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Clover lawn

Crazyfroglady...and.now.newts.Crazyfroglady...and.now.newts. Posts: 80
in Wildlife gardening
Has anybody changed there turfed lawn to a clover lawn? I have bought some micro clover for one part, and some white clover for other. I’m not sure the best way to go about sowing it, any help or tips would be greatly appreciated.
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Posts

  • B3B3 Posts: 27,505
    My 'lawn' has pretty much turned into a clover and daisy lawn all by itself. Just be careful if you're walking about without shoes!
    In London. Keen but lazy.
  • Joy*Joy* Posts: 571
    When I was a child, our lawn turned into a white clover lawn all by itself. As a child, it was lovely and soft and cool to play on and my dad preferred it to the grass as it was easy to cut and was always green. And, if B3 is inferring that you might get stung by bees, neither me nor any of my friends and family were ever stung!
  • B3B3 Posts: 27,505
    It definitely stays greener than grass in a drought
    In London. Keen but lazy.
  • Crazyfroglady...and.now.newts.Crazyfroglady...and.now.newts. Posts: 80
    We have a dog who burns the grass even tho we water the wee in. I have read that clover doesn’t burn as easy, and hopefully the bees will benefit with the flowers it produces. I’m just not sure if we should rake over the turf and sow the seeds or start afresh by taking up the turf and sowing directly into soil.
  • HouseFinchHouseFinch Posts: 328
    We are currently doing this to our front garden.

    First thing we did was run a sod cutter over our front -mostly moss-lawn before seeding. We removed the sod from all the areas we wanted clover, leaving plenty of topsoil-though clover can fix poor soil and needs little nourishment to grow. OH gave it a good raking to ensure the soil would be aerated enough for the tiny seeds.
    (I am waiting until it looks more respectable before posting on here. It has been a bit of an eye sore)
    The micro-clover is starting to pop up now. It has been about two weeks since we seeded. Ideally, Spring and Fall when you get wet rainy periods is best for sowing seeds, but our weather has been very accommodating.
    OH is going to try to reseed again soon to fill some of the bare spots. You aren't supposed to walk on it for the first 6 weeks after seeding it-from what I've heard-so reseeding could be a bit tricky for him.

    The idea arose when we were struggling with all the grass, and lack thereof that we had when I came across a local gardener's post. This was some of her info-
    "Reasons to have a clover lawn:
    ✅Low water needs once established & stays green in drought
    ✅Is always soft underfoot (no prickly dry Aug 'grass')
    ✅Doesn't form yellow spots from Dog pee
    ✅Can be mowed when I want to play badminton, doesn't have to be!
    ✅Clover chokes out weeds - check this out in the photos
    ✅Clover feeds the bees!"
    We won't be using our front yard to relax in, as we like our privacy, and have ample space for that out back. It seemed like such a waste of space. So, OH wanted to use it as a garden with a flat rock pathway running from the door to the road.
  • AnniDAnniD Posts: 12,585
    An old article here by Bunny Guinness, but it may be of interest. 
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/gardening/gardeningadvice/10683907/Why-rolling-in-clover-is-good-for-your-lawn.html
  • Crazyfroglady...and.now.newts.Crazyfroglady...and.now.newts. Posts: 80
    Thanks so much for advice. We are going to sow this weekend  :)
  • glasgowdanglasgowdan Posts: 632
    Is the lawn grassy at the minute? 

    I'd suggest a hard scarify in early September and sowing it then. 
  • Crazyfroglady...and.now.newts.Crazyfroglady...and.now.newts. Posts: 80
    I’ve only just seen the above message.Yes it’s lawn, we have raked it over and sowed the seeds we will keep it well watered whilst it’s germinating.
  • glasgowdanglasgowdan Posts: 632
    It'll germinate quickly,  7-10 days I expect
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