Clover

[Norton]

Hello,
We have some clover growing in our village, but the spot is due for development soon and I want to move it to a spot on private land. Can clover be grown from seeds or do I have to dig it up and move it by transplanting?
Any info is most appreciated
Thanks
Norton

 

[Wildwood]

Clover is very easily grown from seed. I bought mine from ebay, scattered it all over and it was coming through within the week.

 

[Geoff]

Look up Moles Seeds. They sell mainly to the professional nurserymen but sometimes for a little bit more than you would pay in the garden centre you get loads of seed. I think they sell white and red clover in the green manure section. In that section they also list buckwheat and phacelia that are both good bee plants. You can also but enough borage seed reasonably priced to cover your whole town.
Which clover is best for honey bees? Red or white clover?

 

[hedgerow pete]

moles seeds will sell you white or red clover, just go to there web site , moles are set up for a more professional grower, all that means is they sell large packets but the prices are alot cheaper, i brought 250 sweet corn seeds for 1.99, try buying that at your local garden centre

 

[Baggyone]

Half a kilo of white clover seed for less than a fiver!!!!!!

Borage is cheap too. Going to investigate more.

 

[Geoff]

And i forgot to mention the seed is good quality as well, it germinates a darn site better than the rubbish sold elsewhere. Even the professional skin flints rave about how good their seed is!

 

[Bucks_Boy]

Half a kilo of white clover seed for less than a fiver!!!!!!

Borage is cheap too. Going to investigate more.

Be VERY CAREFUL with Borage, from a small 6ft by 3ft patch last year, I have half an allotment where Borage is the principle weed - Even the spuds have struggled against it in places !

 

[Geoff]

Be VERY CAREFUL with Borage, from a small 6ft by 3ft patch last year, I have half an allotment where Borage is the principle weed - Even the spuds have struggled against it in places !

Yeah but think of the bees! I heard that once you have borage you have it for ever. Its an annual, nothing a hoe can't deal with. At the place where I rent my allotment there is a lot of bare ground around. the owner has been doing bits and pieces with his digger. I think there might be a few borage seeds going in - it will be better than nettles and docks.

 

[hedgerow pete]

it has massive under ground roots about a inch or so in diameter,as for moles they are where the profesional growers buy from, i find its cheaper to buy a larger packet from them than a smaller packet from the garden centres

 

[Geoff]

it has massive under ground roots about a inch or so in diameter,as for moles they are where the profesional growers buy from, i find its cheaper to buy a larger packet from them than a smaller packet from the garden centres

So you have to hoe them while small, which we gardeners are supposed to to do .....and not leave them till the carrots have disappeared.
If they have these huge roots I wonder if the tops are useful for composting? I am thinking deep roots bringing up nutrients, a bit like comfrey - this is the organic gardener in me thinking.
I agree about the prices. Some seeds such as cabbages last for ages if kept properly - I seal them up in a plastic bag and put in the bottom of the fridge. So I buy a big packet, and you can get varieties that amateurs can't normally get hold of. They can last me for years and years. Get a copy of the printed catalogue. There are also downloadable cultural instructions that are quite good though some are on the level of stating the blindingly obvious.
Actually you don't need to buy a big pack. Some of the normal packs are cheaper than retail prices and loads more seed.
I bought from garden centre a pack of pumpkin seeds from Johnsons World Kitchen series - part of Mr Fothergills. There were only 3 seeds inside and even though I chitted them only one seed germinated. I complained to Johnsons that at £2.05 they were the most expensive seeds I had ever purchased and I have bought some fairly specialised F1 hybrids in my time. No reply. Crap customer service and crap seeds.
I have dealt with Moles by phone in the past when i have been desperate to get something quick due to being let down one of their competitors. First rate customer service and first rate seed.

 

[Finman]

Hello,
Can clover be grown from seeds or do I have to dig it up and move it by transplanting?

It depends what clover.

We have one clover witch is easy to propagate with roots.

Some is easy to transplant and they make seeds.

forage clovers are different than nature clovers. Forages have been breeded to grow continuously and they cannot rest for dryness or winter.

Trifolium medium, which spreads by roots. It is quite agressive plant.

 

[hedgerow pete]

from the photo i would have called that plant in england "red clover" but i would be interested enough to have a scan through by botinay books later

 

[FROGDOGDIVER]

What is the best type of clover to buy for bees???

 

[Poly Hive]

Wild white clover.

The Professor of Botany at Aberdeen Uni told me that clover does best with in 8 miles of the coast as it benefits from salt. Also it's better on poor ground as it prefers no nitrogen as obviously it produces it's own.

Red clover is useless as the nectaries are too deep. Bumbles work them though.

PH

 

[Geoff]

I am glad you said that. Cause I remember that about red clover not being as good. I wonder if the white clover that Moles sell will be good. i know that it likes high pH, i remember reading not to put lime on lawn as it would encourage clover. Now I have bees I might deliberately lime it. At the allotment I plan to have a grass path all round just inside the rabbit frence that I will put up - the German Shepherd is bound to run round the perimeter so there is no point putting veg in there. I think I will ix in clover with it as well.

 

[Finman]

from the photo i would have called that plant in england "red clover"

Red clover T. pratense has white strands across the leaf, but this t. trifolium does not have. The flower tube is very long.


Zigzag Clover

Red clover

 

[Finman]

.
In Finland white clover blooms on pastures when summer is wet. If it is dry, blooming ceases.

 

[Geoff]

.
In Finland white clover blooms on pastures when summer is wet. If it is dry, blooming ceases.

Well in that case it will never stop flowering in England

 

[peteinwilts]

Well in that case it will never stop flowering in England

it isn't!! We mowed the fields over the space of a few weeks and have big swathes of white and pink already...

 

[jean]

Red clover is useless as the nectaries are too deep. Bumbles work them though.

PH

This is what I thought until I saw my bees working red clover. On observing, I found that the bumblebees were piercing the flower bases, and the honeybees were going in afterwards to collect .