Early April is ideal time to overseed clover

Lawn overseeded with clover

There are many benefits to having clover in lawns:

Combined with mulch-mowing, the clover can supply most or all of the turf’s needs for nitrogen. Clover and other legumes are infected by soil bacteria which form nitrogen-fixing nodules on the roots. Nitrogen fixation can contribute the equivalent of 2 lbs of nitrogen per 1000 square feet annually (1 kg N/100m2 ). .

Providing nitrogen inputs via legumes and recycling of residues (grass clippings) reduces leaching of all nutrients; requirements for lime may be reduced by 75% or more.

Grass/clover turfs maintain greenness through mid-summer droughty periods when straight bluegrass turfs go into dormancy unless well watered..

Clover competes effectively with other broadleaf plants, reducing the amount of manual-weeding that might be practiced otherwise.

An appropriately managed grass/clover turf forms an aesthetically pleasing sward which masks the presence of many types of weeds, i.e., the weeds blend into the sward, rather than stand out.

Clover is reported not to scald, as grass does, when dogs urinate on it.

A mixed grass/clover sward tends to be more resistant to pests and diseases than is a straight grass sward.

A mixed grass/clover/small-leafed-flowering-dicot sward increases biodiversity, especially by supporting pollinating insects.!

It’s pretty easy to overseed a lawn with clover, but it is best done in the spring before grass starts to grow vigorously. Early April is ideal, but anytime from late March through to about May 5 should work in HRM.

For more about overseeding with clover, view Establishing White Clover in Lawns, also an earlier post on this website.

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