Want to give your soil some TLC? Sow green manure in your garden and you’ll reap the benefits.

Just the other day, I discovered 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.

All this is to say, the garden is in disarray. But there’s a lot to be said for negligence; after returning from holiday, I spotted a sunflower sprouting in the back corner.

Now, however, some urgent tidying is underway. Being six months pregnant, I’ve hired a professional gardener to remove invasive plants 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 green manure.

Green manure are superheroes when it comes to boosting soil quality.

A fellow garden writer has written about cover crops, as they play a key role in seasonal planting for edible gardens. However, the only things I’m harvesting from my garden right now are a few foraged apples and some woody herbs.

My garden goals are modest and consistent – and enhancing soil health is top of the list. For those wondering, 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. Bare soil invites weeds, which is why unwanted plants pop up. But by sowing fast-growing plants, you can control weeds, attract pollinators, host pest-eating creatures, and enrich the soil with nutrients.

Cover crops may not look exciting – though some, like lupins ‘Blue Sonet’ and a flowering legume, have lovely blooms – but their role is to grow vigorously rather than be admired. Once established, you can dig them into the soil, chop them for mulch, or leave them on the surface for worms to pull down. Their work happens underground.

Autumn is perfect for sowing these cold-season plants. My selection includes rye grass, 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 – at least above ground.