Just the other day, I discovered a partially finished bottle of Lucozade placed in the euphorbia trough by one of the scaffolders. An architect friend joked, “Are you sure that’s Lucozade?” giving me a new perspective.
In short, the garden is in disarray. Sometimes neglect has its perks; after returning from holiday, I spotted a sunflower sprouting in the back corner.
Now, however, some urgent tidying is underway. As I’m expecting a baby, I’ve hired a professional gardener to tackle invasive plants like green alkanet and robinia saplings from the neighbour’s tree, while leaving the good stuff. Then, in the open patches, I’ll be sowing cover crops.
Green manure are superheroes when it comes to boosting soil quality.
My gardening friend Claire has previously discussed cover crops, as they play a key role in crop rotation for vegetable plots. But, the only things I’m picking from my garden right now are a few foraged apples and some hardy herbs.
My ambitions for the garden are modest and consistent – and enhancing soil health is top of the list. For those wondering, the scaffolding is for roof repairs, and the garden boundaries are yet to be fixed, but the neighbours agree with the plan.
Cover crops are like superheroes for your garden’s foundation. Soil likes to be covered, which is why weeds appear. Yet by sowing vigorous crops, you can suppress weeds, bring in bees, shelter beneficial insects, and enrich the soil with nutrients.
Green manure plants aren’t always showy – though some, like certain lupin varieties and a flowering legume, have pretty flowers – but their role is to grow vigorously rather than be admired. Once established, you can dig them into the soil, chop them for mulch, or let them decompose for worms to pull down. Their work happens underground.
Now is the ideal time for sowing these cold-season plants. I’ve chosen rye grass, great for clay soil, a nitrogen-lifter, a weed-suppressor, and beans that aerate soil.
There’s satisfaction in sowing something knowing it’s temporary – on the surface, anyway.
