Does your garden soil need a boost? Sow green manure in your garden and you’ll reap the benefits.
I recently found a half-empty bottle of an energy drink left behind 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 in disarray. But there’s a lot to be said for negligence; coming back from a trip, I spotted a sunflower sprouting in the back corner.
This week, though, some urgent tidying is underway. Being six months pregnant, I’ve hired a professional gardener to tackle invasive plants like a prickly weed and young tree shoots from the neighbour’s tree, but keeping desirable plants. Then, in the open patches, I’ll be sowing green manure.
Green manure are superheroes when it comes to boosting soil quality.
A fellow garden writer has written about green manure, 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 hardy herbs.
My ambitions for the garden are modest and consistent – and improving the soil is top of the list. To update concerned readers, the scaffold is for roof repairs, and the garden boundaries are yet to be fixed, but the neighbours are on board with the plan.
Cover crops are like superheroes for soil health. Bare soil invites weeds, which is why unwanted plants pop up. But by sowing fast-growing plants, you can control weeds, attract pollinators, shelter beneficial insects, and fix nitrogen.
Green manure plants aren’t always showy – though some, like lupins ‘Blue Sonet’ and bird’s foot trefoil, have lovely blooms – but their role is to grow vigorously rather than be admired. After they’ve grown, you can turn them under, chop them for mulch, or leave them on the surface for worms to pull down. Their work happens underground.
Autumn is perfect for sowing these overwintering crops. I’ve chosen rye grass, which breaks up heavy earth, a nitrogen-lifter, vetch, and field beans.
There’s satisfaction in planting seeds that won’t stay forever – on the surface, anyway.
