Most people looking for that perfect stretch of lawn take one look at clover and start spraying, just assuming it’s a weed. While it may be satisfying to get rid of it, it’s futile: clover will be back next year. But not to worry – clover is actually a beneficial part of your lawn, and there are lots of reasons to keep it around.
Clover was actually a main component in lawn care prior to World War II, before people decided this ”weed”, although not harmful, was ruining their picture perfect mono-culture lawns. But lawns are a diverse living ecosystem, and a lawn that looks like a golf course requires an unsustainable amount of chemicals and water. Rather than tearing up clover, let it become part of the lawn. It has tons of benefits.
It Prevents Other Weeds from Spreading
Consider clover the spider or honeybee of weeds. As a resilient and invasive weed, clover keeps coming back no matter how many times you try to get rid of it. “Resilient and invasive” sounds menacing, but there’s an upside: if your lawn is constantly filling with clover, it’s taking up room that other weeds can’t invade. Its dense root structure prevents other weeds from spreading out, which reduces the amount of time you need to dedicate to weeding and the amount of money you need to spend on herbicides.
It Helps Sustain Your Plants
Did you know that the more diverse a lawn is, the better it is for its overall growth? Uniform lawns look good, but they're not doing much to contribute to your yard’s overall ecosystem. Clover’s nectar is known for attracting bees, and although you might think of them as a nuisance, bees actually help sustain fruit trees, flowers, vegetables, and other plants by transferring pollen from one plant to another, fertilizing them so they can thrive and produce food.
Plus, the presence of bees attracts wasps–nature’s pet control. Wasps feed on aphids, flies, caterpillars, and other bugs to feed to their larvae, which prevents those pests from feeding on and therefore destroying the plants that you’ve worked so hard to grow.
It Acts as a Natural Fertilizer
Nitrogen is, without a doubt, the most important nutrient for grass–it greens it up and helps it grow. Nitrogen deficiency in a lawn slows grass growth, opens the door for weeds to evade, causes turf discoloration and increases the chances of disease. Clover, on the other hand, can solve that problem. Acting as a natural fertilizer, clover is able to absorb nitrogen from the air and deliver it to your soil, thanks to a bacteria in its roots. It often moves into areas with poor soil and helps transform the nitrogen into a nutrient that helps to naturally revive the life in your lawn. And who wouldn’t want a natural solution for their grass?
When you’re looking at your lawn this spring, think twice about getting rid of clover. It may be just what you need to grow that deep green, healthy grass you’ve been wanting all along!