Clover lawns

[NorthantsNewbie]

Does anyone have one? Are they as low maintenance as they sound?

Our front garden is an absolute embarrassment at the moment. The grass is too long and in terrible condition, and it’s patchy and full of moss. We both work, and have two young children, so it’s really pretty low down our list of priorities.

Having said that, we live in a village where the majority of the houses are either small-ish with no front garden, or absolutely massive and owned by retired people who have lots of time and enjoy gardening, or people with enough money to employ gardeners. We are neither. So I would like to find easy ways to rescue it/improve it and clover sounds like it might do the trick…?

Can you not just its alot less fuss to just whizz a mower over a lawn than totally redo it all.

No it won't, it will make it worse. You wouldn't be able to use any lawn treatment on it to get rid of unwanted weeds or other things that seed themselves there, because it would kill the clover as well, so you'd have to weed by hand. Tiresome and time-consuming.

Honestly, the best option is to just mow it twice a week and after the first cut, leave the clippings to fall on the grass. Because you don't have to empty the grass box, it takes hardly any time at all, and the action of constant mowing every 3-4 days gets rid of weeds and encourages the grass to grow.

I thought it seemed too good to be true! That’s a shame.

What’s the best way to tackle the moss then? Rake it up and reseed the bald patches? I went on a bit of a raking frenzy when nesting with DD2 and gave myself blisters so I never quite finished the job off…

@Shedmistress I absolutely agree, that would be much less fuss, but it’s just in such bad condition I thought we needed to do something else first. Sounds like frequent mowing will help though.

I had limited success with trying to create a clover lawn. Some is still there but I’ve also planted lots of creeping thyme which is spreading nicely, stays low and has flowers for pollinators - smells lovely too when you walk in it

@OneBusyFinch thats interesting! I looked into it before clover actually but don’t think it’s the right place for it. North facing and quite shady…

I have self seeded clover in my lawn and the bubble bees are ALL over it at the moment. I'm not sure what it looks like in the winter though.

Oh that’s a shame! If it helps, the clover I had most success with was a mixture of red and white. It seeded well and germinated quite fast when watered daily.

As other posters have said, you do need to weed by hand and be checking regularly for weeds!

Love the thought of bubble 🫧🐝

An obvious remedy for a north facing, shady lawn where moss thrives would be a moss lawn!

With some crisp edging and flat slate or Yorkstone stepping stones you have the basics of a zen-like Japanese moss garden. Add some decorative large rocks that dont leach lime, such as Yorkstone, sandstone, welsh slate or granite boulders for additional interest. Once established its low maintenance, requires no mowing, eco friendly and biodiverse and has excellent weed suppression.

If you let nature do its work, you can encourage your existing moss to take over gradually with very little effort as follows:
Raise the mower blades to the highest setting (use a flymo type if possible); Dont aerate the lawn; if you use weedkiller switch to a moss friendly one such as Resolva Lawn weedkiller Extra; Stop fertilising; Water the lawn lightly to keep it damp in hot or dry weather until the moss is established; Treat any bare patches by carefully taking up a patch of existing moss and dividing it carefully and return some to its place and place some on the bare patch - pressing it down to make contact with the soil and watering it well until established.
If you can identify the type of moss growing best in your lawn already you can buy readymade mats of moss to replace the grass in the bare patches.

@brambleberries ooh interesting idea, thanks!

If you mow and maintain and edge round the lawn in a neat shape, it will look deliberate and like a wildlife friendly bio diverse habitat. Having the neat edge really changed the look.

Or get a robot mower to keep on top of it? You'd need a big mover or Strimmer to tackle itnthen1st time though. And checkmark hedgehogs before strimming (or cutting long grass), always.

We have a robot for the main garden! Just the front which is the (visible) mess. Good point about edging. We have a fairly scraggly hedge as well which has irritated me since we moved in. The whole thing just needs a bit of time and attention which we are a bit short on.

Obviously not in this heatwave, but may be decide to just do, eg max 2 hours of work on the front, concentrating on that which will make the biggest difference. Not sorting it out, or making it perfect but trimming the stragglers off the top of the hedge, or mowing a border round the edge of the lawn. And nothing more.

Half the battle is knowing when to stop, as otherwise it easily turns in to a series of marathon sessions that you don't actually want to do right now.

Alternatively, just make your peace with 2026 as your front garden wild year and sort it in the autumn and winter. Make sure the neighbours see you out the front, pretending to look for grass snakes and wild orchids. Talk about the protected bats that you see feasting on the bugs attracted by your reclaimed wilderness.

Great tips, thanks @TheSpottedZebra 😂.

We have an accidental partial clover lawn and I love it. We do weed by hand but we have some kind of contraption like a litter picker that pulls them up and we don’t get many if we keep on top of it. The bees absolutely love it, so the only issue is watching where you step if you’re walking on it. I might add some creeping thyme to the rest of the lawn now someone else has mentioned it.

I was about to post the same. Thyme is much better and robust than clover, IMO. With the added advantage that it smells lovely when you walk on it as you say :)

I have a clover lawn and it's worked well and great for wildlife but it's in a sunny spot, and thyme would have needed even more sun and very poor soil (thyme only grows in pots of gravel round here!). I love the moss idea for shade. Or scrap the lawn and have a stumpery with ferns, old tree stumps and bark chip.