I recently found a partially finished bottle of an energy drink left behind in the euphorbia trough by one of the scaffolders. An architect friend commented, “Are you sure that’s Lucozade?” giving me a new perspective.
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 sprouting in the back corner.
This week, though, 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 young tree shoots from the neighbour’s tree, but keeping desirable plants. Then, in the open patches, I’ll be sowing green manure.
Cover crops act like heroes when it comes to boosting soil quality.
My gardening friend Claire has written about green manure, as they are essential in seasonal planting for edible gardens. However, the only things I’m harvesting from my garden right now are a few foraged apples and some hardy herbs.
My ambitions for the garden are modest and consistent – and improving the soil 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 are on board with the plan.
Cover crops work wonders for your garden’s foundation. Bare soil invites weeds, which is why unwanted plants pop up. But by sowing fast-growing plants, you can suppress weeds, bring in bees, host pest-eating creatures, and fix nitrogen.
Green manure plants aren’t always showy – though some, like certain lupin varieties and bird’s foot trefoil, have lovely blooms – but their role is to grow vigorously rather than look decorative. After they’ve grown, you can dig them into the soil, cut them for compost, or let them decompose for worms to pull down. Their work happens below the surface.
Autumn is perfect for sowing these cold-season plants. I’ve chosen rye grass, great for clay soil, Italian ryegrass, vetch, and beans that aerate soil.
There’s satisfaction in planting seeds that won’t stay forever – on the surface, anyway.
