Uses for Clover

• A wide variety of clovers exist that can be used in the garden. White clover may be added to sod to create a low moisture constantly green texture and small white flowering clusters. Red clover is often used as a cover crop or green manure for the vegetable garden or crop lands. When broadcast in fields as forage, clover provides important food for livestock and browsing animals. Sprouting food crop seeds is an old practice that yields fresh green vegetables useful in salads, sandwiches and just eaten out of hand.
  
  

Seeding Clover

• Sow clover in spring or early summer. Clover seeds should be sown 1/4 to 1/2 inch deep in humus-rich, moistened soils with excellent drainage. Broadcast spreaders are useful for planting clover. The tiny seeds spread best if mixed with sand or some other lightweight grit. Seeding white clover into a lawn requires 2 to 8 oz. per 1,000 square feet. It can just be raked into the existing grass. Red clover is not appropriate for lawns because mowing exposes a heavy, ugly stem. Germination can be seen in three to five days. Best germination occurs when temperatures are at least 68 degrees Fahrenheit.
  
  

Sprouting Clover

• Sprouting is a process that produces an edible vegetable. Sprouting differs from germination in that it produces both a radical and shoot. Germination is when the radical or baby root is produced. To sprout clover seed, wash it and soak it in room temperature water for six to eight hours. Drain the seeds and put them in a jar with cheesecloth covering the opening. Mist the seeds two or three times a day and swirl them around in the jar. Sprouting occurs in three to seven days.
  
  

Pre-treating for Better Germination

• Soaking seeds before they are sown or sprouted speeds up germination by half. Seeds should be soaked in lukewarm water for up to a day. Temperatures that are 68 degrees Fahrenheit halve germination time when compared to 58 degree temperatures. Both soil and ambient temperatures should be warm. Chilling clover seeds before planting enhances germination time slightly. Clover has only slight chilling requirements to break dormancy and will germinate without chilling. Clover is relatively easy to sprout in moist, warm conditions without preconditioning but is enhanced by the stratification of the seeds.