In many gardens, stocks of white and red clover take root by themselves. However, the clover plants in the lawn can not only be a nuisance for visual reasons: after all, the flowers attract bees and bumblebees, which can pose a danger to children and adults alike walking barefoot in the garden.

Clover in the bed is best weeded by hand

The clover as a pointer plant

While some gardeners deliberately plant clover in their garden as a replacement for the lawn, others are extremely annoyed when clover grows excessively on the lawn. If the grasses in the lawn are gradually being replaced by relatively dark and reddish clover leaves, it is usually red sorrel. Ideally, this should be cut out soon after it appears, as it can multiply itself by self-sowing after flowering. If small roots of wood sorrel remain in the soil, they can also produce other plants. After mechanical removal, adding lime ensures that grass growth is promoted compared to sorrel.

Tackle the clover with the scarifier

Clover varieties such as white and red clover can also become a kind of nuisance in the lawn. You can tackle this with a scarifier (€84.00). Remove the clover plants from the turf as thoroughly as possible with the scarifier and then fill in the bare spots with fine soil and fresh grass seed. Here, too, the addition of lime can be useful to promote the growth of the blades of grass and at the same time slow down the growth of the clover. If you don't have your own scarifier, you can usually rent one from a neighbor or from a garden center on a daily basis.

The right choice of fertilizer helps against clover in the lawn

If your lawn is suffering from an infestation of weeds like red clover, then choosing the right fertilizer can help you get rid of the unwanted clover plants permanently. You should use horn shavings (€32.93) as a biological long-term fertilizer, especially if you are using a chemical-free approach. This fertilizer is low in phosphate and allows the blades of grass to "grow" more against the spread of the clover.

Grass growth can also be boosted by:

  • regular watering
  • gifts of nitrogen
  • a higher setting on the lawnmower

Cover the clover with foil

If you want to combat clover in your lawn naturally and without chemicals, you can cover the area with an opaque film. After a few weeks, the light-hungry clover will die under the tarpaulin so that you can get rid of it permanently. The grass also suffers from this treatment, but can usually recover better from the "shadow cure" than clover. However, if the lawn consists almost entirely of clover, you can also consider accepting the clover as a lawn substitute.

tips

In order to be able to remove the clover in the lawn without chemicals, you must not mow the lawn too short and too often. Closely mowed lawns dry out more easily in the summer heat, although clover often tolerates the drought better than grass. The increased supply of light also causes the clover to grow even faster in a short-cut lawn, so that destroying it becomes even more difficult due to the greater spread.

Category:

Herbs