I recently found a partially finished bottle of an energy drink placed in the euphorbia trough by one of the scaffolders. A visiting architect joked, “Are you sure that’s Lucozade?” which made me see it differently.
In short, the garden is in disarray. But there’s a lot to be said for negligence; 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 enlisted a local gardener to tackle invasive plants like green alkanet and robinia saplings from the neighbour’s tree, while leaving the good stuff. Next, in the newly cleared patches, I’ll be sowing cover crops.
Cover crops act like heroes when it comes to boosting soil quality.
My gardening friend Claire has written about green manure, as they play a key role in crop rotation for edible gardens. But, the only things I’m harvesting from my garden right now are a few scrumped apples and some woody herbs.
My ambitions for the garden are simple and steady – and enhancing soil health is top of the list. For those wondering, the scaffold is for roof repairs, and the garden boundaries are still wobbly, but the neighbours are on board with the plan.
Green manure are like superheroes for soil health. Soil likes to be covered, which is why weeds appear. But by sowing vigorous crops, you can suppress weeds, attract pollinators, shelter beneficial insects, and enrich the soil with nutrients.
Cover crops aren’t always showy – though some, like certain lupin varieties and a flowering legume, have lovely blooms – but their purpose is to thrive rather than be admired. After they’ve grown, you can turn them under, chop them for mulch, or leave them on the surface for earthworms to pull down. The real magic happens underground.
Now is the ideal time for sowing these overwintering crops. I’ve chosen rye grass, great for clay soil, a nitrogen-lifter, a weed-suppressor, and beans that aerate soil.
It feels rewarding in planting seeds that won’t stay forever – on the surface, anyway.
