Soil in need of some love? Plant cover crops in your garden and you’ll enrich your soil.
I recently found a partially finished bottle of Lucozade left behind 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 in disarray. Sometimes neglect has its perks; after returning from holiday, I spotted a sunflower sprouting in the back corner.
This week, though, some necessary firefighting is underway. Being six months pregnant, I’ve hired a professional gardener to tackle troublesome weeds like green alkanet and young tree shoots from the neighbour’s tree, while leaving the good stuff. Then, in the newly cleared patches, I’ll be sowing green manure.
Green manure are superheroes when it comes to improving soil health.
A fellow garden writer has written about cover crops, as they play a key role in seasonal planting for edible gardens. But, the only things I’m harvesting from my garden right now are a few scrumped apples and some hardy herbs.
My garden goals are modest and consistent – and improving the soil is my main priority. To update concerned readers, the scaffold is for roof repairs, and the fences 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 weeds appear. Yet by sowing fast-growing plants, you can suppress weeds, bring in bees, host pest-eating creatures, and fix nitrogen.
Cover crops aren’t always showy – though some, like lupins ‘Blue Sonet’ and a flowering legume, have pretty flowers – but their role is to grow vigorously rather than be admired. After they’ve grown, you can turn them under, cut them for compost, or let them decompose for earthworms to pull down. The real magic happens below the surface.
Now is the ideal time for sowing these cold-season plants. My selection includes rye grass, which breaks up heavy earth, a nitrogen-lifter, vetch, and beans that aerate soil.
It feels rewarding in planting seeds that won’t stay forever – at least above ground.
