Mow the clover lawn. How to plant white clover for your lawn. White creeping clover in landscape design

Agree, a dacha should have a little bit of everything - fruit trees, aromatic spicy herbs, a few bushes with berries, vegetable beds, flower beds, flower beds and, of course, at least a small lawn. One of the options specifically for a summer house is a clover lawn. Let's look at all the advantages and disadvantages of this type of coating, talk about how to care for it, and then you can decide for yourself whether to arrange a small clover lawn on your site or lay out some other type of lawn.

What kind of plant is this?

Clover is a perennial plant, small in size, and is a member of the legume family. It has very delicate and bright green leaves of an original shape. The stem has three leaves, which is why it is often called “shamrock.” By the way, if someone manages to find a cutting with four leaves, this is a good omen. Flowers are collected in small inflorescences, shaped like balls, which come in white, pink or red.

The plant is an excellent honey plant, it is very fragrant, bees circle around it constantly.

Clover is very unpretentious and can grow well in different types of soil - clay and sandy, acidic and neutral. It likes to be located in sunny open meadows, it does not require frequent watering, and it tolerates winters quite easily. If during severe frosts part of the clover lawn is damaged, then there is no need to replant it; in a short period of time it will grow on its own. And too shaded places and excessive moisture can ruin the clover lawn. If these negative factors have a long-term effect, the plant may be completely destroyed.

To create a clover lawn at the dacha, plants with white flowers are often chosen, sometimes a mixture of red and white inflorescences is made. During the season, clover blooms twice, so a decorative covering made from it will delight you with its beautiful blooming appearance from late spring to mid-autumn. It’s worth warning right away that clover will not bloom in the year of planting; it will delight you with spherical flowers only for the next season.

Clover is sometimes added to ready-made grass mixtures to soften the lawn surface. This is usually done when arranging children's lawns with slides, swings, benches and houses.

White creeping clover, the seeds of which are most often used to create lawns, is a low-growing plant, so many summer residents do not mow such lawns at all. However, it tolerates haircuts quite well; the recommended minimum mowing height is 3-4 cm, the maximum is 10-12 cm.

We have considered all the main characteristics of the plant. Now let's talk in detail about the positive and negative aspects of lawn clover.

Advantages and disadvantages

An interesting fact, but all owners of suburban areas who already have or are just planning lawn coverings are divided into two diametrically opposed camps. Some people dream of creating a bright, rich and dense clover lawn on their property. Others consider it a weed for their lawn and are constantly fighting with clover.

Pros of a clover lawn:

This type of lawn also has its disadvantages:

• A lawn of white clover looks wonderful during flowering, when its ball-shaped inflorescences look like white beads scattered across an emerald carpet. But when they fade, the appearance of dried flowers immediately gives the green covering an unattractive, one might even say untidy, appearance. You will have to remove the dried inflorescences.
• Clover grows strongly and quickly, so if it is part of a lawn grass mixture, then after some time it will begin to dominate among all other plants.
• It has constantly wet turf, which makes the surface itself slippery, so it will be problematic for children to play active games or run around on such a lawn; they can slip and fall.

Experts even recommend using clover in the initial stages of building a country house. When construction is underway, and no one yet cares about arranging the garden, vegetable garden, flower beds and lawns, all unused territory must be leveled and planted with clover. Firstly, it will give the site an aesthetic appearance. But that's not even that important. The main thing is that clover will not allow weeds to grow and will fertilize the soil with nitrogen, so to speak, prepare it for the subsequent planting of cultivated plants.

Well, if you decide to take up beekeeping at your summer cottage, then you simply need to plant a clover lawn. During the season, your bees will always have work to do. But children won’t be able to run on such a lawn, because bees might bite you.

Now you know all the positive and negative sides of this plant, think about everything thoroughly and make a decision for yourself - to plant a clover meadow in your dacha or not.

Seeds

First of all, you need to purchase high-quality planting material. It is not difficult to purchase lawn clover seeds in specialized garden stores. Nowadays the range of this plant is widely represented.

Clover with white flowers will rarely need to be mowed, since this variety is creeping and low-growing. If you want to dilute the green covering with pink or red flowers, then you should immediately take into account that this type of clover grows tall and will require regular mowing.

The best varieties of lawn clover are:

• white creeping undersized - “Dukhmyana”, “Volat”, “Sorcerer”, “Matvey”, “Rivendell”, “Klondike”;
• pink hybrid medium - “Tursky”, “Daubyay”, “Krasavchik”;
• red meadow tall - “Vichai”, “Raya”, “Maro”, “Long-living”, “Segur”, “Amos”, “Titus”.

