Trifolium pratense
Red Clover
Common names: Field Clover, Feed Clover
Photo: Ivar Leidus · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source
This description was machine-translated.
Description
Red clover is a perennial, deep‑rooted green manure that enriches soil with nitrogen through its root nodules. Its pink‑purple flower heads attract bees and bumblebees throughout the summer. Used as a cover crop or annual, it loosens compacted soils and produces abundant biomass.
Care instructions
Sow from April to June or as a late August direct seed in the garden, then rake in flat. Keep the seed moist until germination. Mow once or twice per season to promote flowering and nitrogen fixation. Work it in as an annual green manure in autumn or the following spring before it becomes woody.
Soil & site
Soil pH
Soil type
loamy, humus-rich, well-drained, moist
Feeding
Light feeder
Companion planting
Good neighbors
cabbage family (Brassicaceae)
particularly well establishedLeguminous plants collect nitrogen in the soil, from which Brassicaceae benefit as heavy feeders.
For example White cabbageKohlrabiRadishKalebroccolicauliflower and 34 more species in the catalogue
Source: classic companion planting (DACH-Gartenpraxis)
carrot family (Apiaceae)
Peas and beans provide carrot and celery with nitrogen and grow as shallow-rooted plants without competition next to each other.
For example celery rootDillParsleyCarrot fennelCorianderCelery (Stalk Celery) and 18 more species in the catalogue
Source: classic companion planting (DACH-Gartenpraxis)
Rather not
Companion planting is partly traditional gardening lore. Where the reason is known, it is given.
Some of these explanations were machine-translated.
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From the magazine
Clover and dandelion in the lawn: pushing them back without chemicals
Clover shows a nitrogen shortage, dandelion shows gaps and compaction. How feeding, cutting height, a weeding tool and overseeding put the grasses back in front, with no chemicals involved.
Flowering lawns and herb lawns: the low maintenance alternative
Grasses plus low, tread tolerant flowers: white clover, daisies, creeping thyme, selfheal. Four to six cuts a year at 6 to 8 cm, no feed, no scarifying. How to sow a flowering lawn from scratch or overseed it into the sward you already have.