The arrangement of the summer cottage attracts the eye. Instead of a classic lawn, you can grow a clover plantation. The natural charm of such a site is expressed by a thousand flower balls. Moreover, the colors are pink, yellow, red, white. Often varieties of clover are mixed and instead of just a green lawn they get a lively colored carpet, very tenacious and unpretentious.

Clover farming

For red clover, humus is preferable nutrient soils with low acidity. The plant does not tolerate saline and sandy soils well. The earth should be moderately moist, without stagnation.

Pink clover is not so fastidious and develops well on structured loamy and sandy soils. Easier than other varieties tolerates an acidic substance.

White clover is the most unpretentious, grows quietly on peat, alumina, as long as there is good drainage and sufficient moisture.

Clover is not a drought-resistant crop, cold-resistant, but winter hardiness is low. It can also be affected by summer heat. Considered relatively shade tolerant.

Site preparation

If the predecessors of the trefoil on the site were cereals, this will have a positive effect on growth. Grass is desirable to grow in spacious areas. Clover will look good in areas of the garden with a little shade; they can sow empty places near the building, the fence.

Having decided on the location of the lawn, you need to prepare the soil in order to sow clover.

Important! Soil preparation with a cultivator or Fokin flat cutter is considered the most optimal way.

The selected area must be dug to the floor of the bayonet, then loosen the ground and select all weed roots, stones, debris. At the same time, phosphate and potash fertilizers are applied, acidic soil is limed.

Important! It is not necessary to apply nitrogen fertilizers under clover, as it produces nitrogen on its own. An overdose will kill the herb.

Before sowing clover on the site, the earth must be given time for precipitation. Usually it is 4-5 days.

You should know that it is advisable to grow the red variety for no more than 3 years, pink - 8 years, and white can please the eye for almost 19 years.

planting clover

The culture propagates by seeds that are harvested in the second year of life. Also, ready-made material is purchased in stores. Sometimes the grass is propagated by dividing large bushes, but they have a poor survival rate.

When to sow clover in the spring should be determined by the average daily weather. It should not be below 10°C. Usually spring sowing is carried out at the end of April.

When you can plant clover in the fall, you need to calculate the time so that the shoots rise by 8-10 centimeters before the first frost.

Determining when to sow clover, in autumn or spring, should be based on the goals pursued and the benefits of seasonal planting. For laying a perennial lawn, grass is best sown in the spring:

• will grow with a protracted spring;
• having a creeping stem, will quickly cover the lawn;
• flowering will attract insects to pollinate all garden crops;
• periodically mowing will allow you to prepare food for the animals of the farmstead.

Before sowing clover, the plot is divided into sections so that the sowing can be done without gaps. It will also allow you to calculate the required number of seeds. About 300 seeds (10 g) will be needed per 1 m².

Before planting clover, the soil is well moistened, and when the top layer is shaken a little, the seeds are sown with a seeder or on their own.

For uniform sowing by hand, it is better to mix the seeds with river sand.

For uniform sowing by hand, it is better to mix the seeds with river sand. The sowing depth is approximately 1.5 cm, on light soil a backlog of up to 3 cm is allowed. It is advisable to use seeds from stores: there they are already scarified and treated with nodule bacteria.

Experts recommend that after landing, roll the lawn. To do this, you can use a skating rink, a barrel, a smooth log. Watering is carried out with rain nozzles so as not to erode the crops. After a couple of weeks, shoots can be expected. Shamrock grows slowly, moreover, it does not drown out weeds and they are actively developing. Annual cereals will help to cope with weeds: before planting clover, their seeds are mixed. With the beginning of the active growth of clover, the cereals are mowed. This option is used if you have to grow a crop on large areas.

Domestic, small lawns can be weeded, so a cover of cereals is not needed.

Important! You need to cut the grass with a trimmer: it adjusts the height, does not clog, and is easy to clean.

If the grass was not grown for green manure and is left to winter, then you need to know when to mow red clover for the first time. This procedure is carried out when the plant reaches a height of 15 cm, before flowering, but no later than August.

clover care

Caring for a lawn with a trefoil is simple and easy. All care is watering, aeration, top dressing, removal of emerging weeds.

Clover blooms twice: in June, in August. Most of the hassle between these events. Mow the lawn, remove dried stems and flower heads.