Lawn arrangement

In general, clover is planted at any time except winter. It will tolerate heat and drought well, but will not withstand frost, so if you decide to sow seeds in the fall, you need to do this 1.5 months before the first frost. This time will be enough for the plant to be well prepared for winter and its roots to be firmly established.

The area for the clover lawn begins to be prepared with the onset of spring. When the ground warms up well, the area of ​​the future lawn covering must be carefully leveled. As with all other types of lawn, it is necessary to get rid of weeds on the site and roll it a little using a hand roller.

Clover seeds for sowing must be mixed with sand or soil and scattered evenly throughout the entire area, a layer of peat or soil should be poured on top (1 cm will be enough, if you pour more, the seeds will not break through).

Advice! Sowing clover seeds, like any other lawn grass, is best done in slightly moist soil. It is advisable to choose a sowing time after the previous rain. If the weather has not been kind to you with showers, then 1-2 days before planting, you need to water the area of ​​the future lawn yourself.

Now you need to water the sown area generously using a hose with a spray nozzle. The only thing a clover lawn requires is that it be well watered every evening for the first week after planting the seeds. The soil must not be allowed to dry out; in this case, the crops may turn out to be uneven.

If you did everything correctly, expect friendly green shoots in two weeks.

A clover lawn is not difficult to care for. Water it at least once a week, this is especially important when the lawn is just forming.

There is no need to feed such lawns; clover itself is an excellent fertilizer.

When using white clover, you can go the entire season without cutting. If you have time and desire, trim the lawn to give it a more decorative and tidy look. Other varieties of clover are cut no more often than once every 15 days. The best way to trim a clover lawn is to use a trimmer.

If you regularly mow the clover, it will not self-sow. Although this is a perennial plant, such a lawn will only last you for 2-3 years. After this, you will have to sow the seeds again.

Note! Clover clippings make excellent mulch.

If clover is not needed on the lawn

Now let’s consider the option when clover on the lawn is a weed and needs to be gotten rid of.

Of course, if you have small children or allergies, then the constant presence of bees on the site is highly undesirable. To send buzzing insects away from your dacha, you need to say goodbye to clover.

In this case, all existing methods of weed control on the lawn are suitable:

• Manually remove all clover from the lawn by pulling it out by the roots;
• apply selective action.

Before you are going to remove the clover, do not mow the lawn; mowing always contributes to the scattering of seeds. First, pull out all the clover and then cut the grass.

Once you have removed all the clover from your lawn, add nitrogen fertilizer to the soil. If its seeds remain somewhere, then nitrogen will slow down the growth of clover, and on the contrary, it will speed up the growth of lawn plants.

To prevent clover seeds from penetrating the lawn area, cover it with a thick layer of mulch.

As soon as you notice that a new clover sprout has appeared, remove it immediately before it scatters its seeds.

How to make a lawn from clover and is it worth doing at all?

Articles about lawns are usually not interesting to read, they are all kind of dry in accounting. “Remove 10 centimeters of turf, put in 10 centimeters of turf. Spread 100 grams per 100 square decimeters”... No, for people with creative ambitions this is all no good?

Let me start by saying that I am by no means a professional when it comes to lawns. If I were a professional, I would write about 10 centimeters of turf. And in general, I never wanted, never made or saw a lawn. Well, there are many men who dream of a lawn as some kind of symbol of home well-being or something like that. And for sure, there are many women who dream of a lawn. But all my life I have been indifferent to lawns.

Should I make a lawn? I had to. Since there is a certain amount of empty land around the newly built house... After construction, something incomprehensible began to grow there - prickly thistle, quinoa, some cereals the size of a man... It is clear that it cannot be left like this - or everything needs to be concreted/asphalted, which is unacceptable to me. Or a lawn. The lawn is acceptable to me, although I have never done it.

Neighbors again. Then you’ll go to one. then to another. They proudly show off their lawns. I look... well, grass and grass, shaved like a beaver. Business. “No, I’ll be original - I’ll make a lawn from clover,” I decided, because I had a pack of white clover seeds lying around for an area of ​​500 square meters. (For comparison, the cost of lawn mixtures for the same area would cost 10 times more.)

But before sowing clover, it was necessary to give the surrounding soil at least some semblance of a flatness and add at least a small fertile layer.

