Are there any legumes or clovers that I could incorporate into a low maintenance yard? I have purchased a couple of short, relatively slow growing fescue varieties, but a legume would add some nitrogen naturally. I was thinking about white dutch clover, but then I seemed to recall seeing some really short yellow flowers in a yard that appeared to be a clover, vetch or something in the legume family. It was only about half the height of dutch clover, but I can't seem to find any seed. (probably because I don't know the name to search for)
Oxalis corniculata (yellow wood sorrel) looks very much like clover and has a yellow flower. However, this is an awful weed.
Medicago polymorpha (yellow burr clover) also has yellow flowers. It is a weed not quite as bad as oxalis. Its seeds, however, stick very tightly to your pants legs, socks, and pets.
Thus, when you plant clover, make sure you plant one that will not become a problem.
a slow growing fescue will likely be crowded out by almost any clover or other cover i can think of.
yard in the city or yard in the country? in the city rules about how long it can get are often in play. in the country you can plant what you want and manage it more appropriately.
you might have seen a variety of birdsfoot trefoil, which doesn't naturally stay low but repeated mowing keeps it short. avoid the viking variety (it was developed to be taller). sometime i should get a picture of this one area in the city that is mowed once in a while, but is otherwise full of trefoil -- in bloom it is great looking. not the same as low maint, but i'd rather look at that area than most yards of grasses and nothing else.
Evidently that is the case - I got a laugh when I went to the Scott's website and saw a picture of Dutch White Clover, and a description of it as an annoying weed, and that you should fertilizer your yard more (probably with Scott's fertilizer, right? :-) and it will eventually go away.
I actually planted my last lawn about 50% to dutch white clover, because I like the stuff, it doesn't seem to grow as fast, and it never needed fertilized or watered. I like the flowers from dandelions as well, but I'll admit that they can take over.
I grew up on a farm where the yard was always about 50% native plants, including various wildflowers left over from when it was more wooded. There was no way I was going to put down herbicides and kill off all of those violets, spring beauties, or deertongue (glacier lilies), for example.
While the lawn may not look like a golf course, I think the diversity of plants makes it more resistant to various problems.
I would prefer for the clover to fix the nitrogen naturally, and then provide a little extra to the grasses. I'm going for low maintenance, low cost, and low environmental impact. If I could eat grass, I could justify spending more time and money on the lawn. However, I would much rather spend the time and money on my fruit trees and other things that I can eat. That is probably my farm background talking, because I'd also rather let a couple of sheep loose in the yard, rather than mowing. (which would also give us free fertilizer at the same time) Can't get away with that around here, though.
Yellow sweet clover (Melilotus officinalis), which I love, doesn't seem like it would be a good lawn plant. it's often used in hay. I guess maybe if you mowed it regularly the flowers might bloom low. don't know.
I like the clover in my pasture becasue the stock love it and it is nutritious. I like the clover in my lawn because it looks great in spring. Why would you want to destroy this:
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idea that a lawn with clover is somehow inferior is nonsense.
This is a point that many people do not understand. I love the fact that I have 4 or 5 kinds of grass, plus clover plus several other "weeds". This means that I have ground cover under a wide variety of conditions not just when it suits the monoculture.
A much more balanced approach. If you can't have sheep how about geese?
The commercial lawn product companies hate clover because it is low maintenance and requires little or none of their products. White Dutch Clover works great here. Sprouts fast, fills in nicely and is low maintenance. Grows only about
4 inches tall. If you don't like the white blossoms, well you've just been brainwashed by the green grass, high maintenance, weed and feed folks. Cheers
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