Watering

Watering is the main condition for the normal development of culture. Any variety of clover is demanding on moisture and does not tolerate drought well. The greatest need for water in a plant occurs in the first year, especially if it grows under the cover of a different crop. The lack of moisture leads to the death of the sprouts, and the undeveloped surface root system can freeze out in the winter cold.

Watering clover

The shamrock, which receives a sufficient amount of moisture, due to its enhanced development, accumulates a sufficient supply of nutrients in the root neck and winters better.

Water consumption in clover increases in direct proportion to the growth of greenery, and sharply decreases after mowing. However, with a lack of moisture after cutting the green mass, thinning of the herbage and the appearance of bald spots may occur.

clover neighbors

The least suppression of the trefoil occurs with Timothy meadow, so it is recognized as the best component. Meadow Fescue coexists well with clover. The remaining cereals partially inhibit the shoots of clover.

Fertilizer and top dressing

In order for clover to grow and develop normally, it should be provided with quite a lot of calcium, potassium, phosphorus, micro and macro elements:

• during autumn digging, manure is introduced. It is the autumn introduction of organic matter that significantly improves the herbage;
• before sowing, be sure to enrich the earth with potassium and phosphorus;
• podzolic soils are flavored with boron. Shamrocks are also processed at the beginning of flowering.

The plant also needs trace elements such as copper, molybdenum, but in small quantities. During the life of the clover, it experiences a different need for nutrition, which changes depending on the dynamics of the growth of greenery. So the need for phosphorus increases during the beginning of growth and during periods of regrowth after shearing.

potash fertilizers

Clover responds well to early spring top dressing with potash fertilizers. They can be distributed over a small area in a scatter.

How to care for a plant in the fall, preparing for winter

So that the cottage is not left without a lawn, you need to save the lawn for the next season. To this end, it is necessary to carry out the correct autumn care and prepare the clover for winter. Autumn work includes mandatory activities:

• watering, haircut;
• aeration and top dressing;
• leaf cleaning and restoration.

Each process has its own deadlines and nuances. If all autumn work is carried out carefully, then an open clover lawn will steadfastly meet frosts and endure hibernation.

autumn care

In autumn, the grass cover begins to rot a little, and with the first cold snap, it freezes. Therefore, the priority is to strengthen the root system. To do this, regulate the irrigation regime.

Seasonal rains allow the plant to extract moisture naturally. The last watering, in the absence of rain, is carried out no later than the first days of October. Further, irrigation is not done so that waterlogging of the earth does not occur, as a result of which grass roots can weaken and die.

Since the summer mowing of the lawn has greatly depleted the soil, it is necessary to apply potash-phosphorus fertilizers. Otherwise, the lawn will thin out a lot, become faded.

To prepare the grass for overwintering, special complex fertilizers should be used. They reduce growth processes, intensely nourish the roots. Best Option- diammophoska.

Diammofoska fertilizer

In autumn, diammophoska is used within 2 kg per one hundred square meters of lawn. Potassium reduces the accumulation of moisture in the roots, increases resistance to disease. The comprehensive action of the element prevents cellular damage to the grass by microcrystals of ice.

Ash and bone meal contain a very large supply of nutrients. They are crushed to strengthen the roots only until mid-October. If there is a dry period, then the lawn should be lightly watered.

Aeration

A prerequisite for the autumn care of the shamrock lawn is the aeration of the earth. Piercing the soil performs many useful and necessary tasks:

• water will not accumulate on the surface, forming puddles and ice crusts, but will penetrate deep into the earth;
• during the summer months, the soil is very compacted, as a result of which the supply of food to the roots becomes more difficult. Aeration promotes loosening and good access of oxygen;
• due to the low thermal conductivity of air, the soil freezes less and the roots of plants will not die.
• aeration technology is carried out in two ways: using an aerator having hollow teeth, and metal pins, for example, pitchforks.

Note! The aeration time is September-October, the soil should be slightly moist. The procedure is carried out before the autumn feeding, after it they do not walk around the site for 2-3 days.

lawn mowing

In regions with a harsh climate, many summer residents are wondering about winter grass mowing. There is only one argument - the winter is cold, the roots under the foliage will be protected. However, experts insist on a mandatory haircut for some reasons:

• the load on the roots will decrease, as a result of low nutrition;
• young roots will have the opportunity to prepare for the first frosts;
• under the snow, the long stems will die off and form a felt that attracts rodents, pests, and pathogens.

