Micro-clover — your lawn's best friend
By Sue Ide
What is Micro clover?
Micro clover is a small variety of white clover well worth consideration for spring lawn renovation. Bred for low height and small leaves, it can be used as a standalone ground cover but is best used as a 2% - 5% lawn mix. When used in a lawn mix, it not only supplies continuous nitrogen to your grass, it also helps suppress weeds.
Micro clovers are conventionally bred; They are NOT genetically engineered (non-GMO)
Why waste money and time on Mowing, Watering, and Fertilizer, while we are facing serious environmental issues? :
-
Long Island Water is being depleted and polluted with too much nitrogen (Fertilizer).
-
Synthetic fertilizer is also destroying your health, soil and food (1)
What is Micro clover?
Micro clover is a small variety of white clover well worth consideration for spring lawn renovation. Bred for low height and small leaves, it can be used as a standalone ground cover but is best used as a 2% - 5% lawn mix. When used in a lawn mix, it not only supplies continuous nitrogen to your grass, it also helps suppress weeds.
Micro clovers are conventionally bred; They are NOT genetically engineered (non-GMO)
Why waste money and time on Mowing, Watering, and Fertilizer, while we are facing serious environmental issues? :
-
Long Island Water is being depleted and polluted with too much nitrogen (Fertilizer).
-
Synthetic fertilizer is also destroying your health, soil and food (1)
Benefits of a Micro Clover Lawn
Low Maintenance - Clover needs little to no watering or/ mowing
No Fertilizers - Chemical fertilizers are not needed to grow clover
Color - Clover stays green even in the driest time of summer
Inexpensive - It costs about $4 to cover 4000 sq. ft. of turf area
Comfortable - Easy to walk through or play on
Micro clover is sold under several names, including Microclover®, Miniclover®, Microgreen Microclover, and Micro Clover. In addition to Outside Pride, several other companies sell the seed, including Pro Time Lawn Seed, Portland, OR, Hancock Seed of Dade City, FL and Good Nature Organic Lawn Care, Cleveland, OH. Earth turf, a Portland, OR, company offers several types of lawn seed mix with micro clover.
References:
Micro Clover for Lawn Health and Beauty
"What do we really know about Roundup": roundup herbicide and weeds
Footnote:
(1) how chemical fertilizers are destroying your body, the soil and your food
How to Plant clover
Step1. As soon as the ground is thawed in the spring, rake it relatively flat. It doesn't have to be perfect; the clover will cover up minor bumps and valleys.
Because clover is so hardy and adaptable, it can be sown at most times of the year provided that it won’t be threatened with frost. Another particularly good time to start the process is at least six weeks before the first frost of the fall; the roots will establish before the cold kicks in and the plants will get watered all fall and winter without any extra work on your part.
2. In a wheelbarrow, mix the seed with garden soil or tri-mix. (Clover will grow in almost any kind of dirt, so any reasonably clean fill will do.) Try to have about four seeds per square inch of soil. Three will fail to germinate, so you'll be left with the ideal one plant per inch.
3 With a shovel, evenly spread the mix over the ground. Make sure there are seeds everywhere.
4 Go back to where you started and cover the mix with 1⁄4 inch (0.6 cm) of plain (unseeded) soil. Spread thinly, as clover shoots can't break through more than 1⁄2inch (1.3 cm) of earth.
5 Water the area gently using a fine spray nozzle. (A hard stream of water will wash the tiny seeds away.) Keep it moist for a week (don't let it dry out at all) and don't walk on it. In about two weeks, you'll have tiny two-bladed sprouts everywhere. That's the beginning of a perfect clover lawn.
Planting Time:
Plant in spring when frost season is completely over and night time temperatures are staying in the 40's or warmer. You may plant clear up to late summer or early fall at least 6 weeks before a heavy freeze. In the south where snow and freezing temperatures are rare, you may plant all through the winter. If you plant when temperatures are warm, clover seeds will germinate in 7 - 15 days.
reference: Grow-a-Clover-Lawn