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 placed 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.

In short, the garden is a bit of a mess. But there’s a lot to be said for negligence; after returning from holiday, 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 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 cover crops.

Cover crops act like heroes when it comes to improving soil health.

A fellow garden writer has written about green manure, as they are essential in crop rotation for edible gardens. But, the only things I’m harvesting from my garden right now are a few foraged apples and some hardy herbs.

My garden goals are simple and steady – and enhancing soil health is top of the list. For those wondering, the scaffold is for roof repairs, and the fences are still wobbly, but the neighbours are on board with replacing them.

Green manure are like superheroes for your garden’s foundation. Bare soil invites weeds, which is why weeds appear. Yet by sowing fast-growing plants, you can control weeds, attract pollinators, host pest-eating creatures, and enrich the soil with nutrients.

Green manure plants aren’t always showy – though some, like lupins ‘Blue Sonet’ and bird’s foot trefoil, have pretty flowers – but their role is to thrive rather than be admired. Once established, you can turn them under, chop them for mulch, or leave them on the surface for worms to pull down. The real magic happens underground.

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.

There’s satisfaction in planting seeds that won’t stay forever – on the surface, anyway.