For leveling, about 50 cubic meters of sand were used and the same amount of black earth was dumped on top. The result was a relatively fertile layer of about 10 centimeters. The workers hastily leveled it out for me with a rake. Finally, before leaving, the last and most important worker revealed a professional secret (almost in a whisper, when the rest of his colleagues were already sitting in the running car, ready to leave) - it turns out that before sowing grass, this entire black soil should also compact . Somehow I didn’t attach much importance to these words - well, it will be necessary - we’ll compact it.

It started to rain... The black soil somehow compacted itself in some places, but not in others. It became clear that the option of “scattering the seeds now and waiting” would not give a very good result.

I had to go online and read about trampling and compacting lawns. There were all kinds of funny ways there. And pour water into the barrel and roll it. And take a sheet of plywood, lay it on the ground and jump on this plywood, preferably with a family of at least three people. Special rollers for lawns were also considered.

I liked the idea with the skating rink. I went to gardening stores. In one of them there was a skating rink, weighing three hundred kilograms and the size of half a car. In another they said that it was not yet the season, but they would deliver it soon... And it was already the month of May. There was no point in waiting until their season started.

Well, then I would have used the method with an improvised skating rink - half a pole from high-voltage lines was lying on the site. I don’t know what that pillar was doing there. But I adapted it precisely as a skating rink. Drive - foot. That is, you walk and push this log with your foot, and it rolls for some distance. We rolled the log leisurely for a week, one at a time, as long as anyone wanted. They compacted it somehow, not perfectly of course. But I didn’t have the task of doing it perfectly.

As for the “sowing” itself, everything was simple with it. He picked up a bag of clover seeds and walked around, sprinkling them in a sweeping manner. Then I found a few more packets of grass seeds in the bins and scattered them here and there too, so the good stuff wouldn’t go to waste. I also sowed alfalfa along the fence for added beauty. It's a lawn! I walked over the top with a log, rolled the seeds...

Sowing lawn grass, even clover, must be done before the rains. To do this, we look at the weather forecast, and if no precipitation is expected, then we will have to water, otherwise nothing good will grow.

In May it was not very damp, but it still rained sometimes. The clover and some of the grass came up quite quickly, and I periodically walked and sometimes rolled this thing with a log. When the places where bald spots had formed became clearly visible, he sowed more grass. And clover.

Based on numerous recommendations I read on the Internet, I knew that the grass should be mowed when it reaches a size of about 10 centimeters. But firstly, I had no time, and secondly, I was lazy. And thirdly, I didn’t have a lawnmower. There was a trimmer, like a brushcutter, with a fishing line. I used it to mow the second part of the area, where the lawn was not yet planned, and is not planned, there we have something like a natural meadow.

So, due to the lack of a mower and laziness, until August I didn’t mow the clover at all. Well, I didn’t mow the grass either.

Pros and cons of a clover lawn.

By August, the clover had grown so much that it became obvious that it was necessary to mow it down. I must say that I hoped that the white creeping clover would form a beautiful, even rug, no more than 10 centimeters in height. The peaceful buzzing of bees, the emerald green of clover leaves and the blue sky, ah-ah... Something like this should have happened according to my calculations.

But we liked the clover on our site. I liked it very much. The white creeping clover was a great success, it was 30 centimeters tall, bloomed profusely and was not easily mowed with a trimmer and fishing line, because it was always damp in the depths.

In addition, if it was not damp, but dry and hot, then the clover became sluggish and fell down with all its 30 centimeters, so again it was not easy to mow it.

Another disadvantage of such mowing with a fishing line was the rather obscene appearance of the improvised lawn - brown dry leaves, stalks and other remains of clover look untidy for several days after mowing. This is probably the main disadvantage of a clover lawn. Although, already three days later, the clearing was filled with fresh, bright leaves.

• The second disadvantage is that if you have slopes on your site, then keep in mind that mown clover becomes very slippery.
• The third minus is quite relative; for some it may be a plus. Keep in mind that this is clover creeping. He quickly covers up all sorts of bald spots, but at the same time he strives to crawl out wherever he was not invited - into the beds, flower beds, etc.
• The fourth disadvantage is that by autumn there were a lot of snails and slugs in the clover. But mowing in wet weather is bad.

Now let's look at the advantages of clover as a lawn grass.

1. Clover forms a very dense, well-knit turf.
2. If mowed infrequently and allowed to bloom, clover provides food and attracts bees, bumblebees and other pollinators to the area.
3. The clover lawn is actually beautiful. But not for everyone.
4. Clover is unpretentious, germinates quickly and grows quickly.
5. Clover is resistant to trampling. I couldn’t make the path, no matter how hard I tried.
6. Clover enriches the soil with nitrogen. And mowed clover turns out wonderful.

