White Honey Clover is a very useful plant; it's also edible. White Honey Clover can be used as a green manure. It adds nitrogen to the soil. Green manuring is smart because it prevents the soil from lying fallow and gives weeds a chance to grow. It also adds essential nutrients to the soil, which can be used by what you sow after the green manure. Honey Clover is also called White Sweet Clover, White Melilot, Bokhara Clover and Sweet Clover. Honey Clover is a biennial that, thanks to its deep roots, can also loosen the soil. Honey Clover is a member of the pea family (Fabaceae) just like: Mountain pea, Broom, Creeping broom, Horseshoe trefoil, Golden rain, Wisteria, Field pod, Anthropoid, Prickly broom, Potato pea, Asparagus pea, Blue lupine, Yellow lupine, Alfalfa, Spotted caterpillar, Bird's-foot trefoil, Small bird's-foot, Spanish broom, Spinach, Hornwort, Field trefoil, Red clover, Gorse, Broad bean, Ring vetch, Yellow vetch and Bird vetch. White Honey Clover flowers with small white flowers that grow in elongated clusters. These flowers give off a delicious, very sweet, honey-like scent. Mow the flowers and work them into the soil. This will release nitrogen into the soil. Originally, White Honey Clover comes from Eurasia from the following countries: Armenia, Azerbaijan, China, Georgia, India, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Pakistan, Russia, and Turkey. Here, this plant grows in open, very sunny, disturbed areas with light to moderately nutrient-rich, calcareous, and nitrogen-rich soil. It grows on roadsides, fallow land, construction sites, dune areas, railway yards, and in ports and industrial areas. Here, this plant usually grows in clayey and sandy soil.
In Kalmykia (an autonomous republic of the Russian Federation inhabited by Mongolians), the root of this plant is eaten. The young shoots are also a delicacy. The young leaves are excellent in salads. The flowers and pods are also edible. White Honey Clover also has various natural healing applications, such as improving circulation, combating calf cramps, swelling, varicose veins, painful and heavy legs, and fighting inflammation. This plant can also be used externally as a compress for skin conditions and wounds. This plant is very popular with bees, bumblebees, hoverflies, butterflies, and other beneficial insects. Honey Clover is used as a green manure, animal feed, bee plant, and in natural medicine. White Honey Clover flowers from June till October. Hardy biennial. Height: 90 - 120 cm.
Outdoor sowing: April - August
Germination: 14 - 28 days
Germination temp.: 18 - 27 °C
Sowing depth: shallow
Planting distance: 50 - 60 cm
Planting position: sunny - half shade
Flowering period: June - October
When used as a green manure:
Honey Clover is sown exclusively outdoors. Its taproot makes it difficult to move it. It is also best sown broadcast to prevent thinning of the seedlings. Honey Clover is usually sown as a green manure. Sow in well-prepared, well-worked soil free of clods, stones, and old roots. Carefully rake the seeds into the soil and press them down. Sow outdoors from April, as soon as the soil can be worked. It is also possible to sow outdoors from October onwards. These seeds will then germinate naturally the following spring. Broadcast the seeds and sow shallowly. It is helpful to mix the seed with dry sand. This makes sowing easier and also makes it immediately visible where seeds have already been sown. If you sow in the spring, the plant will grow in the first year and flower in the second. Honey Clover is fairly frost-resistant. Sow in a sunny spot with some partial shade. Provide sufficient water. Keep weed-free.
For use as a garden flower:
Sow seeds in a sunny spot in moist garden soil from April onwards. Leave about 10 cm between the seeds. Gently press the seeds into the soil. Keep weed-free and moist. Thin the seedlings to about 15 cm as soon as they are large enough to handle. Honey Clover attracts bees, bumblebees, hoverflies, butterflies, and other beneficial insects. It is an important host plant for butterflies.
