You can't go wrong sowing clover

I am beginning to despair spring will ever arrive. The woodpile is shrinking at an alarming rate and I've spent more time and money attempting to keep our water running than I care to put in print. We keep hearing "we're paying for such nice weather at Christmas," but that is a lie. That debt was paid off weeks ago. I need something to force me out of the house, something I can do to make life better on our little farm. And it just so happens February is the time to frost seed clover. Clover is the earliest "crop" you can plant in our area and unlike most cool-season grasses clover is a legume which germinates best planted late winter/early spring. Clover captures atmospheric nitrogen and thanks to a symbiotic relationship with Rhizobium bacteria in the soil clover fixes or places nitrogen into soils and/or neighboring plants. Nitrogen is necessary for growth and photosynthesis and most farmers pay for it annually by the bag. But you don't have to. Pasture and hay fields with 30% clover in the stand do not require nitrogen fertilizer as the clover fixes 60 pounds of nitrogen per acre into the soil. Clover does not offer the nitrogen pop chemical fertilizers do, but when managed properly it increase forage quality and quantity particularly during hot dry weather when cool season forage stops growing. Clover also dilutes the effects of endophyte infected tall fescue. Frost seeding takes advantage of the early spring freezing and thawing cycles. Soil that experiences below freezing temperatures during the night is pushed upwards as ice crystals create a porous honeycomb-like structure which collapses during the daytime thaw. Clover sown now is worked into the soil and covered lightly as the soil gently rises and falls through winter. Requiring a scant quarter-inch of soil cover for germination all we need to do is broadcast seed and let nature do the rest. The recommended seeding rate is two pounds of white clover and four pounds of red clover per acre. A word of caution before you begin. University research has found most budget ATV spreaders are not calibrated correctly out of the box or when following manufacturer's instructions. The same study found overlap rather than skipped areas was the most common problem. Most farmers will be best served using their fertilizer distributer broadcasting clover seed with pellet lime at the proper calibration rate. Personally, I prefer to walk. It's cheaper, I always feel better after some physical exercise, and it allows me to feel spring coming even when the temperature tells me otherwise.