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Tired of Maintaining Your Rental’s Lawn?

Magnifying Glass Focused on a Clover FlowerEveryone knows that a healthy, green lawn can significantly improve a Staunton rental property’s curb appeal. But for single-family rental property owners, traditional lawn maintenance can often be a problem. If you depend on your tenants to maintain the lawn, you will get varied results. Many tenants have no background in lawn care or don’t want to put in the time and effort required.

Doing it yourself or hiring professional landscapers will cost you both time and money. If you want to stop struggling with lawn maintenance but still keep a green yard, it may be time to consider planting clover. Let us look at the advantages planting clover offers single-family rental property owners.

Pros & Cons to Growing Clover

Unlike most lawn grasses, clover has many benefits that can help boost your rental’s landscaping and appearance. For one, clovers are plants that fix atmospheric nitrogen, which all plants need to grow. This means that planting clover will not just make your lawn a vivid green, it will also help nearby plants grow healthier.

Drought-resistant clover also tends to stay greener longer than most grasses do with just regular watering. Clover, which is a natural weed and pest deterrent, also significantly reduces the need to spray for bugs or weed the lawn. Finally, clover is very low maintenance. You won’t have to do much mowing since it only grows to a few inches in height.

Together with these benefits are a few disadvantages as well. Clover can stain clothing and is less resistant to trampling compared to other grasses. If your yard gets a lot of use, this could be an issue. Clover also prefers soil that is kept somewhat moist. It doesn’t do well in very dry climates, like the desert regions. The variety of clover that would most benefit you would be one that is native to your area.

How to Plant

Clover is easy to plant and grow in many parts of the country. You can add clover to an existing grass lawn by raking the top layer of soil and then seeding right over the lawn. As the clover grows alongside the grass, it also enriches the soil and makes the grass healthier. If you prefer to use clover as a groundcover without any grass mixed in, you will need to start with damp, cultivated soil.

Just like how you would prepare for a lawn or wildflower garden, you prepare the ground and then sow the clover seeds. Clover grows quickly and you will soon have a low-maintenance carpet of rich, green beauty.

Clover Types

Choose the variety of clover that is the best fit for our climate, as well as the soil in your rental property’s yard. Growing to a height of about 4 – 6 inches with pretty white flowers from time to time, the Dutch white clover is the most common clover used in lawns. One reason for its popularity is its resistance to drought, plus it doesn’t really grow very tall. The flowers, however, can bother some people and must be mowed every few weeks.

Another even easier variety to maintain is the micro-clover. Micro-clovers are smaller than other clovers, with leaves half the size. It doesn’t bloom often and won’t grow above 4 inches high with occasional mowing. Micro-clovers are rapidly gaining popularity because they are low maintenance.

A micro-clover lawn only needs to be mowed once a month or so, compared to weekly with most grasses. If anyone wants less lawn maintenance while still improving a rental’s exterior appearance, this is a good option.

 

Would you like more ideas on how to reduce the maintenance of your rental property while maximizing curb appeal? Contact the local Staunton property management experts at 540-315-8090.

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