Up until the 1950s , white clover was include in every lawn seed intermixture and having a lush , clover - infused lawn was affair of pride — especially for James Leonard Farmer . These day , with the heavy use of lawn weed killers , trefoil is seen as an enemy of turf grass . It should n’t be , though , and there are hatful of reasons why .
1 . Free FertilizerWhite trefoil ( genus Trifolium repens ) is a member of the pea plant and attic family — a leguminous plant . Legumes have the very singular ability to take nitrogen from the air and convert it into a form that other works can use . Folks that have lawn woven with trefoil have a author of build - in fertilizer . Seeding clover into a lawn was once a way to supply atomic number 7 to turf without ever want to contribute fertilizers . A lawn consisting of a simple 5 percent trefoil is provide with all the atomic number 7 the turf grass indigence . Granted , you have to let the clippings lie and not hoard them or rake them up , but mulching lawn mower are very beneficial at doing this without depart anything detectable behind . Not only does trefoil allow atomic number 7 through the breakdown of these trim , but also through the natural decay of its base .
2 . Weed EnemyClover is also neat at herd out unwanted grass . It stands up well to foot traffic , deoxidise thatch habitus - up , decompose speedily when mowed and provides erosion controller in the unconscious process .
3 . solid food for Honey Bees — and Other Beneficial BugsWhite clover is prized by Honey bee ( who are have a rough go of it right now ) . Which brings me to another cause why common people seem to dislike trefoil : They worry about their child getting stung by bees . Honey bees , unlike yellow crownwork and other white Anglo-Saxon Protestant , are not aggressive and will not twinge unless threaten or step on . There ’s a very simple result to this perceived problem : Have your fry fatigue shoes when they play outside . My son is alfresco all day in the summer and has never been bite because he always wear shoe . Clover blossoms are attractive to other pollinators and good insects , too . These critter help in the vegetable garden by control pests and cross-pollinate fruits and veggies .
4 . Monoculture EliminatorAnother vantage of clover in the lawn is the plant ’s ability to take diversity to what would otherwise be a monoculture . This diversity detracts pest and diseases , increases drouth resistance , and encourages turf grass to develop deeper roots . With a miscellaneous lawn , irrigation is boil down or eliminated and pesticide become a thing of the past times .
5 . Bearer of Good LuckAccording to Irish custom , the three leaves of trefoil comprise the Holy Trinity and a fourth leaf play full fortune . Four - leaf clovers are a genetic unusual person that occur during leaf development , and they are n’t as hard to find as you might think . Over the row of his 25 - twelvemonth sentence , a Pennsylvania captive managed to collect about 80,000 four - leaf trefoil by scour the prison grounds . My Logos and I find four within a five - arcminute period of time the other twenty-four hour period . As for the promised good luck , well , we do indeed feel very lucky to be blessed with such a sizeable , trefoil - woven lawn .
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