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We moved to a dry farm area in E. Washington. Entire area is clay. Tried 2 years to grow lawn without success. We have many noxious weeds and are unable to control them. However, there are several areas in our yard where alfafa grows. It controls the growth of the noxious weeds. When the snow melts in spring the alfafa is beautifuly green and ready to go.
The alfafa grows willingly without water and requires no care except for mowing. It allows no weeds to grow under it because of it's density. Compared to old established lawns in town the alfafa in my yard is lush and beautiful while their's is just coming out of winter.
Question: Has anyone heard of using alfafa as a lawn? I'm considering giving up on a traditional lawn and just planting the entire yard in alfafa. When mowed it is beautiful and dense. No watering!
This would elimiminate many hours of pulling and spraying weeds...only to have them all come back again.
I agree, it's your yard and if you like it, as long as you don't have a homeowner's association who expects real grass then I say go for it. But it probably won't hold up to foot traffic as well as a regular grass lawn would, so if you have kids and/or dogs running around everywhere you may not be as happy with it.
What an intriguing possibility! I'd been wondering the same thing for our red North Carolina clay. Just north of us is Martinsville Speedway, and the parking field there is covered in alfalfa, which holds up surprisingly well to a long weekend of hard-partying race fans. Alfalfa will also improve your soil over time, much like the white Dutch clover lawn I've been cultivating on my clay property. I'm with ecrane--as long as you don't live under the thumb of an HOA, give it a shot!
