[davejg]

Between beds on the allotment. I have beds made of decking boards & want to keep the weeds down between them, my intial thought is clover to attract beneficial insects, or would this cause me other problems. if so i was thinking of weedkiller and tree chippings.

[angelavdavis]

We have mainly put down weed suppressant and bark chippings (the fabric stops the bark disappearing into the soil too quickly.  You shouldn't really need to glyphosate the weeds before using weed suppressant fabric.

We have a section of our plot kept as grass which is predominantly clover, but haven't deliberately planted it.  We do have problems with the grass encroaching on the beds in this area and may well change it in time.

[davejg]

Thanks for that, I'd forgotten about chippings gravel etc disappearing

[Kirpi]

I have some clover paths on my plot. You do have to watch its invasion into the growing areas as it puts runners out which take root but it is easy to uproot and hack back and is a nitrogen fixer so it is good for composting. As you say, it is a wonderful bee plant and when walking on the clover the bees dont seem to feel threatened if you give them plenty of warning!

- a great way to turn paths into green manure beds; just cut and strew the cutting on the beds as mulch, but if you do uproot it make sure it is not going to root back in if you throw it onto a bed.

[Trillium]

That was my first thought - stepping on bees. Clover in flower will be crawling with them and it could be tricky getting around.

For my paths, I got hold of some empty poly feed sacks, pegged them down and then put mulch on top. I have another path I'm going to do and will first put cardboard down to smother the weeds properly, then sacks, then shredded bark mulch. A local stable might have lots of sacks to get rid of.

[Kirpi]

I have never had a problem with bees and clover in flower. They have a way of avoiding us as we walk around the plot. I have gardened in flip flops and never been stung.

I think it would be different if you tried cutting, weeding or strimming it while bees were busy collecting nectar as you would be threatening a source of food for them.