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 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.
In short, the garden is a bit of a mess. But there’s a lot to be said for negligence; 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 professional gardener to remove troublesome weeds like a prickly weed and robinia saplings from the neighbour’s tree, while leaving the good stuff. Next, in the newly cleared patches, I’ll be sowing cover crops.
Cover crops act like heroes when it comes to improving soil health.
My gardening friend Claire has written about cover crops, as they are essential in crop rotation for vegetable plots. However, 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 simple and steady – and enhancing soil health is my main priority. For those wondering, the scaffold is for roof repairs, and the garden boundaries are still wobbly, but the neighbours are on board with replacing them.
Cover crops are like superheroes for your garden’s foundation. Bare soil invites weeds, which is why weeds appear. Yet by sowing vigorous crops, you can control weeds, bring in bees, shelter beneficial insects, and enrich the soil with nutrients.
Cover crops aren’t always showy – though some, like lupins ‘Blue Sonet’ and a flowering legume, have pretty flowers – but their purpose is to thrive rather than be admired. Once established, you can turn them under, cut them for compost, or leave them on the surface for worms to incorporate. The real magic happens underground.
Autumn is perfect for sowing these cold-season plants. My selection includes forage rye, great for clay soil, a nitrogen-lifter, a weed-suppressor, and field beans.
There’s satisfaction in sowing something knowing it’s temporary – on the surface, anyway.
