I know some folks use this as a cover crop, but in my little backyard veggie plot, I've been trying to keep veggies going all winter. Looks like clover is taking over everything: yard, garden...smothering seedlings. I don't know what type of clover it is, only that it loves my yard. ;)
Should I give up and till everything under at once come spring? Any words of advice?
Clover, clover, everywhere
I would say till it , It will not bother the clover and will add Nitrogen and organic material. Only you realize the clover 'will be back"".
Only in the meantime you will not have to be worried about the clover "smothering" any of your new seedlings
Nola,
Are you direct sowing or transplanting established seedlings?
The seedlings may have more of a fighting chance against the clover if you start them now for early spring trandplanting...
I start mine indoors against the pillbugs and cutworms...
Some, I start inside in pots, some (whatever I have room for) in the aerogarden), and some that say "direct sow" head outside for either the greens or to try to choke out the weeds. The clover just keep popping up every darn where.
You might need to till again just before you sow seeds - so your seeds will sprout first. Then mulch between them to shade the clover out.
Weed type clovers are invasive species that are difficult to eradicate. If you till them you will break up the runners and create a much larger problem. You will be propagating them. I recommend using a bow rake over the surface and shallow soil to remove as much as possible and till before planting. They really take off in cool, wet weather so you don't want to till them until right before you plant. Burying them does not necessarily get rid of them.
ah, thanks, MaypopLaurel - we so rarely have the cold, wet weather we've been having here, I imagine with a good blast of heat they'll run away. In the meantime, I've been trying to pluck the biggest ones out and smother the rest with mulch. In the yard, I don't mind them at all, really, but they need to stop flowing over into my garden bed! :)
Are they white flowered clovers? Short, tall?
They get huge leaves (2" across if I don't weed them out), and they've got purple flowers. Height wise, they're 4-6" tall, but they flop over.
Another gardener in my area says once it gets hot again, they'll die off on their own, but there's no real getting rid of them.
Purple! Sounds like a crimson clover type and it can get gorgeous
I don't mind it in my yard, but it's getting into all the seedlings and even is taking over my little patch of strawberries. Every morning, the whole garden bed is carpeted with them again. They're like something out of a fairy tale.
I'm still intrigued by the purple- would love pix, tho i think you mean a horror story from the description. Reminds me more of henbit- wild verbena - than a clover except for the 2" leaves. A pre emergent might have worked back in say, Jan
If I look at it more closely, it may be another flowery weed growing as a partner with the clover, but when I pull them up, it comes up together. I'm new to this garden as of September, so it's all new to me. One photo is of it trying to overtake my collards, the other is what I just pulled up out of my roses.
There's all sorts of things popping up in the yard after the rain. Welcome to the sub-tropics!
Our neighborhood also took on 11.5 feet of water during Katrina, so all sorts of weird things are growing here - we're right by Bayou St. John.
Not clover. Thought of Shamrocks but mine were more pink! Have to go look at plant files..
Oxalis commutatta i think it was spelled. Shamrocks :-D
This message was edited Jan 24, 2013 8:36 AM
This message was edited Feb 26, 2013 10:32 AM
Yes does not look like clover to me either, the bloom is wrong.
http://media.nola.com/photogallery/photo/2011/03/9443239-standard.jpg Shamrock with white bloom? similar?
that looks more like it - thanks, Nancy!
Now, to figure out how to get it out of my veggies.
I've seen several colors of blooms on shamrocks, they arent a desirable ground 'clover'.
As aggressive as they are, maybe I'll find a 4-leaved one. I put in some new grass seed in the yard, and I pull up every one I see.
Yesterday afternoon I spread some more soil, and I got some more mulch, maybe I can just smother the little buggers.
Thanks for all the advice, y'all!
This message was edited Feb 26, 2013 10:33 AM
Um, I thought I did respond, David? And thanked everyone for the responses? There is no need to get nasty. :(
This message was edited Feb 26, 2013 10:33 AM
Certainly, I stand corrected, then, David. I must've misunderstood. And appreciating the plant ID "Oxalis".
Now, off to do my research and find how to get rid of it, if possible. No one need hear another word of "chatter" from me.
This message was edited Feb 26, 2013 10:34 AM
I was glad to see that the photos showed oxyalis instead of trifolium - it can be invasive. I hope to still be able to use trifolium clover as a green manure and ground cover.
Nola, for help with your weed, send an email with a picture to Dan Gill with the LA Ag Service. DGill@agcenter.lsu.edu This guy is wonderful with helping all sorts of gardening problems in Louisiana. So nice & friendly. He's been a resource of mine for the past 20 years. He's the guy who writes the gardening column in the newspaper & has the Saturday morning talk show on WWL.
His homepage is http://www.lsuagcenter.com/en/communications/authors/DGill.htm#
Jo-Ann
Location is everything here I struggle to get them to just grow outside of a planter DW's favorite is the purple one which has a bloom more like the ones in your pic lol to each his own
Jo-Ann, that's a great idea, maybe Mr. Gill will have some idea of how to keep them from taking over my house!
Grits, it seems like they like the cooler weather and a lot of water, but I can't say I know for sure. This is a new house to us, and so I'm sure there's more surprises to come.