I always plant my clover in mid-August in my climate. Can be too dry in mid summer to keep a spring crop going. Planted in August it will grow to 4 inches tall by winter and have a good jump start after snow melt in spring. Yep, and you got to plant enough that the deer don't mow it down to the soil right away. Unfortunately that problem cannot be predicted and you just gotta try and see. And the importance of a soil test, like Ewest said, I go to farm co-op and buy only diammonium phosphate and potash to fertilize the clover. My planting area is also soil from my pond. It is all peat. Peat from a bog has zero nutrients. So I mix the right ratio of DAP and Potash for the clover, no need to waste money on nitrogen. I also sloped the ground away from the pond so any fertilizer runnoff does not go into the pond but elsewhere.
