Clover as a green compost/cover crop.

[Beekissed]

Last year I had planted white dutch clover in my pathways and around my crops to fix nitrogen and cover the bare earth. It grew minimally and did a great job at keeping the weeds down in some areas where it grew thicker.

This year I noticed my garden getting more and more green and wondered just what weed I was going to have to supress this year? Then I looked more closely and realized that the clover was coming in thick and lush!

My mother had tried the same method last year and was very pleased with the weed supression of her clover and reports that her garden is now a carpet of white and green!

The weeds that I usually have in my garden at this time of the year are not there...you know the kind, the suculents with stickers? I hate those things!

So, I am now plowing directly into this lush ground cover and will already have nice, green and short pathways on which to walk. I am also reseeding the soil after I plant my crops and hill up for the last time.

I'm very pleased with the clover as a green mulch and hope to see the benefits of the nitrogen fixing and also have bloom for my bees to work on.

Anyone else using clover for this purpose?

P.S. As an added benefit, I'm going to use my garden as a winter rotation for my sheep so they can trim the clover this fall.

 

[hoodat]

Great idea. I often plant red clover as a green manure but it gets too tall to grow in an active garden. I often allow non competitive weeds like a soft low growing pimpernell that grows wild here to grow around my taller veggies. I've noticed that non competitive weeds actually improve the growth and health of the plants they grow around. Allowing white clover to grow wild sounds ideal.

 

[obsessed]

I have white colver in my suburban lawn. I think it looks gorgeous! But then every weekend my DH moves it down. but by friday it is back. I didn't plant it I just have not done anything to stop it. And I have noticed a lot more this year than last.

 

[curly_kate]

When we had our new garage built & the driveway shortened, we seeded the old driveway area with clover & grass (too expensive to do just clover), and it's awesome. I usually dig it up from my veggie beds, tho, because someone here told me it could compete w/my veggies. Maybe I'll try just leaving it. Anything that allows me to not have to weed is a good thing!

 

[hoodat]

When we had our new garage built & the driveway shortened, we seeded the old driveway area with clover & grass (too expensive to do just clover), and it's awesome. I usually dig it up from my veggie beds, tho, because someone here told me it could compete w/my veggies. Maybe I'll try just leaving it. Anything that allows me to not have to weed is a good thing!

I don't think the roots of white clover go deep enough to really compete with most established veggies. The only trouble you might have is when putting fine seed like carrots directly into the ground.

 

[Beekissed]

I don't overseed my beds that I will be doing repeat plantings of lettuce, carrots, radishes and such. Those rows get mulched with grass clippings or hay. I have permanent pathways of clover, which means it doesn't get high enough to be a nuisance, makes a nice soft path on which to walk and encourages bees to visit the garden. I sow the clover on top of plantings like potatoes, corn, pumpkins, beans, peppers, tomatoes, etc.

The roots of clover had nodules that interact with a certain bacteria, resulting in nitrogen storage. They call these legumes "nitrogen-fixing", which means they fix nitrogen in the soil for the use by your garden plants. Also, their roots are a fine webbing that breaks up the soil and makes easy pathways for your veggie roots.

The ground cover helps your soil retain moisture and encourages earthworm habitat....all of these things mean a big plus for your garden.

When the roots die they add organic matter to the soil and still retain nitrogen storage in the roots, which is dispersed as the roots degrade.

I wish I had learned about this years ago and saved myself a lot of mulching with material that disappeared as the garden season went along. This mulch will come back year after year, be used as food for bees, chickens and sheep and provides me with no fuss, no mow pathways.

 

[vfem]

I have white clover in my lawn area in the backyard too, the neighbor's honey bees love it and I am not making clover jelly out of them. My neighbor does red clover as a winter cover in his garden... starting next fall I am planning on planting it into one of my rotated beds.

 

[astevn816]

I don't overseed my beds that I will be doing repeat plantings of lettuce, carrots, radishes and such. Those rows get mulched with grass clippings or hay. I have permanent pathways of clover, which means it doesn't get high enough to be a nuisance, makes a nice soft path on which to walk and encourages bees to visit the garden. I sow the clover on top of plantings like potatoes, corn, pumpkins, beans, peppers, tomatoes, etc.

The roots of clover had nodules that interact with a certain bacteria, resulting in nitrogen storage. They call these legumes "nitrogen-fixing", which means they fix nitrogen in the soil for the use by your garden plants. Also, their roots are a fine webbing that breaks up the soil and makes easy pathways for your veggie roots.

The ground cover helps your soil retain moisture and encourages earthworm habitat....all of these things mean a big plus for your garden.

When the roots die they add organic matter to the soil and still retain nitrogen storage in the roots, which is dispersed as the roots degrade.

I wish I had learned about this years ago and saved myself a lot of mulching with material that disappeared as the garden season went along. This mulch will come back year after year, be used as food for bees, chickens and sheep and provides me with no fuss, no mow pathways.

I love when the natural order of things will accomplish the hard work if we just plan ahead and be patient