Lawanda's Garden

      On St. Patrick’s Day, our thoughts turn to shamrocks and searches for lucky four-leaf clovers.  You have to be pretty patient in your search though, since there is only one four-leaf clover for every ten-thousand three-leaf clovers.  

      Irish legend has it that St. Patrick used the three-leaf clover to represent the Holy Trinity.  A fourth leaf indicates God’s grace.  Another legend says that the four leaves on the lucky clovers represent hope, faith, love and luck.  In the Middle Ages, it was believed that the finder of a four-leaf clover would be able to see fairies and plant sprites.  Children searched fields for four leaf clovers in hopes of seeing these magical creatures.

      It is not known whether the four-leaf variation occurs from some natural genetic mutation, or is caused by some environmental factor.

      Children today don’t have as much opportunity to search for four leaf clovers as their parents did, because many people consider clover a lawn weed and eliminate it from their lawns.  But those who are waking up to the perils of using pesticides on their lawns are beginning to welcome clover back into their yards.

      The Old Farmer’s Almanac lists several benefits of clover in the lawn.

• White clover (Trifolium repens) is a rapid spreader that crowds out broadleaf weeds while it grows harmoniously with grass.  It thrives in areas that are poorly drained or too shady for a conventional lawn.
• Clover is a legume and its roots have the ability to convert bacteria in the soil into nitrogen for fertilizer, eliminating the need for added fertilizer.
• Left uncut, white clover grows 4-8 inches tall and produces pretty white flowers sometimes tinged with pink. 

      Clover can be planted by itself as a ground cover, but it stands up better to foot traffic when combined with lawn grass.  Only 5-10% by weight of clover seed needs to be mixed with grass seed to create a thick stand.  To add clover to an existing lawn, mow it short and rake to remove thatch so that seed can fall to the soil surface.  To sow clover alone, mix it with sand to facilitate spreading.  Only 2 oz. of clover seed will cover 1,000 square feet of lawn.

      If your lawn is not treated with any synthetic chemicals, you can use the clover for food.  It is high in protein, and although the leaves are sometimes added to fresh salads, it is easier to digest if the plants are boiled for five minutes.  Clover leaves would be a good addition to a spring vegetable soup.  For best taste and nutrition, harvest the leaves before the plants flower.  Dried flowerheads and seed pods can be ground up into a nutritious flour or can be steeped into a healthy tea.  White clover flour is sometimes sprinkled onto cooked rice.  Roots are also edible, but are best cooked before eating.