I recently found a half-empty bottle of Lucozade left behind in the euphorbia trough by one of the scaffolders. An architect friend commented, “Are you sure that’s Lucozade?” which made me see it differently.
All this is to say, the garden is a bit of a mess. Sometimes neglect has its perks; coming back from a trip, I spotted a sunflower growing 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 a prickly weed and robinia saplings from the neighbour’s tree, while leaving the good stuff. Then, in the open patches, I’ll be sowing green manure.
Cover crops act like heroes when it comes to boosting soil quality.
A fellow garden writer has written about green manure, as they play a key role in seasonal planting for vegetable plots. But, the only things I’m picking from my garden right now are a few scrumped apples and some woody herbs.
My ambitions for the garden are modest and consistent – and improving the soil is top of the list. To update concerned readers, the scaffold is for roof repairs, and the fences are yet to be fixed, but the neighbours are on board with the plan.
Green manure work wonders for soil health. Soil likes to be covered, which is why unwanted plants pop up. Yet by sowing fast-growing plants, you can control weeds, attract pollinators, host pest-eating creatures, and enrich the soil with nutrients.
Cover crops may not look exciting – though some, like certain lupin varieties and bird’s foot trefoil, have pretty flowers – but their role is to thrive rather than be admired. Once established, you can dig them into the soil, chop them for mulch, or let them decompose for worms to incorporate. Their work happens below the surface.
Now is the ideal time for sowing these cold-season plants. I’ve chosen forage rye, which breaks up heavy earth, a nitrogen-lifter, vetch, and beans that aerate soil.
There’s satisfaction in sowing something that won’t stay forever – on the surface, anyway.