Important! The health and further condition of the grass depends on the correct and timely cutting. If cut too early, the grass will quickly rise and will not give the roots a chance to prepare for the cold. If you are late with a haircut, the lawn will die out.

The last haircut in different regions is carried out depending on weather conditions. The optimal time is 2 weeks before frost.

It is important to use a trimmer for autumn clover cutting. It can be set to the required height - 5 cm. This is a sufficient height and the stems will have time to recover.

It is important to use a trimmer for autumn clover cutting.

Before the procedure, the fallen leaves are cleaned. If this is not done, the leaves will inevitably sprout and there will be bald spots on the lawn in the spring. On alumina, shearing is accompanied by drainage. All cut grass must be removed.

lawn shelter

With the shelter of the lawn for the winter, you need to decide - if the winters are severe enough, then it is advisable to close the area with a cover. During warmer winters, additional shelter is not required.

With proper preparation in the pre-winter period, clover will endure the cold quite calmly. In winter, special lawn care is not needed. It is enough just to follow some recommendations:

• the fallen snow does not need to be removed, it is enough just to clear the paths;
• it is highly undesirable to walk on the lawn if the snow has a small thickness;
• when a dense crust of ice appears on the lawn after thaws, it must be broken with a garden rake, providing air access for the plants.

Such simple measures will help prevent freezing and damping of clover. The shamrock will keep well until spring.

White clover is one of those plants that, perhaps, every person living in temperate climate. White clover lawns have gained immense popularity due to the ease of growing and caring for clover in open field, its unpretentiousness to landing conditions.

Clover: varieties and varieties

Clover has more than 300 species, but most of them are distributed on other continents. On the territory of the CIS, you can find about 70 species of clover growing in wild nature. Only three of them have been cultivated:

Planting white clover outdoors

White clover is photophilous and can wither in shaded places. It is worth considering this when choosing a place for landing. Also keep in mind that this plant grows quickly and takes up all the free space on the site. Therefore, it is best to plant it separately from plants with a weak root system. Clover is undemanding to the soil, but does not tolerate stagnant water.

Clover is sown in open ground from April to June or in autumn, when the average daily temperature is about 10-13 ° C. This temperature promotes better rooting.

Advice. It should be remembered that in autumn the grass sprouts more slowly, therefore it is necessary to sow clover in such a time that the young growth has time to reach 7–10 cm before the first frost.

November is considered an unfavorable time for planting, because a large number of seeds may die, and the rest will sprout unevenly.

Clover grows very well on almost any soil.

If the weather is dry during the sowing period, then it is necessary to water the area of ​​\u200b\u200bthe future garden well for a day. It is not recommended to deepen the seeds by more than 1.5-2 cm, otherwise their germination capacity decreases. To visually determine the density of sowing seeds, you can add sand to clover seeds in a 1: 1 ratio. After sowing, you need to roll the seeds with a roller. You can mulch with a thin layer of peat.

Clover begins to bloom only in the second year of life. However, it blooms twice: from May to July and from August to November. Therefore, after the clover blooms for the first time, it is recommended to mow it. This will keep your garden tidy and allow the clover to bloom a second time.

plant care

In special care perennial does not need. Moreover, it will tolerate drought well, in the event of a long absence of rain and additional watering. Clover is also resistant to trampling. If children often frolic on your site, then this is an ideal plant that will quietly grow further even after it is slightly rumpled.

Clover can not be watered - it will have enough rainwater

Clover must be cut regularly if you do not want it to fill all the beds around, because it is not for nothing that clover is classified as a weed. To stimulate re-blooming, wilted and dried flowers must be removed. Waterlogging should not be allowed, this can provoke diseases of the culture and attacks of insects such as slugs.

Fertilizer and top dressing of clover

Since clover itself is a soil-improving plant, it does not require additional fertilization during cultivation.

Fertilize the soil before planting clover

You can make manure in the fall when digging the beds for planting. And immediately before planting, the soil can be enriched with potassium-phosphorus fertilizers. If it seems to you that the clover blooms not luxuriantly enough, try spraying with boron fertilizers.

Advice. Lime has a beneficial effect on the resistance of clover to freezing, so if you plant clover in acidic soils, it is better to lim it.

Plant propagation

Clover is considered a plant that reproduces on its own. Most often, gardeners have to think not about how to propagate the plant, but about how to slow down its growth. Clover propagates both by self-sowing from seeds and vegetatively- ground shoots that take root well.

