Depending on how much you want to spend in terms of money and time you could plant clover now then plough it in as a green manure after flowering then plant osr for next year. I suppose you could also go down the tree route alongside spring bulbs
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Dave, if you want to plant clover then I think it is important to ask the seed merchant for the white wild clover - trifolium repens. I don't know if all white clovers are wild - but choosing a white clover would be the better than the red kind (trifolium pratense).
Kitta
Hi kitta I think your right about speaking to the seed merchant as I've read that not all clovers are suitable for honey bees due to their tongue length, looks like a simple idea is not so straight forward
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As far as i believe clover requires high temperatures to produce and you probably have plenty already about. Mid summer has plenty of forage
If you dont have heather I would go for a late producer if your fields are sealed and not near a burn or river plant a few acres of Hymalayan Balsam(1 plant every 3 mt.first year second year it will be full) (collect plenty of seeds in Sep.) along with a meadow mix
Himalayan balsam, now there's an option if you can keep it hidden. The Sunday environmentalist will be having picnics and ripping it up
Falcon we have a good few acres of heather but sadly the local authority have said no the burning for some years now so it no good for anything, the Himalayan balsam sounds like a great idea, they do seam to do ok for forage at the moment but if I can turn a green field into something they can use and it's only a few yards away it can only be a good thing, as for environmentalist there's not many out here that the dogs don't keep away lol
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Falcon, I know that you suggested only a 'sealed' site, but meeting the needs of Himalayan balsam would be difficult unless you have a site that may be seasonally flooded. A meadow mix would be good - if it is a brown earth site Phacelia might be a better suggestion.
As for Sunday environmentalists, many of us - me included - like to think of ourselves as 7 day a week environmentalists.
I'd second phacelia. I used it to improve and break up a clay / neglected patch and it worked wonders. In terms of flowering length and nectar dispensing it is one of the best plants for pollinators. We could hear it being worked by the honeybees from a fair distance. Maybe 200 bees per metre patch
I have a fair wee bit of H.B. growing for the past few years and found that it doesn't need any special requirements.
As long as its fairly clean the 2nd and 3rd years it takes over shading out other weeds.
I find the honey bees ignore the H.B till everything else is finished then they go on it big time right into Nov. or till the first frost.
A good late producer.
What did you do with it the second year, GB? Did you have to work it into the soil? How big was the patch?Originally Posted by greengumbo
Kitta
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