I had previously discussed completely replacing this lawn with a clover lawn (to keep height down/less maintenance). Landscaper never brought up any issue with it. The other week when he was supposed to remove all existing grass and reseed with clover, he simply mowed the grass (the clover seed was accidentally in a locked shed).
Is it true that it’s not possible? I already told him I’m okay with paying more if he underestimated
by DACoe
21 Comments
Talk to a different landscaper.
It looks too sunny. Make sure your seed specifies Zona and sunlight recs.
I would just overseed in February with your desired clover. It will take over nicely
I don’t know where people keep getting the idea of clover lawns. Clover is typically a short season crop, clovers are a nitrogen fixer so people seed them to enhance the soil before planting crops. It’s not a great sod replacement, temporary at most before it dies back, unless you want to be reseeding often.
I highly suggest looking into native sedges or carex that could suit your needs.
Just buy clover seed and some dirt. Spread the seed then cover with the dirt and water. Do it in patches if you need to budget and don’t pay for weed control b/c basic weed control kills clover. 🍀
Kurapia would be better.
I have had good luck with pelletized clover; each seed is coated in clay. This protects the seed from premature germination and subsequent drying out.
It needs a chance to get established before the coldest temperatures set in.
Early spring or early fall would be good times to sow.
Dutch white clover is the most well behaved.
its possible to replace it with clover, but not easy, overseading will just result in mostly grass with some clover, additionally the area looks like the soil is super compacted from your photo and compact soil like that wont sprout seeds well. perhaps the labor is beyond you gardeners expertise.if you desire a lush clover lawn your going to need to do significant prep work.
the best way is to mow the grass as short as possible, kill it with a garden blowtorch, with someone around with a hose to put out any accidental fires, burn the grass down to the soil surface. (5gal tank version, not the 1 pound tank size) be carefull and wear PPE, these torches are dangerous no joke and quite powerful, mark any sprinkler heads with flags to avoid them, apply alittle compost (1.5 inches deep over the whole lawn) rototill the whole thing down 4 to 6 inches, mixing compost and soil. rake out the dead grass roots on the surface, then smooth and flatten the soil with a sod roller and finally plant your clover seed. for a single person its probably 3 or 4 days to get it done right.
water once a day until the clover spouts, then similarly to grass but a little less water. mow it rarely and lift the lawnmowers blade to the highest setting. dont apply lawn fertlizers, they just speed up the weeds and dont help the clover (as it manufactures its own N)
You need a new landscaper
Hell my lawn has more clover then grass in places
It’s actually very possible!
What kind of clover? Most clover is either an annual or a short lived perennial. So over seeding annually is recommended. It also grows as tall as you maintain it. If you want to mow less while maintaining a short surface it is not a great option. As the white dutch micro clover you would want to use still needs as much regular mowing as turf-grass to maintain a short dense growth.
I do not think that word means what he thinks it means.
What growing zone?
Clover will die back in warm climates during the summer and other grasses take over
Your landscaper is talking out his ass. Seed the clover over the grass, it will take over that small area pretty quickly.
? Rent a sod cutter. Cut the grass out. Fresh soil to level it out. Seed. Addtl soil on top.
Just mix it. They love each other
Ask the clover in my yard, it’s possible. I’ll trade you my clover for your grass 🙂
Thinking about this, it has to be very easy. Just use glyphosate to kill the grass and then throw down clover seed. You can easily do this yourself, unless you do not want to.
I can almost guarantee clover will grow.
……..and keep them employed. Clover was the common lawn for most of the 18th century. Now it’s these GMO grasses.
I’m not a landscaper, but we did “micro” clover in round part of our circle drive.
Huge mistake… it wasn’t micro… it had to be mowed at least biweekly. Mowing sucked, it has a lot more water in it than grass, so it sputtered green goo all over and gummed up the push mower. Couldn’t use riding lawn mower as it was too heavy and clover was more delicate.
If I left it fully, random shoots of a single grass or weed would grow and get unmanageable. In short, it looked liked like hell and it had to go.
I don’t know the trade, and there are many different kinds of clover and ways todo this but for us… I failed… it failed.
What an idiot. Fire him and tell him to at least use Google at the bare minimum before advising a client if he doesn’t know.