I recently found a half-empty 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.
All this is to say, the garden is a bit of a mess. But there’s a lot to be said for negligence; coming back from a trip, I spotted a sunflower sprouting in the back corner.
Now, however, some urgent tidying is underway. As I’m expecting a baby, I’ve hired a local gardener to tackle invasive plants like green alkanet and robinia saplings from the neighbour’s tree, but keeping desirable plants. Next, in the newly cleared patches, I’ll be sowing cover crops.
Green manure are superheroes when it comes to improving soil health.
A fellow garden writer has previously discussed 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 foraged apples and some hardy herbs.
My ambitions for the garden are simple and steady – and improving the soil is top of the list. To update concerned readers, the scaffolding is for roof repairs, and the fences are yet to be fixed, but the neighbours are on board with replacing them.
Green manure are like superheroes for soil health. Bare soil invites weeds, which is why weeds appear. Yet by sowing vigorous crops, you can control weeds, bring in bees, host pest-eating creatures, and enrich the soil with nutrients.
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. Once established, you can turn them under, cut them for compost, or leave them on the surface for earthworms to incorporate. The real magic happens below the surface.
Now is the ideal time for sowing these cold-season plants. I’ve chosen rye grass, which breaks up heavy earth, a nitrogen-lifter, vetch, and field beans.
It feels rewarding in sowing something knowing it’s temporary – on the surface, anyway.