Our sea pig Gavryusha had a very positive attitude towards planting clover. All summer he devoured huge amounts of clover with great pleasure, looked askance at all other vegetables and ate them reluctantly.

Conclusions. It’s too early to call what I got a lawn. But if you compare it with what happened before, it’s not bad at all.
Next year I will try to convert part of the lawn with clover into a regular grass lawn. With grass there are fewer snails. But I’m not going to give up clover completely.

By the way, in September I finally bought a normal gasoline lawn mower and tried it on clover. It turned out much faster and better than with a trimmer.

Next summer I plan to transform the existing lawn into something much more deserving of the name "Lawn".

Addition from 2013.

Addendum dated June 6, 2015.

This year I was absent for almost the entire month of June and therefore did not mow the lawn. I thought that upon arrival I would see a terrible picture of total desolation and intoxication. But nothing happened, the lawn was quite good, and the clover finally bloomed this year (the summer was dry and cool, which is why it bloomed so late). So for those who don’t like to mow often, clover is just what you need!

Please enlarge the photos, they look good

p.s. Thank you for your feedback on the material, may your clover lawns bring you joy!

In recent years, clover seeds have begun to appear on sale in specialized garden stores en masse. Why they are needed and how you can use them in the garden to your advantage, I will tell you in the article.

Clover has many advantages, so its uses are varied, for example:

• Absolute resistance to trampling has made clover a favorite among lawn lovers. You can run on a clover lawn, play ball, leave flat heavy objects on it for a long time, and it will not lose its fresh appearance;
• Clover has also been used in the garden. They are sown in the rows between the beds. Clover is not aggressive, it knows its place, and does not interfere with cultivated plants. It perfectly absorbs moisture even after heavy rains, and in the garden such paths are always dry and tidy;
• Clover is an excellent honey plant; fields around the apiary are sown with it so that the honey is of the highest quality;
• This property of clover is also used in the garden to attract insects for pollination. Bees and other insects flock to the scent of clover; such beds, near which clover is sown, will be the most abundant;
• Clover is also good as a green manure; its leaf mass enriches the soil, saturates it with nutrients and restores fertility;
• Clover contains a valuable set of nutrients and is an excellent feed for livestock. Beekeepers who sow meadows with clover combine what is called two in one: after flowering ends, they mow down the clover and dry it for cattle feed.

In addition, clover has a number of useful aspects such as:

• Frost resistance. The plant withstands even snowless winters;
• Unpretentiousness to growth conditions and shade tolerance;
• Resistance to getting wet. Clover is not afraid of spring floods;
• Clover can withstand even heavy trampling, quickly recovering;
• Clover is the only lawn that does not need to be mowed; its flowering is pleasant to the eye;
• Clover has a pleasant aroma that envelops the garden in the evenings;
• The plant has several varieties, with white and pink flowers.

Autumn sowing of clover

After harvesting, clover is mainly sown in the garden. The beds cleared of vegetables are dug up, but supporters of ecological farming just level them with a rake and sow the seeds.

To speed up the process of sowing clover in beds as green manure, after scattering the seeds, I just level the soil again with a rake, so the seeds are embedded in the soil.

You can sow clover throughout the fall, but no later than three weeks before the start of daytime subzero temperatures.

If the choice fell on clover to improve the soil, you need to take into account the fact that the plant is a perennial. It will bring the greatest benefit to the soil three months from the start of germination. However, you shouldn’t keep the clover in the garden too long, otherwise it will be difficult to dig up.

They sow clover in the fall between the rows of the beds and do this immediately after harvesting. The clover sprouts will have time to get stronger and will be able to withstand trampling in the new season.

Sowing clover between the beds in the spring is problematic; during the hot garden season it will only get in the way and will not be able to grow due to trampling.

Spring sowing of clover

In spring, clover is sown in the space prepared for the lawn. First, the soil is carefully leveled and the necessary fertilizers are applied. The soil is thoroughly watered and clover is sown.

In the first month, such a lawn needs regular watering.

In the spring, clover is sown in the field next to the apiary and for livestock feed.

How to sow clover correctly

Before sowing, clover seeds are soaked in a solution of epin and then dipped in a dark-colored potassium permanganate solution. Dry and sow immediately.

For convenience, you can mix the seeds with fine river sand, but this is not necessary.

If you plan to sow a lawn, after adding the seed to the soil, it is rolled using an even, rounded log to improve the adhesion of the seeds to the ground.

The sowing depth is approximately 2 cm. After sowing in the beds, it is also advisable to lightly press the soil.

