About Long Island Gardener Expertise How to grow the Perfect Lawn? If you live in the Northeast/Atlantic Coast, I have intelligent answers on grass selection, fertilizers, soil care, weed control, and lawnmowers. Although I have degrees in related fields, a person's real gardening skills are learned from trial and error. More important, I am strict about not using chemicals in the garden. Organic gardening is not just earth friendly and healthier for you, your children and your pets. It's less expensive and easier. You read that right. Less expensive and easier.
Experience Homeowner for 15 years, 30 years of gardening for personal pleasure, college credits in horticulture and botany, volunteer docent at the local botanical gardens, and a whole library of gardening and landscaping books at home some 100 years old.
Question Is there a safe way to kill off the clover patches in my back yard? I have a dog and a son who play often in the yard. I don't want to use something toxic. But the clover is stating to take over. I hate clover for the main reason it attracts bees and when your running around jumping in and out of the pool, that can be a problem. Is there something I can buy like at Lowes or at a gardening center ?
Thank you for any advice on this matter.
Answer I pondered this question for a week and I was almost ready to throw in the towel. It looked like I simply would not be able to help you with this problem and still live with myself. There are lots of home remedies with specious claims about killing Clover with Vinegar, or Sugar, or something else that I know just will not work. I was concerned that the only way you would really be able effectively to eliminate Clover seemed to be the root-of-all-evil Broadleaf Herbicide route.
Believe me, I completely understand why you would not want to have children running barefoot across a Lawn with bees buzzing around just waiting for a little foot to land.
Then I remembered a product by a company called Agralawn. They have a website:
Now, I have to warn you, I have not used this product. But it is definitely worth trying. And I would like very much to know how it works for you, if you would not mind following up on that.
Agralawn makes an organic post-emergent Weed Control product that lists Clover in its short list of weeds it targets for termination.
It's called Agralawn Crabgrass Control. There are several websites that will sell it to you by mail order; if you contact them with your location, they may be able to direct you to a local retailer who can sell you a bottle and avoid the postage and waiting. Since you've already waited too long for this information.
Will they sell it at Lowes? Well, Lowes is selling some products you can call Nontoxic. But I don't think it is selling this. Maybe eventually. In another year.
Just remember that you'll have to do something about all that Nitrogen your Clover feeds to your Grass through the Summer. I recommend a slow release Milorganite or other gradually dissolving Nitrogen source. In the Spring, a thick blanket of Corn Gluten Meal will halt germinating baby Clover and follow up with slow release Nitrogen for the rest of the season.
I hope this Agralawn stuff works. Let me know what you think. Thanks for writing.
