🔗 Share this article 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. 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 growing in the back corner. This week, though, some urgent tidying is underway. Being six months pregnant, I’ve enlisted a local gardener to remove invasive plants like green alkanet and young tree shoots from the neighbour’s tree, while leaving the good stuff. Next, in the open 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 are essential in crop rotation for vegetable plots. But, the only things I’m harvesting from my garden right now are a few scrumped apples and some hardy herbs. My ambitions for the garden are modest and consistent – and improving the soil is my main priority. For those wondering, the scaffolding is for roof repairs, and the garden boundaries are yet to be fixed, but the neighbours agree with replacing them. 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, host pest-eating creatures, and enrich the soil with nutrients. Green manure plants may not look exciting – though some, like lupins ‘Blue Sonet’ and a flowering legume, have pretty flowers – but their purpose is to grow vigorously rather than look decorative. Once established, you can turn them under, cut them for compost, or let them decompose for earthworms to pull down. Their work happens below the surface. Autumn is perfect for sowing these cold-season plants. I’ve chosen rye grass, great for clay soil, a nitrogen-lifter, vetch, and beans that aerate soil. It feels rewarding in planting seeds knowing it’s temporary – at least above ground.