Interestingly, clover varieties with pink flowers have a large leaf mass and are sown for animal feed, which is very profitable. It is possible to mow several times during the season.

White clover's leaf mass looks more modest, it is good on the lawn and as a green manure, the roots are not aggressive, so it is much easier to dig up the soil.

I also recommend watching a video about sowing clover, which explains the answers to the most important questions:

Arrangement of the area around the house is an important component of country life, because the appearance of the site is the first thing its visitors pay attention to. A classic green lawn is often planted, a good alternative to which would be to plant clover. Such a lawn will look natural, captivating with a thousand spherical flowers that immediately catch the eye due to their pleasant appearance.

Clover varieties

For good crop growth on the site, you need to know what types of plants there are and which of them are better suited for growing on your territory. You can choose plants with white, red, yellow, pink flowers. There are about 300 types of clover in the world, but in the CIS countries there can be no more than 70 of them.

Trefoil (another name for the crop) can be planted on lawns; alpine hills and rockeries are decorated with it. Many decorative varieties have been created. Lawns are decorated mainly with perennials with white flowers. The plant is undemanding in care, lush, and after complete mowing the lawn will not be spoiled by the unpleasant appearance of bare stems.

Pink clover is beautiful, but this variety requires care. It is distributed in the Caucasus and the Crimean Peninsula. Its leaves are ovoid in shape. The acidity of the soil is not important for it; the flowering period is from June to September. The reddish trefoil is listed in the Red Book. Its bushes reach a height of 60 cm, the inflorescences are elongated. Different varieties bloom at different times, but most often the plant will be able to please its owners with fluffy balls 2 times a season.

Planting clover

Once a plant variety has been selected, it must be properly planted on the site. In natural conditions there is no care, but the culture feels good without weeding and fertilizing. The owners of the plot will not be burdened either, because the shamrock is very tenacious and unpretentious. To obtain an even green carpet, the planting site should be sunny; partial shade is also suitable. If cereals previously grew on the site, this will have a good effect on the growth of the shamrock.

Reproduction occurs using seeds. You should take them from the second year of life or use store-bought ones. You can divide large bushes of the plant, but they do not take root well in new places.

So, what is the landing algorithm?

1. It is necessary to dig up the ground, remove weeds, and level it.
2. About 300 seeds are needed per 1 m2. They should first be soaked in water for an hour. For convenience, you can mix the seeds with soil in a suitable container and then distribute them throughout the area.
3. The seeds should be covered with a thin, no more than 1 cm, layer of soil.
4. The area is watered with a low-pressure hose. It is optimal to use the nozzle to create a fine rain. The soil should be moist for about a week after planting for the plant to properly strengthen in the ground. It is not recommended to walk on a fresh lawn, otherwise in some places the shamrock may grow worse or the sprouts may not appear at all.

After 2 weeks, the first shoots should appear.

You should not scatter the seeds with your hands, because you won’t be able to do it evenly, and defects in the work will be noticeable. There is no need to delay planting, because the seeds need to take root before the onset of cold weather.

Trefoil blooms can only be seen next year. But it is important to provide proper care right away, because young shoots are the most vulnerable.

Plant care

An important condition for the normal growth of any crop is watering. It doesn’t matter what type of plant is planted on the site. A long absence of water will negatively affect the appearance of the trefoil area. Overmoistening will also be detrimental, although some varieties do not really pay attention to high moisture content.

Pink trefoil, like white one, can grow even in close proximity to groundwater. Care, which includes watering the plant and mowing overgrown stems, should be regular in any case. Once a week, no more often, it should be fed. There is no need to get carried away with fertilizers, because the trefoil itself is capable of releasing nitrogen.

Seeds should be collected from large brown heads. They are then dried for about a week in indirect sunlight and stored in a place closed to fresh oxygen until planting. There is no need to worry if other crops grow around the plant. Clover gets along well with “outsiders.” In addition, it can withstand trampling quite well, which means there is no need to worry about limiting the children - let them walk right on the site. Trefoil will not lose its beauty due to temperature changes.

The plant needs to be trimmed as it grows, and care when planting on the site comes down to watering only. After treatment with a trimmer, the crop recovers very quickly and blooms even more. The area should look neat; clover should not be allowed to grow. If sprouts appear in nearby areas, it will be difficult to get rid of the annoying grass there, so special attention should be paid to keeping the plant within its limits.

