About two years ago I ordered a truckload of black dirt to level out my yard. Shortly after, I planted 2 palettes of sod. For those of you in the North, Floridian lawns are primarily St. Augustine variety that grows from transplanted sod and not seeds like ‘golf course’ lawns.
I noticed all sorts of weeds and growth coming thru the sod and levelled areas. It was cute seeing clover pop between the blades of grass. That was then… Now, the clover is totally overtaking the grass, growing thick through my entire lawn and all of the surrounding areas.
How do I get rid of it?
Short of digging the entire yard up and putting down vegatation killer is there another way? Any Clover experts want to give advice?
If you can hire a professional lawn-treatment service for a season or two, it’s worth it. Our lawn was covered in weeds when we moved in to our house, and our attempts to treat it ourselves were futile. When a local lawn service offered an estimate, we decided we might as well give it a shot, but we really thought the lawn was past the point of saving. Boy, were we wrong! We were amazed at the results–by that summer, we had a lush green lawn with only a few weeds here and there, and by the next season, we hardly had any weeds at all. We went from being the “why don’t they do something about their lawn” people to the envy of the neighborhood!
emm - a “weed” is just a plant growing “in the wrong place”. Since grass wasn’t growing there “naturally” - but the clover was, we tend to just let it go.
Besides - “weeds” stay green in August. Grass doesn’t, unless you water the heck out of the yard!
agreed! When we had gerbils we picked clover, violets and chickweed out of our un-chemicalized yard and fed it to them for a treat.
Those little lawn service signs warning pets and kids to stay off the chemicals really annoy me. I’ve always wanted one that said: “This yard safe for all living things.”
Apologies if I’m channeling Cranberry today, (apologies Cranberry, for alluding to you,) but I’ve always found perfect lawns to be ecologically damaging and pointless, though I recognize that many fine people hold differing opinions.
I have to admit, that my first thought on reading this thread was, ‘Why would you want to
spray your yard with poisons?’. I know people do it all the time, but it seems insane to me.
If I wanted a golf-course lawn, which I don’t, actually, I hate grass, I’d love for the clover
to take over, however, if I -did- want a golf-course lawn, I’d look for a grass that grows
really well in my area and would outcompete the clover and other spreading plants. As long
as you’re growing a grass that can be outcompeted by something as wimpy as clover,
you’ll be fighting a losing battle. I’d kill off my existing lawn by tarping it over for a month
or so, uncover it for a time to let any seeds sprout, and then recover it. Then I’d put
down a healthy coating of seed for my new grass variety, and rake it in. Once it was
growing, I’d make sure to let it grow to seeding height at least once a summer, (though
zoning laws may not allow this if you have an inches-rule, in which case I’d have to actually
buy seed anually, I suppose.) A vigorous-in-the-climate grass that’s allowed to seed once
a year is not likely to be outcompeted by much of anything, though occassional spot-weeding
will be needed to keep it pure. I’d also mulch-mow. Grass is it’s own fertilizer if you don’t
cart it away. (Clover, btw, is fertilizer for -everything-, very good ground cover for
making your soil more nutritious.)
Of course, poisoning your lawn is easier, and quicker, though more expensive, and likely
to require annual reapplication.
Clover is good for the soil: it fixes nitrogen and naturally fertilizes the earth. It’s just as green as grass, and easier underfoot than that spiky Florida stuff. I’d leave it right there!
We’ve decided we’re letting most of our lawn become moss. Our yard is totally wooded and pretty boggy except for about a 6 foot strip right at the road. I’ve tried everything I’m prepared to try and it hasn’t worked. I have used fertilizer, but I’m also not one to hire someone with the strongest chemicals. There’s already quite a bit of moss in the yard (and on the driveway, and on the roof. . .), so we’re just gonna encourage it.
We have a lot of clover. We have a wetlands preserve right behind us. Consequently we have deer, rabbits and ground hogs that get fat on the clover. If we got rid ofthe clover we wouldn’t have our animals out where we can see them. I keep the binoculars by the door so we can enjoy the wildlife.
Okay, real answer. I think that the advice on finding a different grass is solid. If clover is taking over, I would think that buffalo grass or zoysia grass would be the ticket. I guess one question I would ask is what do you use your lawn for? If you have room to play with a Frisbee than a nice solid turf seems in order. Other wise maybe it is time to come up with a long term plan for your yard and add a new section of plants each year.
But I am just jealous because I live in an apartment
You could pull it up, but a couple smallish “weeder” geese would be your best bet. Recycle that clover right into fertilizer. They’ll keep down the insect population and keep out trespassers.
Personally, I’d go with the clover. With the water shortage here and the tendency of St. Augustine to go into great patches of brown spikes from, oh, say May to January, the clover is at least going to be green and soft.
I like weeds. Come August when all that toney grass curls up its little brown toes, the weeds keep the green around.
Do you not want it, or do the subby neighbors not want it? In the latter case, bring in a dozen or so sheep or goats - they’ll come to appreciate your clover in no time.
