Sow the clover as evenly as possible and water it thoroughly. Then leave it to sprout. If there is some drought in the first year after sowing make sure to water it. Otherwise just leave it be.

Mainenance

Depending on whether you want only green lawn or if some clover flowers are ok for you, you will have different maintenance regime. If you wish o have green lawn at all times, then mow the clover lawn every 3-4 week. This will also make it have smaller leaves.

If you don’t mind the bee buzz and small clover flowers on your lawn, then either leave it be, or mow it 2x per year. It is really fuss free. Perfect for the people that don’t want to mow their lawn a lot.