Feeding clover

Clover will absorb 2/3 of the required amount of nitrogen from the air, so it should not be fertilized with such additives. The plant grows poorly in acidic soil, and after wintering it thins out significantly. For normal growth over 2-3 years, clover requires phosphorus, potassium, calcium, magnesium, and molybdenum. In the first year, the plant consumes little fertilizer from the soil; it is just taking root. In subsequent years, consumption will be 1.5 times higher.

For acidic soils, liming is required before planting. The plant responds positively to organic fertilization. The norm is 30 t/ha. If it is necessary to obtain seeds, the trefoil should be fertilized with nitrogen additives, because the plant may not have enough nitrogen for this.

When planting, water-soluble fertilizers should be used. It is advisable to use sulfate forms (potassium magnesium, potassium sulfate, etc.). The use of fertilizers containing chlorine is allowed in the fall.

• Trefoil can grow in drought, but it is better if it is watered once every 5-7 days.
• A special dwarf clover has been bred for lawns. It grows short and has few foliage and inflorescences.
• If in some places the trefoil has grown weakly after sowing, you should simply replant it using the usual technology.
• Trefoil flowers strongly attract bees. If you have small children, it is better to plant dwarf clover, which has significantly fewer flowers. In such cases, the lawn should be mowed more often.
• The plant itself will be sown only for 2-3 years, after which it dies. It is necessary to give the soil new seeds, for which you will have to cut the plant after the appearance of ripe seed buds.
• Care in the form of fertilizer is needed in a minimal amount. Sometimes, if the soil is rich in nutrients, there is no need to fertilize at all.

So, shamrock as a replacement for other grasses on the lawn will look very nice. The plant has all the necessary benefits:

• unpretentiousness;
• pleasant appearance;
• the ability not to be influenced by negative external factors.

This is enough to choose trefoil as the plant surrounding the home.

I decided to write an article about red clover. The impetus for this was a gift from my daughter to my wife. It was a very expensive German face cream. He really turned out to be amazing. And since the description of its properties was in German, the women turned to me for translation. This is where I was surprised. The cream contained red clover extracts. But many summer residents have no idea what a useful herb it is.

Red clover(Trifolium pratense) from the legume family. This perennial herbaceous plant has characteristic trifoliate leaves and red ball-shaped inflorescences - heads formed by small flowers. Clover is a biennial or perennial plant. Of the two cultivated varieties of red meadow clover, a distinction is made between late-ripening and early-ripening.

This plant has a well-developed tap root. Clover has numerous lateral and adventitious roots. They have nodules containing bacteria that absorb nitrogen from the air. The nitrogen content in clover nodules depends on its biotype. It increases with the age of the plant.

Clover has a cylindrical stem. There are also lateral stems, they grow from the axils of the leaves. Stipules membranous and narrowed. Clover inflorescences are capitate and multi-flowered. The flowers are sessile and pedunculate. Their colors are red, less often purple. Each clover flower has 10 stamens (nine fused and one detached), a pistil with a rounded stigma. Mature clover anthers are kidney-shaped with a longitudinal groove. They burst when pollinating insects, mainly bees and bumblebees, touch them. Ripe clover pollen is reddish-yellow in color. It contains a lot of sugars, which attracts bees. From clover nectar, bees make very healthy honey, which also contains life-giving clover pollen.

About the benefits of red clover

Clover of the usual three-leaf form is used as an amulet of youth. The shamrock is also considered a talisman that brings good luck. There is a well-known cross with clover leaves, called the “bottoni cross” in heraldry. A five-leaf clover foretells misfortune. In Chinese semiotics, clover is a sign of Spring. The three-leaf clover is an obvious symbol of the Trinity. Used to ward off black witches and evil spirits, it is protection against the evil eye and black magic. Associations with the Trinity arise from the three-leaf shape of the clover. A rare four-leaf clover is a memory of a lost paradise. I don’t know how medicine is in heaven, maybe it’s better than in our clinics, but the fact that red three-leaf clover helps preserve the strength of youth is its almost divine property. At dawn, when everyone was asleep, our great-grandmothers went out into the clearing and collected dew from the clover. Then they poured it into a small vessel, and then put three branches of clover there for the whole day. Then they washed their face at night with this water, which served them as an anti-wrinkle cream. So it turns out this way: the cream given to my wife is not some kind of advertising thing.

