I recently found a half-empty bottle of Lucozade left behind in the euphorbia trough by one of the scaffolders. An architect friend joked, “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; after returning from holiday, 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 troublesome weeds 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 cover crops.
Cover crops act like heroes when it comes to improving soil health.
A fellow garden writer has written about cover crops, as they play a key role in crop rotation for vegetable plots. However, the only things I’m harvesting from my garden right now are a few foraged apples and some woody herbs.
My garden goals are simple and steady – and enhancing soil health is my main priority. To update concerned readers, the scaffolding is for roof repairs, and the garden boundaries are still wobbly, but the neighbours are on board with replacing them.
Green manure are like superheroes for soil health. Soil likes to be covered, which is why weeds appear. Yet by sowing fast-growing plants, you can suppress weeds, attract pollinators, host pest-eating creatures, and enrich the soil with nutrients.
Cover crops may not look exciting – though some, like lupins ‘Blue Sonet’ and bird’s foot trefoil, have pretty flowers – but their role is to grow vigorously rather than look decorative. Once established, you can dig them into the soil, cut them for compost, or let them decompose for earthworms to incorporate. Their work happens underground.
Now is the ideal time for sowing these cold-season plants. I’ve chosen forage rye, great for clay soil, Italian ryegrass, a weed-suppressor, and field beans.
There’s satisfaction in sowing something that won’t stay forever – at least above ground.
