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I am thinking to leave a grass boarder about 2/3 the width of a standard lawn mower between properties. Then, with clover on the inside and grass on the other, install green plastic edging similar to this:

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Is there a better cheaper way?

Also, tangential, why are clover lawns so rare? Most people do not seem to use their lawn as a high traffic surface.

It seems like a no-brainer. Instead of cutting, weed waking, watering and de-weeding grass 60-90 minutes every week, clover may need cutting...what...every two months? That's almost five hours of free time every month.

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    Clover loves to climb over ground-level edging, which is why I used to spray an herbicide to keep it three feet away from all my gardens (even though I liked having clover in my lawn, I have since removed it to keep it out of the garden and to eliminate most herbicide use). The edging you propose using will not prevent this. In my experience, your clover will be in your neighbor's grass within a few weeks after it encounters the edging.
    – Jurp
    Oct 15, 2021 at 14:23
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    Also, tangential, why are clover lawns so rare? Cultural reasons Oct 15, 2021 at 20:00

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I have two lawn areas at the front of the house. One is brand new sod that replaces the last batch and needs fertilizing, overseeding, cutting every week in the summer and must be watered during the hot summer months or it browns out.

The other area has clover and multiple types of grass. It gets no special treatment.

The clover area is green all summer and never needs watering.

The downside of clover is that it is more vigorous than grass. I was surprised to see it growing through the edges of the asphalt driveway and have seen it grow under flagstones and come out the other side. Once it is in a lawn area there is no easy way of getting it out. People's expectations about a lawn are quite rigid and even though clover is better in many aspects it is not grass.

For your potential issue edging will not be enough. Clover has an extensive root system that goes deep and wide. It will be growing into your beds within the year. I recommend a six to eight inch strip of EPDM pool liner laid vertically below the soil line and your edger. That should work for a while....

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