And now quite seriously: red clover contains isoflavones . These are plant chemicals similar to the female sex hormone estrogen. Their molecule is similar, but of course not identical. But the condition of the skin, hair, and the entire appearance of a woman throughout her life is determined precisely by the influence of these female sex hormones. With age, their synthesis decreases, the skin becomes dry and wrinkled, hair thins, plumpness appears - a woman ages. As you know, the richest sources of phytoestrogens are soybeans, flax seeds and red clover, and in clover there are 20 times more of them than in soybeans, 17 times more than in flax seeds. Red clover contains the isoflavones genistein, deidzein, biocanin A and formononetin, while soy contains only the first two of these substances and small amounts of glycitein, which does not have a significant estrogenic effect. Moreover, red clover contains small amounts of coumestans with moderate estrogenic activity.

The fact that in countries where foods rich in isoflavones are consumed, there is not only a low incidence of breast and endometrial cancer, but also prostate cancer, suggested that isoflavones, in addition to their estrogenic activity, have a beneficial effect on androgen receptors. I will not go into the chemistry of this complex process. However, they are effective in relieving menopausal disorders in women and have an important preventive effect against cancer and cardiovascular diseases.

Main active components of red clover:

• polysaccharides, flavones (pectolinarin) – improve the detoxification function of the liver;
• saponins, fatty acids, sitosterols – normalize lipid metabolism in the liver, preventing its fatty degeneration;
• flavonoids (isorhamnetin, kaempferol, quercetin), vitamins A, E, C – provide protection to liver cells and blood vessels;
• glycosides (trifolin, isotrifolin) – enhance the secretory functions of the liver and gastrointestinal tract;
• organic acids (salicylic, coumaric) – improve intestinal activity;
• essential oil (furfural, methyl coumarin) – has an antibacterial effect;
• isoflavones (formononetin, genistein, daidzein, trifoside) – have a hormone-like (estrogenic) effect;
• vitamins B 1, B 3, microelements (cobalt, copper, zinc) - a source of vitamins and microelements.

Just five years ago, the main research was aimed at studying the use of red clover for the treatment of female diseases due to its high level of phytoestrogens. A study published in February 2008 in Urology (carried out at the Department of Urology and Andrology, Landesklinikum Thermenregion Baden, Austria) showed that red clover is also beneficial for men. Scientists assessed the effects of red clover extract on the prostate gland, liver function, quality of life and sexual function in men with elevated prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels. Twenty men, with an average age of 65 years, received 60 mg of clover-derived isoflavones daily for one year. The results showed that the average PSA level decreased and the average prostate volume decreased by 5 cm3. The condition of the liver also improved significantly in men.

I specifically cite data from an English-language medical journal so that readers understand that our health is in our hands, that we can grow our own medicine in our summer cottage. Traditional medicine compares the effect of red clover with the effect of ginseng. It regulates metabolism, prevents the development of atherosclerosis, reducing cholesterol in the blood, removes toxic substances from the body and restores the body's resistance to infections and adverse conditions. Red clover also has blood thinning properties that help prevent blood clots.

Dried and crushed clover flowers are used in cooking as a seasoning for soups. The dried and crushed leaves are ground into flour and added to bread, increasing its nutritional value. This bread is a dietary product. And from the young stems and leaves of clover they prepare a salad and cook it like spinach. Clover flowers are fermented like cabbage and served in winter as a delicacy salad.

During the war, red clover was prescribed to wounded and weakened soldiers - it strengthened their legs. We should also adopt this experience in our summer cottages, because there we also need strong legs. Scientists explain this by the fact that natural polyphenols have strong antioxidant properties, due to which they protect the body from oxygen starvation, ionizing radiation and poisoning, and stimulate the immune system. Clover is used topically and internally for fractures, burns, ulcers, as well as for anemia and jaundice. The biostimulating properties of clover are explained by the rich content of organic acids such as succinic acid, which activate metabolism. Of the ginseng substitutes, this is perhaps the most accessible product to us.

If clover grows in paradise, then there will definitely be no health problems there, even if it is four-leafed. But for now we need to live on our land and heal on it too. And there will be no problems if you sow clover on the site. Recommended daily doses of clover for adults are 1-2 teaspoons of dry grass with flowers. They are infused in one glass of boiling water for 15-30 minutes. You should take this infusion up to three times a day. I will not dwell on treatment in detail; there is special literature for this. Surprisingly, the composition of clover seeds also keeps many secrets. In any case, I do not know a single plant whose seeds, a year after infusion in alcohol, would germinate as if nothing had happened, and in their growing season they would bloom magnificently and produce normal seeds. This was only recorded with ginseng root in China.

Clover agricultural technology

We dealt with women’s wrinkles, or rather, red clover helped, but the benefits of clover for our soil are no less than for our health.

