Richard

It's not so much that clover puts nitrogen into the soil but instead makes it more readily available. All true legumes do this. An old, maybe ancient farming practice is to grow alfalfa (another legume) in your fallow field and then after a year till (or after the snow melt) till it under. Before you go sowing alfalfa, keep in mind it has a powerful tap root and root system in general.

But I use alfalfa on a small scale. When developing my vegetable beds, I sowed alfalfa seed and watered it semi-regularly. After 9 months I weed-whipped it down, got out the rototiller and tilled it in. I'm about to do this again in a 10 x 10 ft area of the front yard.

I have also noticed that rabbits love alfalfa. I observed that they would eat their fill and then fall into a sophoric sleep in the shade. So I ran a soaker hose along the chain-link fence on the perimeter of my property and sowed alfalfa seed so it would grow on the outside of the fence -- in my neighbors' unattended back yards. The rabbits came, ate their fill and fell asleep right there! Of course times change, and now I have new neighbors who are plowing their yards for other adventures. So now I'm on plan B, burying 1 x 1 ft paving stones vertically 6" deep so that rabbits won't dig under my fence.

If you decide to grow alfalfa, then buy the seed from a feed store in your county. There are hybrids of it available for every climate. Don't use the seed sold at the vitamin store or whatever for alfalfa sprouts. It's a different breed.

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