Clover grows very well without the help of a gardener.

Diseases and pests

If the bed with clover is not cut, then over time it can thicken and turn into an abode of slugs and snails, because dense thickets often have high humidity. In addition, excess moisture can lead to fungal infections. For preventive purposes, the clover lawn must be cut periodically.

Trim your clover so it doesn't become a breeding ground for snails.

Clover white creeping in landscape design

Clover is considered a rather aggressive plant, therefore, when grown outdoors, many gardeners are advised not to combine it with flowers with a more fragile root system. Clover simply will not allow the neighbors to develop and "crush" them in the garden.

Applied in landscape design clover most often to create a "carpet" between trees in areas that are not too shaded. Due to its resistance to trampling, it is planted on sports and playgrounds. In mixed lawns, clover increases the resistance of cereals (especially ryegrass), their growth improves, thereby giving richness to the color of the lawn.

Clover lawn at their summer cottage

The powerful root system of clover helps strengthen slopes and slopes, so they are often planted on sloping surfaces. AT pure form clover looks best in large areas.

If you have a lot of free space on the site, and you don’t know how to decorate it, plant a clover. He will create a beautiful emerald carpet for you in a short time, which will bloom from spring to late autumn with white fragrant flowers. With proper care and regular haircuts, he will delight you for many years.

How to sow clover: video

White clover: photo

Some gardeners say that only professionals can grow clover without problems and effectively. This culture has many excellent qualities, but there are also disadvantages. In inept hands, clover can be useless and even turn into a malicious weed.

Pros and cons of clover as green manure

Clover is a plant from the legume family. In green manure, its ability to fix nitrogen in the upper arable layer is valued. Growing, mowing and planting clover in the soil is an alternative to introducing organic matter: humus, compost, manure. Clover is often included in crop rotation, its crops alternate with plantings of crops that love fertile soil: potatoes, cabbage and pumpkin.

Bacteria that live in nodules help legumes accumulate nitrogen.

In addition, clover absorbs phosphorus compounds that are hard to reach for other plants from the soil and contains a lot of potassium. As a result of its plowing or use as a mulch, useful macronutrients enter the ground in an easily digestible form and serve as food for cultivated plantations.

Another positive effect- the ability to structure the soil. The fibrous roots of clover grow in breadth, penetrating the topsoil like capillaries. Through the formed channels, air and moisture easily penetrate into the ground. This, in turn, improves the living conditions of earthworms and beneficial bacteria that compete with disease-causing ones. cultivated plants get sick less, their productivity increases.

Moreover, clover retains nutrients well at the surface, preventing them from being washed out into the deep layers of the soil. This is one of the few siderats that grows well in the shade, for example, in the aisles of the garden.

Cons of clover:

• Ineffective in annual culture. Red clover can be cut as early as 2-3 weeks after germination. However, a tangible effect regarding the structuring and improvement of the soil occurs after at least 4 months of cultivation, maximum - in the second year.
• Requires regular irrigation. In arid regions, without irrigation, it takes away moisture from trees, shrubs, flowers, and vegetables growing nearby.
• Needs soil fertility, will require top dressing.
• It can overgrow with weeds in the first 2 years, and in the next, growing, it itself turns into a weed.
• Clover thickets are always damp, which attracts slugs and snails.

Read also about what can be planted as green manure in the summer, in our article -

Features of meadow (red or pink) clover

Meadow clover, along with lupine and more than all other green manure legumes (vetch, peas, beans), accumulates nitrogen in the ground. However, it is preferable to lupine, since it does not form woody, but soft and juicy stems 40-50 cm high, they quickly rot into humus. If you plan to use clover as an annual green manure, then choose meadow. He builds up a lot of mass in the first summer. During the season it is mowed twice, and when good watering- 4 times.

Meadow clover forms quite tall and succulent stems

In a perennial culture, cut the clover for the first time in the budding phase, leaving stumps 12–15 cm high. Do the last mowing in August-September. Before the onset of cold weather, plants must restore the aerial part.

Red clover in one place can grow up to 6 years, prefers humus-rich, moist, but not wet, soils with low acidity. Siderat grows well on slightly acidic loams and poorly on sandy, acidic and saline soils.

Creeping (White) Clover Features

This species spreads along the ground; you don’t have to cut or mow anything. Accordingly, white clover gives 4 times less organics than red clover, and is rarely used for sideration. However, it is one of the best cover plants for protection against blowing and washing out of the top fertile soil layer, it protects it well from erosion.