Let's talk about the soils that are preferable for growing this valuable crop. Clover grows well on loamy soils, sandy loam, gray wooded and leached soils, as well as in ordinary black soil. When irrigating crops, it increases yield on all types of soil. Even on peat bogs, with reclamation, it increases the yield. Clover requires a lot of moisture, but cannot survive in excess. Red clover grows best in soil with a pH between 6.0 and 6.5. Its harvest largely depends on the amount of rainfall in April, May, and June. At low temperatures, clover grows well even with low soil moisture content. In northern regions, clover grows best when groundwater begins at a depth of at least 1.5 m from the surface. In the south, this depth should be at least 75 cm. Late-ripening varieties of red clover respond better to fertilizers than early-ripening ones. During the early stages of growth, clover plants are most in need of phosphorus. The optimal temperature for their development is 17…20°C. Red clover is a long-day crop. The sum of active temperatures required for the ripening of early ripening varieties of clover is 1200-1400°C; for late-ripening varieties of clover this value is 1400-1500°C.

Now the world is paying a lot of attention to the economic miracle of China, but not everyone knows that in China soil fertility has been maintained at a high level for thousands of years, mainly thanks to green manure with clover. Green fertilizer from clover is better than fertilizer from manure. In the soil, clover biomass, decomposing, becomes an easily digestible fertilizer; the soil is replenished with humus and enriched with potassium. Thanks to nodule bacteria that develop on the roots, it extracts nitrogen from the air and accumulates it in the soil, including the subsoil layer. Nitrogen accumulation is from 40 to 200 kg per hectare of crops.

It is known that clover root is capable of absorbing phosphorus from sparingly soluble compounds. This plant is a dynamically developing crop - a perennial green fertilizer. Red clover is the best species for fixing nitrogen from the air, controlling weeds and improving soil structure. Its roots penetrate deep into the soil and help improve its structure. Clover's foliage helps prevent soil erosion, especially in winter, and it also helps the soil retain more moisture in summer and winter. It is very useful to make a lawn from red meadow clover at your summer cottage. Thus, you will get a beautiful corner where the soil is being improved, and you will also have medicinal plants at hand.

Soil preparation and sowing

As usual, before sowing, you should dig up the soil to the depth of a spade, clear it of stones, debris, roots and rhizomes of perennial weeds. You definitely need to do liming if your soil is acidic. Level the surface of the area and lightly loosen it. After a week, scatter mineral fertilizers there - 400 g of nitrogen, 300 g of phosphorus, 600 g of potassium per 100 m². After a couple of weeks, when the soil has settled, you can start sowing. Before doing this, level the area again and eliminate any sprouting weeds. The seeding rate is 10 g of seeds per 1 m², pre-mix the seeds with dry soil in a ratio of 1:5, it is better to take soil for this from bushes with wild clover. The depth of sowing seeds is no more than 1 cm. It is to this depth that you need to loosen the area with a rake, creating a seed bed.

You can sow seeds from April to October. Sowing is carried out in calm weather and always in moist soil. The sowing itself is carried out in two directions: half of the seeds are along the length of the plot, and the second part is along the width. After finishing, mix the seeds with a rake with the top layer of soil, gently compact the soil with a light roller and water carefully, avoiding washing out the seeds. If there are a lot of birds on the site, then the crops need to be protected: string the ropes crosswise. Sown seeds germinate within 4-10 days. In the year of sowing, clover develops slowly; Plants reach full development in the second year of life.

Caring for clover crops

Before and after emergence, it is very important to monitor soil moisture and carry out fine-drip watering in a timely manner. If it rains, he will do everything himself. The best time to water is early morning or late evening. In the old days, it was recommended to sow clover like this: in early spring, immediately after the snow melts, sometimes even after the last snow. It is best to sow on a quiet, early frosty morning, before the ground has thawed from the night frost. As soon as the ground begins to thaw during the day, the seeds will stick tightly to the soil and be drawn into it along with the water. Clover seeds require as much water as they weigh to germinate.

From ancient experience: “Clover roots are very numerous and branchy. All their strength lies not in the main root, which goes to a depth of 5-7 inches, but in the side roots, which grow especially densely in the most nutritious, loose part of the arable land, at a depth of the first 5-6 inches. In the soil after well-developed clover, there remains as much nitrogenous substances and humus as they were added when fertilizing the fields with manure in the amount of 2,400 poods per 1 government tithe.” Concluding this article, I want to say that red meadow clover is our health and the health of our land at our summer cottage. In addition, a small red clover lawn is very beautiful and unusual.

Vladimir Stepanov, Doctor of Biological Sciences