Soil in need of some love? Sow green manure in your garden and you’ll enrich your soil.

Just the other day, I discovered 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?” 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.

This week, though, some urgent tidying is underway. Being six months pregnant, I’ve hired a local gardener to remove invasive plants like a prickly weed 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.

Green manure are superheroes when it comes to improving soil health.

My gardening friend Claire has written about green manure, as they are essential in seasonal planting for vegetable plots. But, the only things I’m picking from my garden right now are a few scrumped apples and some woody herbs.

My ambitions for the garden are modest and consistent – and improving the soil is my main priority. To update concerned readers, the scaffolding is for roof repairs, and the garden boundaries are yet to be fixed, but the neighbours agree with the plan.

Cover crops work wonders 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, shelter beneficial insects, and fix nitrogen.

Green manure plants may not look exciting – though some, like certain lupin varieties and a flowering legume, have pretty flowers – but their purpose is to thrive rather than look decorative. After they’ve grown, you can dig them into the soil, cut them for compost, or let them decompose for earthworms to incorporate. Their work happens underground.

Now is the ideal time for sowing these overwintering crops. I’ve chosen rye grass, which breaks up heavy earth, Italian ryegrass, a weed-suppressor, and beans that aerate soil.

It feels rewarding in planting seeds that won’t stay forever – at least above ground.