The stems of white (creeping) clover spread along the ground, so the flowers and leaves are at its very surface.

White clover is used to fix slopes, turfing a garden, like lawn grass. It surpasses red in winter hardiness, endures long-term flooding with melt water. The plant grows rapidly due to the rooting of the stems in the places of branching.

In one place, white clover is grown up to 19 years. This species is less demanding on soil fertility, grows well on moist, clayey, but drained soil. In the first year, it needs weeding, as it is easily suppressed by weeds. It can be sown under the cover of cereals, which are cut high when the clover begins to actively develop.

Clover sowing technique in autumn and care

There is general rules sowing clover and caring for it:

• Sow when daytime temperatures no longer rise above 15°C.
• Prepare the site. Apply per 1 m²: 4–5 kg of humus, 30 g of superphosphate and 20 g of potassium salt. Mix the fertilizer with the topsoil and tamp the surface so that the small clover seeds do not sink into the depths.
• Mix the seeds 1:3 with sand and sow in rows with a row spacing of 10–15 cm or randomly. Seal depth - 1 cm.
• Irrigate regularly - in heat and drought without watering, clover may die.
• Feed:
  • nitrogen - in the spring and after each cut;
  • phosphorus-potassium - once per season (spring or autumn), starting from the second year of cultivation.

Video: sowing clover mixed with alfalfa

Growing red or white clover green manure (stables) has a good effect on the condition of the soil, is not associated with high manual labor costs, and is not expensive from a financial point of view.

The benefit lies in the entry into the soil of mineral forms of nitrogen, which act for a long time, as well as potassium and phosphorus. Clover as green manure is used for several years in one area to restore the soil. The greatest amount of nutrients is obtained in the second year, although clover can grow on one bed up to 15 years.

Features of clover as green manure

Various varieties of clover - red, white, pink - are used in the garden in autumn and spring. It can also be planted in the summer - white clover like green manure is more suitable for this. At autumn plantings the red variety is more effective, as it tolerates frosts better. Clover red like green manure is sown in early spring - in the cold season, the seeds germinate better, but then the plant requires heat.

Shoots appear in a week. If you plant seeds in the snow, then after thawing the bed will be green, since melt water contribute to the deepening of the planting material into the soil by 1 - 2 cm and ensures good germination. On sandy soils, care must be taken to keep the seeds in the soil. at a depth of at least 3 cm, as they are washed out and do not bring results.

In addition to green fertilizer, stables are used:

• As a honey plant. Honey after crystallization has White color. In addition to the plant itself, bees pollinate nearby fruit trees and vegetable crops.

• For pet food. Rabbit breeders know that there is no better hay than clover and alfalfa, so they plant these two green manure for rabbits, mixing in 1: 1 proportions. Greens go to feed, and the root system fertilizes the earth.

Red and white clover as green manure quickly accumulate green mass due to the symbiosis of the root system with nodule bacteria living on the root system. Nitrogen-fixing microorganisms take nitrogen from the air and transfer it to plants.

When using green manure plants, you can not buy expensive manure for potatoes and other crops that especially need nitrogen supplements - cucumbers, tomatoes, zucchini, eggplant. For comparison:

• up to 500 kg of manure is needed per hundred square meters of land - it costs up to 60,000 rubles if bought in a store;

• per 100 sq.m. 200 g of stable seeds are required, 5 acres can be sown with 1 kg, the price of which is 200 rubles.

Video: Mulching row spacing with clover

The advantages of clover over manure and other green manure:

• the stable contains phosphorus in the tissues - phosphorus is added to manure in the form of superphosphate;

• nitrogen clover green manure accumulates more than other legumes;

• does not require constant renewal of crops, as it is a perennial;

• used as lawn grass in landscape design.

The root system is not deep - much less than that of buckwheat, rye or phacelia. The roots go only 50 cm deep, but they protect the soil from cracking in summer and from erosion in spring.

When, where and how to plant clover for sideration

According to reviews of clover as green manure, it can be said that you need to work with it carefully to prevent reproduction. Plantings are controlled by one method - they are cut off in the budding phase. If you miss the moment, the fruits will ripen and the plant will reproduce spontaneously. Breeding will be difficult, as the seeds germinate after 2 years.

