a weed by definition is a plant that is growing in an area where it is not desired. so a rose in a clover garden could could be considered a weed, as well a clover in a rose garden could be considered a weed.

i usually let clover grow where it wants since it does kinda act like ground cover and blocks other more annoying weeds out.

If they do get too close to other plants i usually just pull them and toss them into the worm bin. If they are covering bare spots in the garden i don't mind them

Sure it's clover? If it's oxalis, do something about it now before it gets out of control (and it will happen quickly). I left one little patch of it alone becuase it wasn't near my beds and within a couple months it had spread to cover my entire yard (not complete coverage but you couldn't look anywhere without seeing a patch of it) and my beds. I've finally gotten the vast majority under control and am still working towards wiping it out, although this is pretty much impossible for me as my neighbor seems happy to have a lawn of the stuff.

Ah! Oxalis, that's what that's called. We definitely have some of that growing as well and were pretty sure it looked like clover but wasn't (the way the leaves folded was odd). Thanks for the advice, all.

Make sure the oxalis you have is a weed. I didn't think to specify the kind I have and not all are bad. The ones I have are a nightmare. Pretty sure they're Oxalis Stricta.

Since we didn't plant em I'm going to consider them a weed. :) Our stuff looks like Oxalis Stricta as well...

if it is oxalis then yes a weed in most cases, but for us clover is a nitrogen fixer soil improver.

we actually bought seed to get it growing in our grassed area, should be good pick for the chooks.

len

Here is a link that might be useful: lens garden page

Clover can be good news and bad news. Yes, it is a good nitrogen fixer. Here in the south, I plant Red Clover in all my vegetable beds in the fall,let them grow all winter (our winters are very mild, remember), and then turn them into the soil in the spring BEFORE they bloom. I am careful to never let them go to seed or they become, you guessed it, a weed.

White clover spreads like lightening in lawns. It's a pleasant meadow plant and provides nectar for bees, but I definitely don't want it in my lawn or in my gardens. It will often bloom before you can even see the leaves and stems of the plant. I treat it like a weed.

I have clover in my lawns, and it's a real pain. it spreads on subsurface runners, and is very difficult to eradicate. When I see it near my garden plots it gets pulled right up. The problem is that it's very difficult to get it all out, as the runners are underground.

The oxalis I have is a PITB! It is very dense and low lying. you have to yank it out around your plants, then spend some time every week digging and pulling, digging and pulling.
I've pretty much given up getting rid of it for this year and just weed it away from the plants by 6 inches or so. Nancy

Clover is a member of the legume family and is a nitrogen fixer. Oxalis, which resembles clover, is a type of wood sorrel. There are different varieties of oxalis - buttercup oxalis, which has thicker upright stems and lovely flowers, and the creeping type, which has seed pods that pop and broadcast seed. Buttercup oxalis has sterile flowers, but spreads by undergroud runners. If you dig it up, you will see little brown bulbs. The creeping type spreads by runners as well as seeds. Both are very invasive, so remove it as soon as possible.

I don't really want anything in my veggie bed except for the veggies I plant.

If you want nitrogen, grow beans. ;-)

If you want green manure, plant an annual grass, and kill it before it goes to seed by mowing it close or tilling it under.

If it is oxalis, then it would normally be considered a weed in a vegetable garden.

If it is in a fallow bed, then you can let it grow (even oxalis) and till it in later. After tilling you can water the area and cover it with black plastic for two weeks. Everything will germinate and die under the black plastic. Then you can plant whatever you want.

-edit- Deleted. Basically, I just said what lgteacher already said. Ooops.

This post was edited by nc-crn on Thu, May 23, 13 at 2:20

I confirmed that it's Oxalis when I got home yesterday and it has indeed spread it's babies all over the garden.

How to tell if a plant is a weed:
If you pull it and roots come out with it, then it's not a weed.
If you pull it and only the top portion breaks off and roots stay buried, then it's a weed. :-)