I recently found a half-empty bottle of Lucozade placed 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. But there’s a lot to be said for negligence; after returning from holiday, I spotted a sunflower sprouting in the back corner.
Now, however, some necessary firefighting is underway. As I’m expecting a baby, I’ve hired a local gardener to remove invasive plants like a prickly weed and robinia saplings from the neighbour’s tree, while leaving the good stuff. Next, in the open patches, I’ll be sowing cover crops.
Green manure are superheroes when it comes to boosting soil quality.
A fellow garden writer has written about green manure, as they are essential in crop rotation 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 my main priority. To update concerned readers, the scaffold is for roof repairs, and the garden boundaries are still wobbly, but the neighbours are on board with the plan.
Cover crops work wonders for soil health. Bare soil invites weeds, which is why unwanted plants pop up. Yet by sowing vigorous crops, you can suppress weeds, bring in bees, host pest-eating creatures, and fix nitrogen.
Cover crops aren’t always showy – though some, like certain lupin varieties and a flowering legume, have pretty flowers – but their purpose is to grow vigorously rather than look decorative. Once established, you can dig them into the soil, chop them for mulch, or leave them on the surface for earthworms to pull down. The real magic happens underground.
Autumn is perfect for sowing these overwintering crops. My selection includes rye grass, which breaks up heavy earth, Italian ryegrass, a weed-suppressor, and field beans.
There’s satisfaction in sowing something knowing it’s temporary – at least above ground.
