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 left behind 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.

In short, the garden is in disarray. Sometimes neglect has its perks; coming back from a trip, I spotted a sunflower sprouting in the back corner.

This week, though, some necessary firefighting is underway. As I’m expecting a baby, I’ve enlisted a local gardener to remove troublesome weeds like green alkanet and robinia saplings from the neighbour’s tree, while leaving the good stuff. Next, in the newly cleared patches, I’ll be sowing cover crops.

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

A fellow garden writer has previously discussed cover crops, as they are essential in crop rotation for vegetable plots. However, the only things I’m harvesting from my garden right now are a few foraged apples and some woody herbs.

My ambitions for the garden are simple and steady – and improving the soil 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 agree with the plan.

Cover crops are like superheroes for your garden’s foundation. Soil likes to be covered, which is why unwanted plants pop up. Yet by sowing vigorous crops, you can control weeds, attract pollinators, shelter beneficial insects, and enrich the soil with nutrients.

Cover crops may not look exciting – though some, like certain lupin varieties and a flowering legume, have pretty flowers – but their role is to grow vigorously rather than be admired. Once established, you can dig them into the soil, cut them for compost, or let them decompose for earthworms to pull down. The real magic happens below the surface.

Autumn is perfect for sowing these cold-season plants. I’ve chosen forage rye, which breaks up heavy earth, a nitrogen-lifter, a weed-suppressor, and field beans.

It feels rewarding in sowing something knowing it’s temporary – on the surface, anyway.