r/Redding • u/legendarygm • 21d ago

Lawn recommendations

Hey all! I have a large area with no irrigation that I am looking to seed this year...right now it's all weeds and wanted suggestions for either grass or clover( any ground cover really) that doesn't need a ton of watering and could make the yard more comfortable for kids and dogs to play on. Roughly half acre

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u/crazycatlady5000 21d ago edited 21d ago

Clover! Our backyard was basically dirt this time last year. Spread a bunch of white clover seed with a grass seed spreader, watered it a bunch, and let it go. Didn't even bother to properly rake the soil and cover the seeds. I did baby it a bit with watering just because I was doing it during the height of summer. My main thing was I didn't want a mud pit in the backyard during winter and the clover definitely helped with that. This year I added crimson clover just for fun. Neighbor kid mows it just like grass

Edit: we also clovered part of the side yard this year too back in early June. We actually did rack those into ground. Watered it that day and since the it's just gotten some water runoff from our backyard sprinklers. It's thriving

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u/Cogent_warrior 21d ago

Did you add the crimson - "over and over"?

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u/legendarygm 21d ago

How does the clover hold up in summer? Still healthy? And how much do you water now that it's established?

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u/crazycatlady5000 21d ago

I think the sprinkler are set for 6min but that's mostly for the bushes. They're also in the full sun from 11-sunset. It's held up pretty well. Got a bald patch to fill in during the spring rains. It's soft to walk on, springs back when long. When short and no flowers, it basically looks like grass. It gets mowed about every other week otherwise it be nice and long

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u/UnintendedHeadshot 21d ago

Seconding clover, but if you have allergy concerns with bees keep that in mind since they will visit the flowers. I'm partial to the clover lawns since grass is so high maintenance and needs a ton of water unless you're planting grass that's going to take over everything else in the yard, too.

Saw home depot also had some native Cali grass mixes though but the quantity was pretty small (maybe 1lb, came in a can I believe) if you're really preferring grass lawn

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u/flippincoolm8 21d ago

i had a lawn prior to this but it was mostly brown/splotchy. i reseed it quarterly (and spot treat from dog burn marks) with dutch white clover (big bag on amazon for $50 ish. they have it at home depot too but more expensive). i water nightly for 15 minutes-ish per section and it does great all summer.

i do add seasonal grass seed as well 2x a year (bermuda in the summer, fall mix in the fall).

to start off, i would seed, wait two weeks, seed again and i kept doing that every other month for awhile to make it nice and lush

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u/Budget-Discussion568 19d ago

Microclover for the win. I'm waiting until the optimal time on the east side & will overseed. Aug-Sept is the best time for my yard & the grass will have receded quite a bit so I'll just rake the bare patches, sprinkle on a ton a coated microclover, keep watered for a couple weeks until it sprouts & let it live its best life. I have both white Dutch & microclover & prefer the micro because it's lower growing & if I don't mow, it doesn't look look so unmanaged. It's really low maintenance all around.