How To Plant a Lawn from Sod Oakland CA

Steps

1. Buy some clover seeds at your local feed store. About $5 worth will be more than enough for the average suburban lawn.
2. As soon as the ground is thawed in the spring, rake it relatively flat. It doesn't have to be perfect; the clover will cover up minor bumps and valleys.
3. In a wheelbarrow, mix the seed with garden soil or tri-mix. (Clover will grow in almost any kind of dirt, so any reasonably clean fill will do.) Try to have about four seeds per square inch of soil. Three will fail to germinate, so you'll be left with the ideal one plant per inch.
4. With a shovel, evenly spread the mix over the ground. Make sure there are seeds everywhere.
5. Go back to where you started and cover the mix with 1/4 inch of plain (unseeded) soil. Spread thinly, as clover shoots can't break through more than 1/2 inch of earth.
6. Water the area gently using a fine spray nozzle. (A hard stream of water will wash the tiny seeds away.) Keep it moist for a week -- don't let it dry out at all -- and don't walk on it. In about two weeks, you'll have tiny two-bladed sprouts everywhere. That's the beginning of a perfect clover lawn.

Tips

• Resist the temptation to hand-sow clover seeds. You?ll end up with a uneven lawn. If you must re-seed patches, use the planting method above.
• Mature clover is drought-resistant, but it will grow much better if it's watered once a week or so.
• Clover is a short-lived perennial, meaning that it will only reproduce itself for about two or three years. You'll need to re-seed after that.
• Don't fertilize your clover. It doesn't need it. Herbicides will kill it. So just leave it alone.
• Clover is not very resistant to heavy foot traffic. Put down slabs or stone pavers for people to walk on.
• To pass the time,look for 'lucky'four leaf clovers!There are many stories of patches of them growing together and if you find loads,they make brilliant gifts!

Warnings

• Clover grows to about 8 inches tall and then stops. If this is too tall and you decide to mow your clover, be warned that the clippings stick to everything and make a terrible mess. It may be better to just let it grow.

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