I'm Looking Over

Wednesdays are the day when I typically am able to get out and mow both yards at the house.  Recently, in order to cut down my carbon footprint, my family invested in an electric lawnmower which has an approximate 2-hour run time, more than enough for my suburban yard, which I've let go a bit.  When we moved in several years ago, I would argue that the majority of the lawn was a 50/50 mix of grass and weeds, green weeds, so that's OK, some dandelions, and some clover.  I'm not sure what happened over the winter, but this year, the yard has become predominantly clover, which is currently in bloom with small olive-sized white flowers, all over the lawn, like a 70/30 split.  It's a simple function of species competition in a diverse  mini-ecosystem comprised of whatever the birds drop on it along with wind-carried seed and adjacent propagation of species due to available resources and proximity to other plants of the same species.  Hence, the clover.  And the insects love it, specifically the bees and other nectar-dependent insects, and the birds that eat them.  The resident song sparrow seems to thank me every morning as I leave for work.

This is good. 

Researchers at Penn State have identified that "In the United States, over 24 million acres of lawn surround our homes."  Largely, the types of grass used for these lawns are non-native water hogs, and therefore no good for local flora and fauna.  Subdivisions that knock down native forest species displace otherwise natural habitat that some of our most vulnerable species depend on for survival.  Also, by maintaining lawns, we are creating acres and acres of fringe habitat where shrubs and low-growth plants provide an easy source of nutrients to one of New Jersey's largest nuisance animals: the white-tailed deer.  While deer are suited to be forest dwelling, nature was able to regulate their success by keeping the food higher up, thereby reducing their ability to thrive and breed.  With our self-imposed lawn/fringe habitats, we've created our own traffic problems.  Just ask Princeton Township, who hires sniper squads to annually cull the deer population and reduce vehicular/deer incidents with the resulting meat donated to the local food bank.

But, I digress.  I don't have a deer problem.  Quite the opposite, I've got a yard that is literally buzzing, and I love it.  Ever hear of clover honey?  No, I don't have a beehive on the property (yet...not sure if there is a local ordinance prohibiting it).  However, the majority of honey on the market is clover honey, which just means that bees collect the majority of their nectar from clover flowers.  There are plenty of other kinds of honey out there.  In California you may be lucky enough to buy avocado honey.  In the mid-west, there's buckwheat honey which is darker in color and contains different minerals, potentially healthier for consumption. But the maintenance of my field of clover has other ancillary benefits:

• Clover is affordable, as in free, and easy to grow.

• A nitrogen-fixing plant, clover brings nutrients to your soil and requires no fertilization. When mixed with other grasses, clover can reduce or eliminate the need for regular fertilizing.

• Clover is drought tolerant and grows despite lack of water once established. This contrasts starkly with traditional lawn grasses, which usually need watering all season long.

• Full sun or partial shade? Clover is tolerant of many conditions and outcompetes other weeds. 

• Clover is versatile. Add to a regular lawn to help invigorate tired turf or plant a full clover lawn on its own for lush, year-round greenery (depending on your geographical location).

• The bees! Don't like bees? Then, simply mow your clover before and after it blooms.

• As a former pet-owner, ‘good-bye’ burn marks; clover will not turn yellow as quickly as a regular lawn when pets are around.

Goodbye watering.  Goodbye reseeding.  Goodbye fertilizers and herbicides to kill weeds which are unsafe for pets and kids.  Hello clover.  You can call it what you like, that I'm lazy in my lawn maintenance or that I've created a problem for the neighbor's lawns.  Yeah, sure, but my adjacent garden is doing fine.  I've created a habitat for native pollinator species, and the kids can easily slip-n-slide on it, or play soccer on it, or study the bees on it without issue.  And, creating a diverse ecosystem with multiple plant species is good for a harmonious environment.  Diversity rules and thrives!  Now, if only I could teach that to the Trump administration.