Does your garden soil need a boost? Plant cover crops in your garden and you’ll reap the benefits.

I recently found a partially finished bottle of Lucozade placed in the euphorbia trough by one of the scaffolders. An architect friend joked, “Are you sure that’s Lucozade?” which made me see it differently.

All this is to say, the garden is a bit of a mess. Sometimes neglect has its perks; 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 hired a local gardener to remove invasive plants like green alkanet and young tree shoots from the neighbour’s tree, while leaving the good stuff. Then, in the open patches, I’ll be sowing green manure.

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 seasonal planting for vegetable plots. However, the only things I’m harvesting from my garden right now are a few scrumped apples and some woody herbs.

My ambitions for the garden are simple and steady – and enhancing soil health is top of the list. To update concerned readers, the scaffolding is for roof repairs, and the fences are still wobbly, but the neighbours agree with the plan.

Cover crops work wonders for your garden’s foundation. Soil likes to be covered, which is why unwanted plants pop up. But by sowing fast-growing plants, you can control weeds, bring in bees, shelter beneficial insects, and fix nitrogen.

Green manure plants aren’t always showy – though some, like lupins ‘Blue Sonet’ and a flowering legume, have lovely blooms – but their purpose is to thrive 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 underground.

Now is the ideal time for sowing these cold-season plants. My selection includes forage rye, which breaks up heavy earth, a nitrogen-lifter, a weed-suppressor, and field beans.

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