A pink-flowered, bee-friendly clover, equally useful for grazing, cutting and green manure.
About the variety. Used in permanent dryland meadows for grazing or cutting and green manuring, it adapts to various soil types and shows good resistance to waterlogging, cold and salinity. Its flowers attract bees, adding value for beekeeping. In mixed cropping, it is grown with other legumes and grasses, such as oats, ryegrass and vetch.
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Certified organic
PT-BIO-03
EU/non-EU Agriculture
Certified organic
PT-BIO-03
EU/non-EU Agriculture
| Sowing depth | 0.5–1 cm |
|---|---|
| Ideal temperature | 10–25 °C |
| Soil pH | 6.0–7.5 |
Indicative windows; adjust them to your local climate.
Growing guide
A step-by-step growing guide, from sowing to harvest.
Broadcast over worked soil and rake lightly to cover the seed with half a centimetre to one centimetre of earth, because the seed is very small and does not come up if buried deeper. Sow generously, because the aim is to cover the ground completely and leave no room for weeds. Sow in autumn in the south, where winters are mild, or in spring in cold regions: it takes only light frost. Water after sowing if the soil is dry.
It grows in any soil, poor and compacted ground included, which is exactly where it is most needed, at a pH between 6.0 and 7.5. It needs no feeding: its whole role is to improve the soil, fixing nitrogen, structuring the ground with its roots and shielding the surface from rain and sun.
Tough but only moderately frost hardy, between 10 °C and 25 °C: it takes light frost and dies below about -6 °C. In southern Europe the useful window is autumn and winter, when there is rain and the soil would otherwise lie bare. In France and Germany sow in spring, from March to May, because it does not survive cold winters. Sow while the soil is still warm, so the crop covers the ground within three or four weeks: a late sowing, with the cold already in, comes up thin and does not do its job. The same calendar applies in Italy: conditions in the centre and south are close to those of southern Portugal and Spain, and those of the north to central France. In spring, sow as soon as the ground can be worked and cut before the June heat, because after that the material turns woody and the plant runs to seed.
It fixes its own nitrogen through root nodule bacteria, so it should not be given nitrogen fertiliser. Add mature compost only if the soil is poor and, if needed, a little wood ash for potassium. Feeding nitrogen is the classic mistake with this crop: it produces huge plants with few pods.
Water only to secure germination. Once established it needs no irrigation in almost any situation and lives on rainfall. A green manure that is watered heavily loses much of its point.
Sown densely, the crop covers the soil itself and keeps weeds well in check. The work is concentrated in the first two or three weeks: hand weed or run a hoe very shallowly between the plants. Avoid disturbing the soil once the canopy closes, so you do not damage roots or bring fresh weed seed to the surface.
It has practically no relevant pests and instead shelters beneficial insects and pollinators through the off season. Watch only for slugs at the seedling stage and for birds, which eat seed left on the surface: cover the seed properly when sowing. Rabbits and pigeons like the tender seedlings: in a small garden, light netting for the first three weeks stops you losing the sowing. Aphids can appear at flowering in dry years, but rarely justify treatment: the ladybirds deal with them.
Disease is not usually an issue. The important precaution is rotational: choose a species outside the family of the crop that follows and of the one that has just left, so you do not multiply soil borne disease. After brassicas, for example, avoid mustard and fodder turnip. In very dense sowings and wet winters collar rot can appear: do not water and do not sow thicker than recommended.
It is not harvested but cut and incorporated. The right moment is the start of flowering, when the plant has maximum biomass and is still tender: later the material turns woody and takes months to break down. Cut it low, let it wilt for two or three days and work it into the top ten to fifteen centimetres, or leave it on the surface as a mulch. Wait two to four weeks before sowing the next crop. The reference colour is pink flower, and that is what tells you it is ready.
