Dwarf white clover overcomes my edibles

Hello,

I live in Brittany, France (USDA 9B). This year, I've tried to set up a permanent cover crop in my home garden using dwarf white clovers.

So far:

In the greenhouse:

The tomatoes, the zucchinis have grown perfectly without troubles.

The beets have had a really slow start but are huge by now.

The white clovers have started to died because of the heat inside the greenhouse.

In the outside, everything has been fertilized with comfrey juice:

Tomatoes have all failed (except cherries) because of blight (too many moisture on the leaves).

Potatoes are going well but I'm not sure of the quantity I'll harvest (Probably lower than earthing up).

About the pumpkins, only one seed has managed to grow because of concourse. I've finally grown some in the greenhouse before replanting them. The fruits are really in late this year.

There are many weeds that have managed to grow into the clovers. I've not been able to remove them on time as they're barely visible throw the cover...
I've tried to chop and drop some of the clovers (since spring) but I can't see any noticeable differences between those which have been cut and those which haven't.

Did I make something wrong with the clovers ? Should I try another perrenial living mulch ?
I was also wondering if it exists some alternatives to Moringa oleifera and Ice Cream Bean Tree (Inga Edulis) that would grow in my climate area ?
I've also planted miscanthus grass in the garden. I hope they will provide enough mulch in a few years.
Also, I have some Cerastium tomentosum in my garden, that seems to grow well in very poor soil and have tiny roots, but maybe a kind of Sebum would be more efficient (and lower) ?

Thanks for your time

I happened to get small white clover in the horse manure I spread on my vegetable garden. It has been a godsend!

We had a bad drought and heat wave for 2,5 months. Without the clover, the soil would have been parched. Now all onions, potatoes, tomatoes, carrots and other root veggoes are happily growin from the bed of clover!
My chickens nibble it, my bees browse the flowers. In the end it becomes extra mulch. Only problem is, that


direct seeded veggies need the clover to be cut down. I actually just rip it with my hands and throw into the chicken yard. But my veggie patch is not very big, less than an acre.

This article suggests that cover crops are used in the garden after the annual vegetable plants are harvested:

As a general rule, cover crops are sown in a garden space after the season for edible crops has ended. Once your summer crops are spent and removed from the space, the cover crop is grown within the space during the fall and winter season.

https://joegardener.com/podcast/100-understanding-cover-crops-the-basics-and-beyond-with-jack-algiere/

Here are some threads that you or others might find interesting:

https://permies.com/t/62923/Super-short-perennial-ground-covers

https://permies.com/t/164626/overcome-weeds-black-tarp-method

https://permies.com/t/156551/bit-lost-green-manure-shouldn

https://permies.com/t/133421/deep-rooting-green-manure-mulching

Are those veggie rows 5ft wide?
You can also plant the clover in the walkway to get the N-fixing benefits without them being directly in the bed. brand new, year0  woodchip will also make your produce do bad because they leach some compounds and the microbes take up alot of minerals to colonize the interface but the next year is usually good

Jake Browning wrote:Hello,

I live in Brittany, France (USDA 9B). This year, I've tried to set up a permanent cover crop in my home garden using dwarf white clovers.

So far:

In the greenhouse:

The tomatoes, the zucchinis have grown perfectly without troubles.

The beets have had a really slow start but are huge by now.

The white clovers have started to died because of the heat inside the greenhouse.

In the outside, everything has been fertilized with comfrey juice:

Tomatoes have all failed (except cherries) because of blight (too many moisture on the leaves).

Potatoes are going well but I'm not sure of the quantity I'll harvest (Probably lower than earthing up).

About the pumpkins, only one seed has managed to grow because of concourse. I've finally grown some in the greenhouse before replanting them. The fruits are really in late this year.

There are many weeds that have managed to grow into the clovers. I've not been able to remove them on time as they're barely visible throw the cover...
I've tried to chop and drop some of the clovers (since spring) but I can't see any noticeable differences between those which have been cut and those which haven't.

Did I make something wrong with the clovers ? Should I try another perrenial living mulch ?
I was also wondering if it exists some alternatives to Moringa oleifera and Ice Cream Bean Tree (Inga Edulis) that would grow in my climate area ?
I've also planted miscanthus grass in the garden. I hope they will provide enough mulch in a few years.
Also, I have some Cerastium tomentosum in my garden, that seems to grow well in very poor soil and have tiny roots, but maybe a kind of Sebum would be more efficient (and lower) ?

Thanks for your time

I don’t think the clover is the reason for your veggie troubles. I’m sorry I don’t know what the problem is, but I don’t think it’s the clover. My best gardens have had clover growing between most of the veggies. I don’t have a lot in current garden, but I had a full garden of clover years ago and just put cardboard down about a month before I wanted to plant, just right where I was going to put something in. Is it possible that you over fertilized, or was the weather weird?

Bethany Brown wrote:
I don’t think the clover is the reason for your veggie troubles. I’m sorry I don’t know what the problem is, but I don’t think it’s the clover. My best gardens have had clover growing between most of the veggies. I don’t have a lot in current garden, but I had a full garden of clover years ago and just put cardboard down about a month before I wanted to plant, just right where I was going to put something in. Is it possible that you over fertilized, or was the weather weird?

Thanks for your answers
I'll try to give clovers a new chance next year. Do you put cardboard all over the bed or just on the spots you want to sow or plant ?
Weather was special this year; for example, pumpkins took ages before growing, including in my neighbors' gardens.
It was definitely drier than previous years but I'm confident it will be worse in the future :/

I like perennial white dutch clover for my lawn but not for my annual beds. I currently utilize winter kill cover crops to get benefits of living mulches/cover crops without too much worry on how to terminate them.

I'm hoping crimson clover will do well in this application, I also am planting oats for the upcoming winter to try and help with erosion control. I did Daikons last fall but found that the seeds just sat all winter to then sprout in the spring to my chagrin. It was neat that my only 'weeds' were radishes!

I've used it quite some years in my pathways and it does take over the beds too and gets into the herbs i use as mini hedges as well. But i've learned to live with it. It's a good dew collector in hot summers, on the pathways i dump straw on it. But in the beds i can't because i try to get spontaneous sprouting plants and like to throw seeds around. I've made a special small width hoe to keep the precious plants clean and in spring i just take the heavy hoe and make trenches in it. By the time it grows back, the plants are quite high. I'm quite worried it's got alleopathic properties though, SO quite some negatives ein total, but the nitrogenfixing ,soil cooling and dew collection make up for it.