Any spare patch of ground, such as post-harvest vegetable beds or even bits of garden you’ve yet to decide what to do with, can be sown with green manure. The name covers a plethora of plants that will protect the soil from the weather, take light and water from weeds, and leave a nutritious, nitrogen-rich, structure-improving legacy. Quick-growing green types to sow now include phacelia, a pretty purple flower that bees love; fenugreek, a fast-growing crop that gives lots of organic matter to dig in; and sweet clover, which is deep-rooting, breaking up heavy soil so you don’t have to.
There are many more, so there’s sure to be one to suit your soil type and the length of time you need coverage for; greenmanure.co.uk has a good range. Prepare the ground properly by digging, weeding and treading, then sow as per the instructions, keeping things moist until the seeds have germinated and the plants are off to a good start.
When the time comes, simply chop the plants down and leave everything to decompose, or work the greenery into the soil with the end of your spade. Both are superb alternatives to lugging heavy plastic bags of manure around.
Laetitia Maklouf
What to do in the garden this week
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• If you’re going on holiday, move your houseplants away from the window into a shady area and group them together on a tray or individual saucers filled with water. Another trick is to put them all in the bath, with the plug in, on top of a soaking wet towel: homemade capillary matting.
• Nesting birds should have flown by now, so it’s safe to prune your hedges. This is a great way to regain control over the garden, as clean, restful areas of foliage (or cut grass) will draw attention away from any neglect in the flowerbeds.
• To help keep things looking gorgeous, don’t stop picking cut flowers, deadheading your blooms and tying in the searching, twining stems of any climbers.
• Watering and feeding of pots is important this month. If you’re relying on a neighbour to do this while you are away, make their job easier by leaving them ready-measured quantities of liquid feed in small jars labelled with the date when they are to be administered.
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We dig
Boughton House, the Duke of Buccleuch’s seat in Northamptonshire, is an extraordinary place — more like a French chateau than an English stately home. The house and gardens are open daily until the end of the month.
Be sure to take in Vistas of Vast Extension, an exhibition in the 17th-century “unfinished” wing, which not only traces the history of the garden and extensive parkland from the Elizabethan era to the present day, but includes paintings, poetry and early gardening books along the way.
Noon-5pm; entry £10, garden only £6; boughtonhouse.co.uk