Scotts Clover Lawn Greener with Less Maintenance

I’ve been using Scotts Turf Builder Clover Lawn for a couple of months now, and it’s been a game-changer for maintaining a greener lawn with minimal effort. The mix of clover provides a lush, green look and requires way less upkeep compared to traditional grass lawns.
Pros:
Low maintenance: This clover mix really does live up to the “less maintenance” promise. It requires much less watering and mowing than regular grass, which is perfect for those who want a more sustainable lawn.
Stays green: Even during dry periods, the clover stays green and vibrant, which helps keep the lawn looking fresh without constant care.
Fixes nitrogen naturally: One of the best things about clover is that it naturally fixes nitrogen in the soil, so you don’t have to use as much fertilizer, which is both cost-effective and eco-friendly.
Soft underfoot: The clover is soft to walk on, making the lawn comfortable for pets and kids to play on.

After throwing down the seeds over a large spot of my yard I dug up to fix a plumbing problem, I gave it all a light covering of saw dust to help hold the moisture and shield it from the direct sunlight. This seemed to really help it out, as the small area I missed with sawdust was no where near as fast to grow. Watered it daily, just to keep the soil moist and threw down a little bit of lime to counteract my slightly acidic soil.
So far, it has survived my 2 dogs running across it and my wife and I carefully walking over it. If it wouldn’t block access to the back yard, I would have barricaded it off, but I am very happy it is hearty enough to survive this kind of thing! I also realized far too late that I had comically over-seeded the area, since I was just hand-throwing the seed, but it doesn’t seem to have been a problem.

The picture of the clover puppies is 2-3 months after planting. It takes a while to establish itself and doesn’t show much growth at all for several weeks. I was beginning to think the seeds were duds, then seemingly overnight, the clover exploded out of the ground, so be patient!

Supposedly, it will grow in all climate zones, as well as shade/direct sunlight, and is drought resistant. We’ll have to see how it handles a frigid Alaskan winter, whether or not it will survive the limited rain under my deck and the area of dense shade. I’m trying to be optimistic, but only time will tell.

The product picture makes it look like a deceptively large bag of seeds since it doesn’t give you anything for scale, so I was surprised at how small the bag was in real life. I attached a picture to give you an idea of how small of a bag it is. This is why I knocked off a star.

I bought this product in late winter and planted it on bare, newly scraped yard with crappy clay soil. Used a “lawn starter” and laid a this layer of top soil then used a push spreader to spread the clover. After, spread a little straw over the top then watered every day it didn’t rain for 14 days. **(Note – I may have watered too much and some seeds washed into piles. No more than 10 mins necessary- just keeping it moist every day for the germination period.) At the end of two weeks i could see sprouts. By mid April I had a green clover yard. There are some flowers that popped up in the summertime, but it’s not a heavy flowering type of clover.
Based on some info I read about clover not being a hardy monoculture lawn (b/c it needs to be reseeded every 3 or 4 years and doesn’t handle very heavy traffic well) I did mix this with a fescue (as well as another type of mini clover). In some areas the fescue (and other grassy weeds) took over, primarily in very sunny areas. But in the shady areas, the clover is growing in fantastically; and even in the sunny areas it is holding its own, too. I do recommend this product.

I don’t know what’s going wrong, but these will grow in some areas, and completely refuse to grow in other areas of the same yard, same lawn, same soil. A few areas, they came up in small patches, but others they refused to come up at all, in spite of 2x daily watering and warm temperatures. Again, some came up. I came back here searching for tips from other reviewers.

After all the positive reviews, I’m pretty disappointed at how poorly these seeds have performed. I’ve purchased 3 bags now and keep trying, with no results. The areas I’m trying to cover used to have grass, but leaves left over winter killed it. There shouldn’t be anything wrong with the soil, it’s just cottonwood leaves that also fall on the areas where the grass is fine, but something about an over winter pile, and nothing will grow there now. I don’t know what to do, this has been mostly a waste of time, money, and water.

Would love to see more guidance in the product description, or any sort of support or guidance anywhere. I followed the directions, and they won’t come up. I thought the “turf builder” brand would be successful, but it’s not.