Last Updated on January 22, 2022 by Kimberly Crawford
Every spring, homeowners in the United States and other countries rejoice at being able to enjoy all the benefits of their wonderful green grass lawn. But you know, the thing is that planting and maintaining a grass lawn isn’t a straightforward task.
People who never had a lawn think that the only thing you have to do is plant grass, and nature then does its job. It would be fantastic, but the situation is much more complex – proper lawn care requires a lot of time, energy, and money as well.
At a glance, it might not seem that you need to invest much to have a beautiful lawn. However, when you count all the equipment like mowers, weed whackers, gas, fertilizers, sprinklers, and so on, you’ll see that it costs more than you expected.
Fertilizers that are used for lawn feed and weed control contain chemicals that release nitric oxide and, in time, destroy the ecosystem by killing little insects that leave underground as well as different kinds of plants.
Keeping all this in mind as well as the fact that lawns require plenty of water for healthy growth, many people began to change their perspective and look for alternatives. Something that is becoming increasingly appealing is an idea of a clover lawn.
Related: 16 Weeds That Look Like Grass
Why Plant a Clover Lawn
Clover is among the most widespread types of plants in the world, and there are about 300 species of it. One of the most known and most popular is the white clover, also known as Dutch clover.
You should know that the idea of the clover lawn isn’t new at all. In the US and other countries as well, planting clover was pretty common until the 40s. Then, after the Second World War, things began to change because of the manufacture of lawn fertilizer and weed killing products. Homeowners started using these products that were very effective in combating unwanted grass. However, they also destroyed the clover along the way. Shortly after, it somehow received the status of weed, and people began to get rid of it intentionally.
In recent years, nevertheless, it seems that the white clover lawn is coming back to fashion. Proponents of the organic lawn fertilizer are also advocating for planting clover instead of grass as a sustainable, natural, inexpensive, and eco-friendly option.
It raised a lot of questions because until recently, homeowners were searching how to get rid of clover in lawn naturally, and now more and more people are saying that the clover lawn is better than a grass one. Nobody can deny that it’s confusing, and it would be perfectly reasonable to wonder is clover in lawn good or bad.
Interestingly, it had been pretty popular before the concept of perfectly cut, artificially green lawn won the best lawn throne. That’s why we decided to explore the advantages of white clover or micro clover lawn and share with you what we discovered.
It’s Green the Whole Summer
The most important thing you need to know is how to seed a lawn, and you are likely to enjoy beautiful green clover lawn whole summer without little or no watering at all. This plant is super resistant to weather conditions, so once it emerges in early spring, it keeps the beautiful color until the first frost.
Doesn’t Need Aerating
Aeration of the soil can be not only time-consuming but also expensive if you don’t know how to aerate a lawn by yourself. The excellent news about the clover lawn is that it doesn’t require aeration.
Doesn’t Need Fertilizer
Some plants are magically self-sufficient, arent they? Clover doesn’t need nitric oxide, so we can say it is one of them. Eventually, it starts to produce fertilizer. Even more so, it fattens surrounding plants as well.
Surprisingly, more than 70% of air is just nitrogen. Clovers use nitrogen from the atmosphere directly and use it to grow themselves. Open-air is simply the perfect fertilizer for clover.
These plants take in the nitrogen from the air and convert it into a nutrient that the plant can use. They do this with the help of certain bacteria found in only a small number of plants.
Clovers do not require external fertilizers; it fertilizes and provides nutrients to the soil instead. When grown in the presence of other plants, they provide nutrients to the surrounding plants, and you need to fertilize them less.
It would be best if you were careful of adding fertilizers to clovers, though. As they live in nitrogen-low soil, adding extra might damage and kill them. That isn’t an issue, though, because if you use clovers, you won’t need to fertilize the surrounding soil in the first place.
Attracts Insects
This is a great advantage because bees and other insects naturally pollinate your garden. But there is more: it also attracts a special kind of wasps that are entirely harmless for us but destroy potential parasites that can attack the plants.
Read also: How to get rid of wasps naturally
No Mowing
Clover doesn’t grow more than up to 8 inches. This means that your clover lawn will look beautiful and tidy even if you never mow it. The only reason why you might want to do that is to remove old flowers or prevent it from blossoming.
Grows Everywhere
If you want to have an attractive grass lawn, you have to test the quality of the soil, feed it, and so on for it to grow successfully. Clover can adjust and flourish well, even in the worst type of soil.
Cheap
It can be completely free of charge if it starts growing on its own, and you don’t destroy it, thinking it’s weed. If you decide to plant it, you will pay next to nothing because the price is about $4 for 4000 square feet.
Read also: how to get rid of weeds in lawn naturally
Soft
If you think the grass lawn is soft, then you haven’t tried walking barefoot on the clover lawn. It is so smooth that you’ll feel like walking on clouds. Additionally, you will profit from the pleasant smell of clover flowers.
Dogs Can Pee
You know how the part of the grass lawn where your dog goes to pee loses the color. Well, if you plant clover, this won’t be your problem anymore, because it is immune to dog urine and remains green.
No Pesticides and Herbicides
You can say goodbye to all those chemicals that you had to buy to keep your grass lawn healthy. This is such a resilient little plant that doesn’t need any pesticides or herbicides to survive.
Conclusion
There are so many advantages that it would be astonishing if you are still wondering about planting a clover lawn. No need to wait; get those clovers, and you will see that your garden will be as beautiful as the grass one and with almost no effort whatsoever. Have you already planted clover in your yard? Or thought about it?
Author’s Bio: Rae Hudson is a horticulture hobbyist and journalist who loves investigating new information about plants and gardening. She writes for a horticulture web portal and a weekly newspaper. Besides gardening, she likes to spend free time hanging out with her friends, reading, and playing with her cats.