🔗 Share this article Want to give your soil some TLC? Plant green manure in your garden and you’ll enrich your soil. Just the other day, I discovered a half-empty bottle of an energy drink placed in the euphorbia trough by one of the scaffolders. A visiting architect commented, “Are you sure that’s Lucozade?” which made me see it differently. In short, the garden is in disarray. Sometimes neglect has its perks; coming back from a trip, I spotted a sunflower growing in the back corner. Now, however, some necessary firefighting is underway. Being six months pregnant, 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. Then, in the newly cleared patches, I’ll be sowing cover crops. Green manure are superheroes 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 foraged apples and some hardy herbs. My ambitions for the garden are modest and consistent – and enhancing soil health is my main priority. For those wondering, the scaffold is for roof repairs, and the garden boundaries are yet to be fixed, but the neighbours are on board with the plan. Green manure are like superheroes for soil health. Soil likes to be covered, which is why unwanted plants pop up. Yet by sowing fast-growing plants, you can suppress weeds, bring in bees, shelter beneficial insects, and enrich the soil with nutrients. Cover crops may not look exciting – though some, like certain lupin varieties and bird’s foot trefoil, 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 incorporate. The real magic happens below the surface. Now is the ideal time for sowing these overwintering crops. My selection includes forage rye, great for clay soil, Italian ryegrass, a weed-suppressor, and field beans. It feels rewarding in sowing something knowing it’s temporary – at least above ground.