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

I recently found a half-empty bottle of Lucozade 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 a bit of a mess. But there’s a lot to be said for negligence; coming back from a trip, I spotted a sunflower growing in the back corner.

This week, though, some necessary firefighting is underway. Being six months pregnant, I’ve enlisted a local gardener to remove invasive plants like a prickly weed and robinia saplings from the neighbour’s tree, while leaving the good stuff. Then, in the newly cleared 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 edible gardens. However, 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 enhancing soil health is top of the list. To update concerned readers, the scaffolding is for roof repairs, and the garden boundaries are yet to be fixed, but the neighbours are on board with the plan.

Green manure are like superheroes for your garden’s foundation. Soil likes to be covered, which is why weeds appear. But by sowing vigorous crops, you can control weeds, attract pollinators, shelter beneficial insects, and fix nitrogen.

Cover crops aren’t always showy – though some, like lupins ‘Blue Sonet’ and a flowering legume, have pretty flowers – but their purpose is to grow vigorously rather than look decorative. After they’ve grown, you can dig them into the soil, chop them for mulch, or let them decompose for worms to pull down. The real magic happens below the surface.

Now is the ideal time for sowing these cold-season plants. I’ve chosen forage rye, which breaks up heavy earth, Italian ryegrass, vetch, and beans that aerate soil.

It feels rewarding in planting seeds knowing it’s temporary – at least above ground.