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Ground cover while establishing native prairie lawn from seed? #890897

Asked December 17, 2024, 10:34 PM EST

I am closing on my first home this spring and plan to turn most of the yard into a native Minnesota prairie from seed (little bluestem, sideoats grama, similar prairie grasses plus native forbs, etc). I'm wondering if using something like Dutch white clover while the grass/forb seeds are getting established would help out-compete weeds. I'll be using dutch white clover elsewhere overseeded in the turf yard that I plan to keep. The site is a smallish lot in St. Paul. I haven't done a soil test yet but I assume it's in bad shape.

Ramsey County Minnesota

Expert Response

Thank you for writing.
Begin with a soil test. https://soiltest.cfans.umn.edu/
Send me a pdf of results and I will suggest how to proceed. 
Do you want a bee lawn?
https://extension.umn.edu/landscape-design/planting-and-maintaining-bee-lawn
Or do you want a prairie pollinator garden?
https://bwsr.state.mn.us/residential-pollinator-habitat

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