Long Island Lawn Woes: Soil Test, Fire the Chemicals, Love the Clover

Thatch, bare spots, dog spots. Gardener likely kills grass with salts (fertilizer), removes clippings, rakes leaves, sprays weedkiller. Clover? It’s a nitrogen-fixing partner, not a weed—Scotts marketed it as weed to sell herbicide.

Step 1: Cornell soil test (css.cornell.edu). Supervise gardener. Step 2: Stop all chemicals. Step 3: Compost, leave clippings, keep leaves. Microbes break thatch. Dog spots? Minor vs. chemical burn.

Clover stays. It feeds your lawn for free.