Hi, I have a beautiful clover lawn, it's nice and thick in the spring and summer but in the winter It can get very muddy just because the ground is a little wet compared to when I had grass.
I'm looking to grow something between it, I thought maybe moss or possibly possibly micro grass. I don't really want to plant grass though, just thought I'd ask if anyone had any ideas.
To be honest it doesn't really bother me, it does well with food traffic the only problem is my dog. She gets much more muddy than she would get on grass. Also my clover is not micro. I'm based in the UK.
by Safe_Fix_3710
4 Comments
Maybe just mow it shorter so it doesn’t trap as much moisture?
It may be an unpopular opinion, but I think primarily you should add something like TTTF into that for added toughness. I don’t think grass is necessarily the enemy, but I do believe high maintenance and highly manicured lawns are problematic. Turf and clover do well together, they were packaged that way for many many years.
My front lawn is a mixture of like 8 TTTF cultivars, white clover, micro clover (I already had it on hand), and white yarrow. It looks great, and I get a lot of the benefits of the turf while avoiding a monoculture.
In an ideal world, I’m imagining my grass being outcompeted by the yarrow and clover long term, and I’m fine with that. I am always on the lookout for more native perennial groundcovers to overseed into it all though, the more varied the roots the healthier the soil.
I haven’t found anything additionally that’s super appealing yet though. Wild violets were maybe a choice but I don’t think they’d thrive in the light. Maybe would be shaded a bit by the rest of the canopy though? I have a feeling I’ll have plenty of extra stuff germinating from all the purple love grass and little blue stem I have in the surrounding gardens though.
This is one of the issues I have with clover. I added it as a con in our !groundcovers wiki page. In any climate where you get freezing or near freezing temps, clover dies back a bit and the above ground growth isn’t enough to prevent the ground from getting muddy. Because it grows aggressively in spring, many cool season grasses won’t grow thick alongside clover.
If I lived where you do, I’d consider just overseeding with a native turf grass. You have lots of options in the UK. You’ll still have some muddy spots, but hopefully less of it.
Creeping thyme! Phlox! Sedum!