How to convert lawn to a clover mix?

[KenH]

I have lived at my current address since the early 80's. Back in those day my front garden was a sprinkling of grass but mainly clay.

Over the years I put my hours into the front garden landscaping and cultivating a green springy lawn.

These days my lawns are disappearing despite all my efforts. Paspalum, onion weed, dandelions and a host of other weeds. Petrol. labour, top soil, fertiliser, weed killer etc have cost me a fortune. Three lawn mowers and other garden implements also proved costly.

Last week I received a 1kg bag of clover and  small native flowers to replace the existing lawn.

My plan is to remove the Paspalum and other weeds by hand. Then cut the grass low before scouring the surface then applying top soil prior to reseeding with my seed mix.

The supplier says I should be seeing clover within two weeks.

Has anybody got any better ideas on preparation before seeding.

Thanks Ken

[EricL]

Hello @KenH 

Welcome to the Bunnings Workshop community. It's wonderful to have you join us, and thanks for sharing your question about converting your lawn to clover mix.

I suggest having a quick look at these guides - How to determine soil health and How to choose the right soil for your plants by @Noelle.

Clover thrives when planted in clay or sandy loam soils with a pH ranging from 6 to 7. Determine your soil's pH by employing a soil test kit or a pH meter. If your soil falls outside this optimal range, you can modify the pH by incorporating lime to increase alkalinity or peat moss to enhance acidity. 

Let me call on our experienced members @Noelle, @mich1972 and @JacobZ95 for their recommendations.

If you need further assistance, please let us know.

Eric

[mich1972]

Good afternoon @KenH  I think it should be ok, it would definitely love the cold weather. Could you possibly trial a small patch first to see how it goes ? I will be interested in everyone’s thoughts on this 😃🌿

[Noelle]

Hi @KenH 

The idea of a clover and native ground cover lawn sounds enticing! Depending on where you are, yes the clover should be sown by mid March so it's established before colder conditions set in during April. Removing the paspalum by hand will be tedious, so @mich1972 's idea of doing it in smaller areas sounds like a plan. Keep us posted on how it goes!

[KenH]

Hi Noelle

I have today received an envelope with a small packet of mixed flower seeds. They are Australian wildflower seeds with 50 seeds in the envelope. They are from MySeedStore in Queensland.

I have also received 1 kg of low growing (Clover 1) White Clover.  Bunnings please note that all my lawn areas are suffering badly with the ground cracking even after watering and using a good quality soils to repair them. 

Perhaps Bunnings could source a clover / wildflower mix for gardeners who wish to remove grass and go the way I am.

I work at Campbelltown Environmental centre as a volunteer gardener and have learned a lot. I was busy pulling Onion weed out of my lawn. They are in fact a good food so they will stay in my new clover lawn.

They mix I am putting together can be planted all year round and self seeds particularly in areas that have been damaged by the sun.

Harvest time for the flowers is 12 weeks then ongoing.

Seedlings emerge within 14-28 days.

I must admit I am very excited about this project.

If it works I will also do the roadside borders.

The reason I wrote my original post was to find an easier way to clear my existing grass.

Las years I laid soil, hand weeded, reseeded, watered, fertilised and spent a lot of time and money on the lawns. This year it is the same again. I have scoured the surface to remove the thatch as I have in the past.

The writing is on the wall for grass in front of this house. 

I was removing native groundcover from my garden beds but now they are encouraged.

I have just stripped all vegetation from the back garden beds. They have been prepared and I am waiting for 16 grass seedlings to arrive. They form domes which one can cut or not. They will occupy the beds when my fruit salad trees and camellias reside.

The back garden beds we easy to clear of weeds because they had none.

The front lawns are a different kettle of fish.

Paspalum grows so quickly and needs to be removed by hand. Dandelions still undecided. Bees love them and they can be used to make tea. Are they a weed or not in this project.

So this is a long post with the objective of finding the best way to get rid of the straggly existing lawn, not a good thought at 78 years. Do I lay cardboard on it, dig it up or some other method. I have read several methods on American sites. They are mainly universities and have access to the seed mixes which we don't Bunnings? Some have simply scattered the mixed seeds on the existing grass.

Weed killer is out of the question. Ideas folks, the more the merrier.

Have just written to MySeedsStore for advice and quantities.

Thanks Ken

[MitchellMc]

I love your thought process @KenH. Personally, I have no issue with clover taking over my lawn; it looks great and feels even better underfoot. I also let a sphagnum-type moss I get in my garden take over the shaded and moist areas. Once again, if it grows better than grass in those conditions, I'm happy to let it take hold.

On the dandelion question, not only do they work for tea, but the leaves can be used in a salad. In fact, sometimes you'll find them being sold in our herb/seedling sections instore as an edible. My grandmother remembers taking a knife to school with her and on the way home she would collect the leaves for that nights salad. I suspect the new growth is more tender than the older leaves if it is to be eaten raw.

Regarding killing off the existing grass, I'd suggest black builder's plastic over the area held down by bricks. The lack of light and heat generated by the plastic will kill the grass off in a matter of weeks.

Good luck!

Mitchell

[KenH]

Thanks Mitchell

I should have thought of the black plastic.

Guess it's time for a visit to Bunnings

Ken

[KenH]

The conversion started a week ago.

My home was built in the sixties so I guess the lawns are that old.

Initially I started to remove the grass in areas where there was very little. Gradually working my way across slowly working towards thicker grass. 

I started to find curl grubs by the dozen. 

My Trees are japanese maples with tiny roots and they weren't massed.

It appears that the loss of grass was curl grubs. Our Magpie family loved it following the hoe as I worked.

 Something wasn't right. The soil wasn't clay as I thought it would be but over the years I had used lots of Gypsum. 

Finally I realised there was no worms, not one.

Obviously I need to add compost and dig it in. 

Question: This lawn is 30 sq metres, the soil is easily loosened. How many bags of compost needed. Which would be the best comnpost to add.

At the same time I now need to instal pathways and have chosen sandstone from Bunnings. None of the Sydney stores have them so they are being delivered from the Illawarra.

I am also adding Creeping Thyme to the various seed varieties also chosen.

Grass being removed by hoe, hard work.

[MitchellMc]

Thanks for the update @KenH.

A bag of compost per square metre would be a good start. If the soil is poor, you could increase that to two and a half bags.

Mitchell