all clover lawn -- anybody have experience with this?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:^^You know, I have several responses for you, but f I fnd people who need to go on the defensive and get nasty tend not to be receptive. We're really interested in a conversation.

I mean, your response is so over-the-top in its rudeness, tunnel vision, and nasty (and its inaccuracies), why would anyone even want to have a conversation with you?

Perhaps it's rude. Perhaps it's one sided on a position. What it is for certain is correct. The poster who linked the article had a clear position and linked the article as blind support. The problem is that the article, as was the poster, is incorrect.

If someone wants to argue that they prefer a natural lawn as opposed to a manicured lawn, fine. What I'm tired of is people saying that those who choose otherwise are damaging the the rivers, the pollinators, the babies, etc etc, when their arguments for why are factually unsupported.

The people in my neighborhood with manicured 100% grass lawns use (1) lots of water and (2) chemicals. FACT.

The people in my neighborhood with natural lawns don't use either (1) or (2). FACT.

[Anonymous]

I tried to plant an exclusively clover yard twice. It looked beautiful for about a month. Then the sun and foot traffic killed it. I tried reseeding and the same thing happened. So I mixed in grass and it was a clumpy mess. I finally got a yard service and told them not to kill the clover but to plant better grass. So far so good. Except now I have a ton of weeds too.

[Anonymous]

Our backyard was mostly clover. Eventually it and weeds took over. It killed all remaining grass and there were very sharp blades of weeds. The kids could no longer run around barefoot. This winter there were long stringy ropy things and clay. It looked like a bomb field.

We had backyard regarded, fresh soil and new sod. We plan to work to keep it this way. The front yard is a mixture of clover and grass. There isn't foot traffic in the front so the clover didn't die off. I don't care about the front. We live in our backyard.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't think a clover lawn can withstand foot traffic.

What? No. Not at all. Actually, our monoculture lawns are far less resilient and more delicate..both to traffic and to overall hardiness.

People should really read up on the damage their monoculture lawns are doing. It's not judgment. It's just reality.

https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/brainwaves/outgrowing-the-traditional-grass-lawn/

This is just wrong. Clover is not able to stand up to foot traffic. Many modern turfgrass cultivars can.

And the article you linked to is laughable in its logic. One of its primary assumptions is that the removal of clover and other pollinator food sources from the environment is detrimental to our agricultural system. After all, remove the pollinators from the equation and who is going to pollinate the crops right? The problem is, not all pollinators are productive in crop pollination. Even the most adventurous pollinator forages maybe a mile from its colony. Many much less, like a quarter mile and under. You know just how much agriculture exists within a mile of my suburban home? Zero. Ergo, the pollinators that would range to my home are of zero value for agricultural purposes. The author also mentions how much water we use on our lawn. I have a highly manicured lawn. It looks fantastic. You know how often I water it? Never. Literally never. I chose the correct cultivars for the environment and use correct cultural practices. The author (and you) have a clear bent against lawns. Shut up until you know what you are talking about, and then we can have a productive discussion. Thanks.

You need to take your own advice. Clover fixes nitrogen, is more drought resistant vs grass, comes back after lack of water, resist burning/yellowing from pet urine. If you water clover as much as you water turf it is more resistant to foot traffic. If you do not water, fertilize, apply herbicides and pesticides your grass in this region will die. So shut the f up about how you are so smart because you use the right cultivars. When I see a highly manicured lawn I think what idiot lives there.

You clearly do not understand the relationship with pollination and agriculture.

[Anonymous]

I have s suspicion 16:16 owns a lawn care business.
Grass his bread & butter.
Such passion about the matter

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We have clover, dandelions, garlic mustard, broom grass, Bermuda, and at least a hundred other undesirables. Also, ticks, mosquitoes, bees, and many other insects. Not planning to change anytime soon.

Sounds like my one-acre lawn. I'd love to have nice grass, I just don't care enough about it to put any work into it and I'm sure as hell not watering. Also, my well is only 50' down so I'm not dumping herbicides on my lawn. More than half of what is growing out there is not grass. I'm sure some of my neighbors hate me and feel I'm bringing down the whole neighborhood. Thankfully, I'm not completely alone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: Also, my well is only 50' down so I'm not dumping herbicides on my lawn.

Either your well is safe from surface contamination or it isn't. If it isn't then you have a big problem whether or not you use herbicides.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If anybody has attempted to grow a 100% clover lawn -- or a lawn that involves a mixture of clover and grass -- I would be interested to hear about your experience.

Are you happy with the lawn's appearance and its ability to withstand hot, dry summers?

What type of clover seed did you use? And if you used grass seed as well, what type of grass?

How does a clover lawn look in winter? Is it reduced to something close to bare dirt? Or does some vegetation remain?

I'm a year late to the conversation, but I planted an all-clover lawn this year. I began by tilling the soil and reducing it to bare dirt. I then seeded the lawn with Dutch White clover. This was in mid-April. Germination occurred within a few days, and I now have a thick clover lawn that I think looks great. So far, it has stood up to foot traffic. Yes, the bees like it, but they seem to just mind their own business ... nobody has been stung so far. We don't have hundreds of bees visiting at each moment; rather, there are a few scattered bees here and there.

[Anonymous]

We looked into doing it, but opted for a traditional lawn because we plan to sell our house in the next 2-3 years. At our next house we will do a drought resistant no-mow ground cover for our backyard.
I looked at an all clover yard my landscaper did for another home and it was nice. They actually removed all of the existing grasses and violets and then seeded it with a clover appropriate for the location.

[Anonymous]

We over seeded an existing lawn in the fall and spring with micro clover. The fall wasn’t great and the spring seed took a long time to germinate—we think the evening temperatures needed to be closer to 45 or higher before the clover really took off. Now we have a 60:40 lawn to clover ratio. It looks great with very few flowers (micro clover is fantastic). We still need to fertilize and used EB Stone Nature’s Green Lawn Food. Hoping to fully discontinue the use in 2-3 years

[Anonymous]

those are weeds not lawn

[Anonymous]

Yes. Don’t mow the lawn too short and do not use herbicides or any other chemicals and 2-3 years later you’ll get lots of clover.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our backyard was mostly clover. Eventually it and weeds took over. It killed all remaining grass and there were very sharp blades of weeds. The kids could no longer run around barefoot. This winter there were long stringy ropy things and clay. It looked like a bomb field.

We had backyard regarded, fresh soil and new sod. We plan to work to keep it this way. The front yard is a mixture of clover and grass. There isn't foot traffic in the front so the clover didn't die off. I don't care about the front. We live in our backyard.

Our backyard is a mix of grass, clover, violets, buttercups, and other springtime wildflowers whose name I don’t know. Currently it’s got a huge amount of clover. This far it has withstood daily play by a 3 and 6 year old, including water play such as hose, water table, paddle pool directly on the clover area for 2 hours a day. Seems hardy enough.