Red clover is green manure that grows well in the shade, in the sun, on the slopes. The plant loves moist areas, but without stagnant water. Suitable loamy slightly acidic soils. Strongly acidified soils are not suitable - the green mass will grow slowly.

When to sow red clover as green manure:

• In the spring before planting the main crops. In a month and a half, the plant has time to grow and it can be mowed, leaving the root system in the ground to rot.

Green mass is used as mulch between rows, which decomposes over time, enriching the soil. nutrients. The second way is digging before planting vegetables two weeks before planting. This method is used for planting potatoes.

• Summer. If the bed needs to be restored and weeds removed, then the stable is planted several times per season.

• In autumn. When planting in August, after harvesting, the stable has time to grow, it is cut off and left to rot on the ground. To speed up the process, the greens are covered with a layer of dry straw. Moisture is retained by attracting earthworms, which quickly eat plant debris, turning it into humus. A humid environment promotes the reproduction of beneficial microflora.

Autumn late crops are left in the ground until spring. The plant is frost-resistant, so it continues to grow in the spring. A plus this method in the fact that in the spring the stable can be mowed and planted in the soil 2 weeks earlier.

When to sow green manure clover depends on the climatic conditions of the region, the purpose of the crops (for site restoration or as an intermediate crop), and the type of main crop.

conclusions

The unpretentiousness of the stable to temperatures allows gardeners to choose the time of planting, as well as mix seeds with other winter crops, enhancing the effect of sideration.

Clover is a versatile plant that is used as a ground cover or fodder crop, it is an excellent honey plant, as well as green manure for soil enrichment.

In addition, the agricultural technique for growing a crop is extremely simple, you just need to decide: it is best to sow clover in autumn or spring in order to use its versatility to the fullest.

The possibilities of clover and its scope

Clover can be classified as one of the best honey plants, thanks to its rich chemical composition flower heads, the product has excellent medicinal properties. Its honey has a delicate aroma and delicate taste, during crystallization, a very dense white mass is formed, which for a long time retains healing properties. As a source for collecting pollen, clover is best sown in early spring so that the bees have time to collect nectar this season.

To use clover as an alternative lawn crop that does not require special care and grows in one place for up to 8-10 years, seeds are also best sown in the spring:

As a lawn crop, clover is absolutely unpretentious, it is enough to periodically water and trim it so that pests (slugs, for example) do not breed in a humid environment. The first few years of seeding and fertilizing the lawn is not required. A significant drawback of such a lawn is that clover is not resistant to trampling; to preserve the aesthetic appearance of the lawn, paths must be laid along it.

When to sow clover as green manure?

For these purposes, you can sow clover in autumn or spring, the sowing time will depend on the variety chosen: red-flowering clover at the beginning of the growing season is more suitable low temperatures, it is sown in early spring.

Fixing a large amount of nitrogen in the soil, loosening and structuring the soil, attracting many microorganisms, drowning out the growth of perennial weeds, clover is an excellent green manure. An important advantage of clover over other green manures is that it converts phosphorus compounds into a form that is easily accessible to plants.

It is successfully sown under fruit trees or on other shaded plots as a shade-tolerant plant that does not require frequent digging (when digging, green manure growth is suppressed). Creeping roots, lying to a depth of 50 cm, perfectly strengthen the soil from leaching, so clover is often sown on the slopes of plots.

Knowing some of the characteristics of the plant, it is easier to decide when to sow clover in autumn or spring - with the greatest benefit to the soil. In order for the return from it to be more complete, clover needs to grow for at least 4 months, so spring planting is not used in areas for early vegetables. In late spring, clover is sown on those beds that will not be planted until the end of summer. Plots of land will at the same time be protected from erosion and saturate the nutrient soil layer with nitrogen if the mowed shoots are left directly on the beds for rotting 2-3 weeks before planting the main crop.

If it is necessary to fertilize the site for early crops, clover is planted in early autumn and allowed to go uncut into the winter.

Having decided to use clover as green manure on his plot, the gardener must take into account that this is a perennial plant, its highest yield and highest nitrogen return is observed in the second year of growth. The period for mowing is before flowering, then mineral substances are maximally concentrated in the green mass of plants.

How to sow clover?

There is no need for special site preparation, clover can adapt to any soil, the main work carried out before planting:

Wetting, leveling beds and light soil compaction for better seed-to-soil contact.

