Nature and Gardening

I seeded four types of native clover and some native lupines based on the recommendations of a local professor at the university.

They took a little while to start thriving because kids and dogs kept churning up the dirt and mud, but its starting to take hold. Much greener and more widespread, and softer, than the native grass seed I planted at the same time. It seems to be helping the grass to take hold in the same areas too. We had a solid two weeks where we couldn't walk outside without getting mobbed by butterflies and other pollinators. Its nice to feel like I'm just dumping water onto my lawn for no reason.

10/10 would recommend.

I love my clover yard. When I bought my place, it was hydro seeded. I made sure to sow clover shortly after the grass was sprouted and trying to establish. The first year was pretty tough, but even in the peak of summer when grass was getting baked, clover hung on longer. This year, the clover is amazingly successful. I would absolutely recommend a sea of clover to keep your mowing needs down while promoting diversity and a pretty, deep, green.

I live in an apartment building, so sadly I don't have the option. But a few houses in my neighborhood have native plant gardens instead of lawns and they're absolutely beautiful.

Inadvertently, yes. I love it, and highly recommend it.

It didn't work well for me in my desert climate (~12" annual precip) until I put down pavers as a walkway. Reducing the water competition and creating some runoff made all the difference. Now they grow like crazy and I don't even need to water. They do sprawl, so it's not nearly as "neat" as grass. Lawn addicts and HOA nazis will obviously not approve.

We have a white clover, pink clover, and sheep sorrel mixed ground cover. It dies back a bit in summer because we don't irrigate but flushes out again as soon as it rains. The grass dies with the dry periods but the clover just shrinks and drops leaves. I still trim it back to get some green material to rot into soil so it's not as a "no mow" alternative for me. I love that it's putting nitrogen into the rocky earth below.

The downside i have found is that it climbs up into garden beds and can smother other low growing plants. Mint has nothing on clover. It will get everywhere. I have had mint for years and it has never left the herb garden. The clover is absolutely everywhere and has even smothered a section of peppermint.

Ive been slowly getting clover to take over in my yard. Theres at least three different kinds growing as well as a bunch of other wildflowers. The grass is mostly dead this year but the good plants are thriving.

I have yet to buy any clover seeds to spread.

I didn't completely replace grass with clover, but instead seeded clover and let the two commingle. it doesn't grow as tall as grass, doesn't leave bare patches, is a nitrogen affixer so the rest of the lawn looks even greener without fertilizer, and it attracts pollinators.

The only catch is that it spreads fast, so if you have a vegetable garden you'll need to work more to keep it out of there. However it's much easier to pull too.

Pick a type of clover that is native to your region.

I've just put some clover seed down in the dead/grassless areas of my lawn and it's starting to come up. I also went with white clover because I'm in New England and that species was recommended as best for our climate.

All of our community grass areas in town are a mix of grass and white clover, including the park at the center of town where they hold the farmer's market and people are always walking and playing. The clover seems to thrive there and isn't bothered by the foot traffic, mowing, or never being watered.

My reason for trying it was to fill dead areas without wasting a ton of water keeping grass alive.

I want to, but we have really shitty soil. I need to get it tested so we can figure out exactly what to do with it because right now idfk

I mowed as short as I could and threw a pound of crimson clover seed and a pound of dutch white clover seed among the grass. I watered heavily until it started competing. I didn't water again and had an effortless mixed clover and grass lawn until I sold that house.

I ripped out all grass in my smallish yard & filled the area with native plants, shrubs & a ground cover plant thing that should help suppress weeds in a few years. Used a lot of mulch to help keep retain water & also assist with weed suppression.

The benefit of using native plants in my country is that they’re usually drought tolerant & adapted to the harsh conditions that we can experience at times.

It was a lot of work & a bit expensive but I see less introduced birds in my yard now & more native birds. More native & introduced bees too. I’ve noticed that introduced bees target the larger flowers. Native bees are smaller, they seem to target smaller if there’s too much competition for introduced bees on the larger flowers.

The best part, I don’t have to mow anymore.

Literally just seeded my back garden for clover. Now I'm waiting

I've added clover into some of my lawn. It took an area that was dry, dusty, and worn and has made it lush and green with no other changes to lawncare. The grass in areas with clover added is looking better too.

I used a micro clover I got off Amazon. It took until the next year for the clover to really get going. The first year it was a bit thin.

Only downside, besides the neighbors disliking it, is that some times of the year I get tons of clover mites all over my yard and garden.

I seeded microclover in a portion of my lawn that was torn up by construction. It look and worked great. I dig the micro variety because of the low height.

Consider adding dandelions with your clover. They're pretty and if you harvest the leaves (similar to arugula) and flowers (tea, salad, even wine) they are quite controllable and you save money at the grocery store.

I've read clover can be less durable to foot traffic.

'Round these parts, if you want a clover lawn, you just stop pulling up the clover beds.