Alfalfa lawn

In My Humble Opinion
1

So I’m getting more into sustainable organic style farming and I have chickens which regularly feed on my lawn. My back lawn is about 1.5 acres and most of it is watered by flood irrigation from a canal that runs behind us.

Some parts of the lawn are higher up and as such do not get watered and unfortunately because of a recent back injury I have not watered those parts as well as I should and the grass has died a bit in those areas

So I’ve been thinking of what grass I should seed into the dying areas and have been looking for grasses which grow well in the area and preferably ones which will help to enrich the soil.

One seed that I’m defiantly putting in the mix is clover since it adds nitrogen to the soil and I know that alfalfa will do the same and it grows well in my area, southeastern Idaho, Blackfoot, near the snake river. However I have never grown alfalfa so I don’t know how well it would behave as a lawn grass. Does anyone have any experience with it?

2

It could be used as a ground cover, not a lawn. You might still have to mow it. The stems are sufficiently stringy and long that a regular grass mower might not work. Plus there’s the “hay” left over.

It also won’t be as dense as grass.

If you do a lot of clover, bees will be a problem. Prepare to be stung. The bees that pollinate alfalfa are not going to be a problem at all.

3

What about the native bunch grasses ie. Idaho fescue, bluebunch wheatgrass. Also you should look into gooseberryleaf globemallo. A trip to the county extension would probably be the best bet. You might be able to get some seed for free or cheap.

4

You could plant a wildflower meadow and focus on native plants that are helpful to honey bees and butterflies.