Soaking the seeds for 1 hour in a weak solution of potassium permanganate for disinfection, then drying them to a loose state.

Mixing seeds with dry sand or light loose humus in a ratio of 1: 1 for more even distribution.

Sowing is carried out in bulk to a depth of 1-2 cm, the soil is slightly compacted again. On sandstones, the planting depth is increased to 3 cm.

After a few days, the first shoots will begin to appear, they need to be watered often, but moderately, the young clover does not tolerate stagnant water.

The most high-yielding clover, which gives several harvests of juicy green mass - which has a red flower, the white-flowered clover has a minimal green mass yield, but it does not have such an aggressive root system, its growth is easier to control.

An example of spring planting of clover on VIDEO

The gardener tells how and when to plant clover in the spring:

Clover white creeping planting and care photo

Under natural conditions, white clover feels great without weeding and top dressing. At home, plant care is minimal, it is hardy, but in order to decorative look kept as long as possible, you still need to know something about his preferences.

Before sowing any plant, including clover, you need to choose a place. Better conditions for him - the sun, in extreme cases - partial shade, and if there is such an opportunity, sow it where there were cereals. It grows well on loamy and sandy soils, neutral or slightly acidic. Next to tall and dense grasses he feels bad, they oppress him.

First, the site must be dug up and leveled so that there are as few lumps of earth as possible. This will destroy the weeds and fill the ground with the air necessary for the growth and development of plants.

Seeds are taken at the rate of 320 seeds per 1 square meter of land. Before sowing, they are soaked for an hour. Sowing by hand so that the seeds are evenly scattered on the ground is difficult, especially for beginners. For even distribution of seeds, it is recommended to mix them with soil in a separate container (in a wheelbarrow, barrel or large box), after which the mixture is scattered evenly over the entire area of ​​​​the site. There is no need to sprinkle the seeds with a thick layer of earth, they will not germinate well, one centimeter is enough.

It is necessary to water the future lawn carefully, not with a hose, but with a watering can, with a small nozzle. Humidity should be moderate, not excessive, otherwise the seeds may rot. It is impossible to stomp where clover is sown. At proper care sprouts will appear in two weeks.

In the first year, flowering should not be expected, it will appear only the next year. Especially capricious young clover, what kind of care does he need?

The most important thing is proper watering. It is important not to overdo it and not dry the lawn. It is not recommended to sow clover where groundwater is close to the surface. One watering per week is enough, it should be moderate. If there is excess moisture in your area, plant not a white clover, but a pink one. Care includes weed control and the timely removal of dry faded heads from the lawn.

The plant is a source of nitrogen, so fertilizers must be treated with care. If cereals grow next to clover, it can drown them out. So that the plants do not die, in the spring, cereals need to be fed with mineral fertilizers.

Information for beginners:

• Although clover is considered a perennial, its life is not long, in the third year a re-planting is needed. It is important not to be late with it, calculate so that the seeds germinate not in the fall, and not even in August, otherwise the cold will destroy the unrooted plants.

Pros and cons of white lawn

A white clover lawn is a great alternative to the classic green. The emerald perennial will quickly fill in unwanted bald spots on the site and will advantageously emphasize brighter shrubs and trees. He can unobtrusively focus on flowers, especially if they are poppies or lupins.

Adults and children can stomp on the lawn, dogs can run and play on it. It will not be affected by temperature fluctuations. Oatmeal and mint, for example, need more moisture, and lawn grass does not always survive in the sun, so a “white foam carpet” is the best solution.

To make white clover look spectacular, it is recommended to cut it as it grows. In this case, the lawn mower should be abandoned, it is better to use a trimmer. Don't worry, it will grow back quickly, and it will bloom even more beautifully, and its green decoration will last until late autumn.

The lawn can grow rapidly due to creeping rooting shoots, and this is not always happy. It will not be easy to “evict” a neighbor from nearby beds and neighboring flower beds, in which case he will change his status from a decorative decoration of the site to a weed and need help chemicals. Too frequent walks on clover can spoil its aesthetic appearance; weeds can only be fought manually. As you know, the honey plant always attracts insects, and, hiding in the grass, they can sting if they are accidentally stepped on without seeing them. Here, perhaps, are all its significant shortcomings.

Frequent and regular maintenance can be difficult, especially if the owner of the site is a pensioner or a very busy person. Sowing clover is not recommended if the owner of the site or members of his family have allergic reactions to insect bites.