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Micro Clover

HumberBoyHumberBoy Posts: 27
in Problem solving
Hi  My lawn takes quite a beating during the year. Especially now as I am always walking on it. The last thing I want is a path !!!  I have been reading about sowing Micro Clover to help bulk up a lawn. It sounds a good idea and I have been told that golf courses use it.
Has anyone had any experience of using it on a home lawn ? 
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Posts

  • philippasmith2philippasmith2 Posts: 3,742
    I don't know about Micro clover but I find basic clover and daisies usually survive well over a wet winter and offer some colour too :)
  • Slow-wormSlow-worm Posts: 1,630
    edited February 2023
    Never heard of micro clover, I'm going googling..
    Some people prefer to have clover instead of grass though don't they?

    Edit: just looked it up and it's what's in my lawn, a patch of it that I pull regularly but half heartedly. 😄
    I didn't know it was micro clover!
  • bédébédé Posts: 3,095
    edited February 2023
    In my lawn, I get a small clover that I encourage.  It provides its own nitrogen and remains green in dry weather.  If I mow often I don't get any flowers.  (?? plus or minus)

    The negative of clover is that it doesn't wear as well as grass.  Your constant walking would still create a path, albeit of a different nature.

    I have no paving, stepping stones, or path across my lawn.  I see footsteps after rain and yellow footprints after frost.   I minimise this by trying to take different routes.

     location: Surrey Hills, England, ex-woodland acidic sand.
    "Have nothing in your garden that you don't know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."
  • HumberBoyHumberBoy Posts: 27
    That is all very interesting. I am going to investigate more. But they were talking about it on GQT last weekend. I have looked for it on amazon and it is sold but reviews seem to be mixed. My son says they use it on his golf coarse and it seems to do what it says on the tin.
    I will report back
  • Allotment BoyAllotment Boy Posts: 6,774
    Many years ago I  read an article in (what was then called) the RHS journal.  This stated that sowing around a 10%  clover mix with grass seed gave all the benefits mentioned previously.  They did name a specific cultivar but I can't remember the details,  I did try to look this up more recently but had no luck.
    AB Still learning

  • McRazzMcRazz Posts: 440
    bédé said:
    I see footsteps after rain and yellow footprints after frost. 

    Funny, I read this often. Is this related to the species of grass? We use our lawn 12 months of the year in all weathers and I've never seen yellow footprints from frost. In fact I don't think I've ever seen it and its my trade to work in gardens. Mind you, perhaps its one of those 'once you've seen it you can't unsee it' things...
  • HumberBoyHumberBoy Posts: 27
    Well yesterday I ordered some Micro Clover with lawn seed mix.
    I will apply it and later in the year report back. I am hoping that
    the result will be a bowling green sward that can be cut with exact
    lines and look a million $.  I don't want much do I !!!
  • B3B3 Posts: 27,505
    You might need to raise your expectations a little.
    In London. Keen but lazy.
  • bédébédé Posts: 3,095
    McRazz said:
    bédé said:
    I see footsteps after rain and yellow footprints after frost. 

    Funny, I read this often. Is this related to the species of grass? We use our lawn 12 months of the year in all weathers and I've never seen yellow footprints from frost. In fact I don't think I've ever seen it and its my trade to work in gardens. Mind you, perhaps its one of those 'once you've seen it you can't unsee it' things...
    To expand on my brief comments:  The footprints after rain are just compression of the grass.  They recover.  
    The yellow after frost becomes straw and is due to the frozen, brittle, grass blades being crushed and killed.  They stay until enough new growth.
    I have the usual mix of grasses, the orignal seed and intruders.
     location: Surrey Hills, England, ex-woodland acidic sand.
    "Have nothing in your garden that you don't know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."
  • JennyJJennyJ Posts: 10,576
    I've had the yellow footprints after hard frost, where I've taken the kitchen waste to the compost bin. My theory is that when I step on frozen-solid grass blades, they snap rather than bending and then when it thaws the broken-off bits turn yellow the same as wet clippings left to lie would turn yellow. They soon disappear when the weather turns dry and breezy.
    Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Soil type: sandy, well-drained
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