North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["Richard MURPHY" <murphman108@msn.com>]

Here's my observation / comments on NZC............

 

For Orchard Alley rows Ground Cover, this New Zealand Clover isn't bad, so far.

 

I planted it last year, and it germinated quickly. Fairly good fill, a bit spindle because I put down too much seed.

Then, this Spring I had to mow the whole mess once, as there was still a little Timothy hay sneaking through, and a tiny bit of Rape. Having done that one mow, it has come back to about a 6" height, and all are in bloom with white clover flowers.

    The idea here is to reduce mowing time without allowing the alleys to become 4' tall weeds. So far, the NZC has choked out all competition, and provides stable footing rather than mud. The one thing that I do worry about is voles. This stuff looks like it would be the perfect little 'mini canopy' for voles to run around under. To that end, I am building some bait stations for my little pals. More on that later. One could also then argue, that sprinkling a few of the Zinc Phosphide grain bait pellets near the trees is not too risky, because the birds can't see the pellets below the canopy !! Yay.

    Well, the reduced mowing is working so far. Last week I mowed the Apples and the Saskatoons alleys, and smiled at the NZC. It also attracts bees. There must be a trade-off, but I haven't seen it yet.

 

You might want to try a small patch of this clover. It's not too expensive to seed. A little goes a long way.

 

Richard Murphy

zone 4 Maine