Just the other day, I discovered a partially finished bottle of Lucozade 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 a bit of a mess. Sometimes neglect has its perks; coming back from a trip, I spotted a sunflower sprouting in the back corner.
Now, however, some necessary firefighting is underway. Being six months pregnant, I’ve enlisted a local gardener to tackle invasive plants like a prickly weed and robinia saplings from the neighbour’s tree, but keeping desirable plants. Next, in the newly cleared patches, I’ll be sowing cover crops.
Cover crops act like heroes when it comes to boosting soil quality.
A fellow garden writer has written about green manure, as they play a key role in seasonal planting for edible gardens. However, the only things I’m picking from my garden right now are a few scrumped apples and some hardy herbs.
My garden goals are simple and steady – and enhancing soil health is my main priority. To update concerned readers, the scaffold is for roof repairs, and the garden boundaries are still wobbly, but the neighbours agree with replacing them.
Cover crops work wonders for your garden’s foundation. Soil likes to be covered, which is why unwanted plants pop up. Yet by sowing vigorous crops, you can suppress weeds, attract pollinators, shelter beneficial insects, and fix nitrogen.
Cover crops aren’t always showy – though some, like certain lupin varieties and bird’s foot trefoil, have pretty flowers – but their role is to thrive rather than look decorative. Once established, you can dig them into the soil, chop them for mulch, or let them decompose for worms to incorporate. The real magic happens underground.
Now is the ideal time for sowing these overwintering crops. I’ve chosen forage rye, which breaks up heavy earth, Italian ryegrass, vetch, and beans that aerate soil.
There’s satisfaction in sowing something that won’t stay forever – on the surface, anyway.
