Garden Notes

Back yard with White Dutch Clover in bloom

I am not really a fan of grass lawns, they are a lot of work and weeds are always a problem. A few years ago when we moved to our home in the suburbs we inherited a large green lawn. The former owner had used a lawn service who maintained that weed free look by using a lot of chemicals.

Now, since we depend on a well for our drinking water — does it sound like a good idea to dump chemicals all over the ground? I was concerned that the same chemicals that killed our weeds would end up in our drinking water. I cancelled the lawn service and have been trying to control the weeds ever since by digging them out, spraying “Weed Be Gone” on specific weeds and learning to be more relaxed about a little diversity in the lawn.

Originally, when I started taking care of the yard, I tried to eliminate clover because I was still trying to maintain my grassy lawn albeit without using chemicals. One day my friend Sharon mentioned that she always planted a small patch of clover to keep the rabbits busy and out of her flowers. Now, we have a lot of rabbits and they can really be a problem. We do have some predators like coyotes and hawks, but there are always more rabbits. After my friend made that comment, I started noticing that on many mornings we had rabbits in the middle of the clover patch eating breakfast. What a great idea! I stopped trying to eliminate the clover and let nature take its course. I actually think the clover does make a difference in what rabbits choose to eat in our yard and luckily they seem to find clover tasty.

That clover in our yard is called White Dutch Clover and it is perennial. It is often used in lawns as a cover crop, for ground cover or for erosion control. Homeowners sometimes include it in lawn seed mixtures because clover sprouts fast and grows so dependably. It is a valuable aid in getting a new lawn started and the nodules on the roots fix nitrogen from the air into the soil. Actually, up to 1/3 the nitrogen your lawn needs can be obtained from white dutch clover and it grows even in poor clay soil! Also, a vigorous white clover stand can help control weeds and I am sure that the person who originally planted our lawn included it for exactly those reasons.

It is now July, and we are in the middle of a heat wave or as the weatherman explains it, “we are trapped in a heat dome.” My husband has even stopped cutting the lawn temporarily to keep it from becoming scorched. In checking over the yard yesterday, I noticed the clover had really spread around and was now blooming in the longer grass. At this point it does not seem to be bothered by the heat and I think the little clover flowers look charming and make the lawn look more attractive and a lot less boring. Also, I would rather have the rabbits sitting in that clover than in my flowers.