Urban Landscapes NS

‘Saw lots of lawns like this on May 5, 2019

Crows are said to be the culprits. Well really it’s the grubs they are after that are the problem.

I have noticed a lot more crows on peninsular Halifax this spring and am wondering if disruption of the roost at Mt. St Vincent last fall has anything to do with it.

Racoons are also reported to do it as well (at night), and we have lots of those.

One solution – let ’em do it, re-seed it when they are through, and then you shouldn’t have them the next year.
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Clover Lawn

It was established on shallow soil, there are tree roots through it and from late May on it is shaded by Norway Maple.

Every now and then the city digs part of it up for water and sewer stuff or sidewalsk and replaces the old topsoil with sandy “manufactured topsoil” which makes it even more droughty.

I will get around to diversifying the area with garden beds, but in the meantime, if it’s looking particularly ratty in the spring, I spread clover on it in April or early May.

A pound of Dutch white clover seed costs about 13$ at Halifax Seed; that’s enough, they say, for about 1500 sq ft of lawn.

The big challenge is how to spread the very small seed evenly and not too heavily.

Here’s my recipe:
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