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Just the other day, I discovered a partially finished bottle of Lucozade placed in the euphorbia trough by one of the scaffolders. A visiting architect joked, “Are you sure that’s Lucozade?” giving me a new perspective.

In short, the garden is a bit of a mess. Sometimes neglect has its perks; coming back from a trip, I spotted a sunflower growing in the back corner.

Now, however, some urgent tidying is underway. As I’m expecting a baby, I’ve enlisted a local gardener to tackle troublesome weeds like a prickly weed and robinia saplings from the neighbour’s tree, but keeping desirable plants. Next, in the open patches, I’ll be sowing green manure.

Cover crops act like heroes when it comes to improving soil health.

A fellow garden writer 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 simple and steady – and enhancing soil health is top of the list. To update concerned readers, the scaffold is for roof repairs, and the garden boundaries are yet to be fixed, but the neighbours are on board with the plan.

Cover crops work wonders for soil health. Bare soil invites weeds, which is why weeds appear. But by sowing fast-growing plants, you can suppress weeds, attract pollinators, shelter beneficial insects, and fix nitrogen.

Cover crops aren’t always showy – though some, like certain lupin varieties and bird’s foot trefoil, have lovely blooms – 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 worms to pull down. The real magic happens underground.

Now is the ideal time for sowing these overwintering crops. My selection includes rye grass, great for clay soil, a nitrogen-lifter, vetch, and field beans.

It feels rewarding in sowing something knowing it’s temporary – at least above ground.