A GARDENING expert has revealed an 89p soil hack which will save your soil over the cold winter months.
Summer is now well and truly behind us, and although the UK has been battered by a deluge of wind and rain over the past few weeks, it is not time to hang up your gardening gloves just yet.
Sowing green manure will help to protect your soil this winter[/caption]
With more cold and wet weather to come, it is important to make sure our gardens are winter-proofed, so that they are able to survive the months ahead.
Harsh winter conditions can devastate the health of your garden soil, and wet weather is the perfect environment for pesky weeds to thrive in.
However, gardening pros have revealed that an 89p trick is all you need to do to save your garden this winter.
Green manures are fast growing plants which are sown to cover bare soil.
They are often planted in the autumn to cover areas of soil that would be filled with vegetable plants in the summer.
Their roots can prevent soil erosion and can make sure your soil is packed with nutrients.
Additionally, their foliage prevents unwelcome weeds from making an appearance as well.
The Royal Horticultural Society said: “Most green manure grows over winter when the ground is free of crops.
“Sow them late summer or autumn to help mop up nutrients and prevent them being washed away by winter rain…”
Examples of green manure plants are buckwheat, caliente mustard, and fenugreek.
You can pick the seeds up from the garden centre for as little as 89p.
Experts at Gardener’s World revealed that green manures are a much better method than using synthetic fertiliser.
They said: “Synthetic fertilisers are available and offer quick results, however they reduce the fertility of the soil in the long term as they disrupt, and eventually kill off the fauna and microbes necessary for keeping soil healthy.”
To plant green manure, first measure your plot, and then sprinkle the seeds evenly across it.
October gardening jobs
The Sun’s Gardening Editor, Veronica Lorraine, has shared the jobs you need to tackle in October.
“It’s a good time to trim deciduous hedges – like box, yew, hawthorn, hornbean and beech – plus hedge trimmers are a great upper body workout!
Make leafmould – gather up all the fallen leaves and fill either bin bags or plastic carrier bags. Seal the top, stick a few small holes in the bag – and then store for a year or more. Free compost!
It’s unlikely you’ll get any more red tomatoes so have one final harvest and chuck the plants on the compost. See if you can get the green ones to ripen by putting in a drawer (some say with a banana). Also keep the seeds from a couple – and plant again next year if they went well.
Finish getting in your spring bulbs. Ideally you’d have done daffs and alliums, but tulips are better in the ground when the soil temperature gets a bit colder.
It’s good to leave some plant litter in the ground – it adds to the nutrients as it rots down, and provides shelter and food for insects. But remove the manky brown bits collapsing all over the lawn/winter structure.
Mulch – it not only suppresses weeds, but keeps the soil warm, improves water retention and adds a little winter duvet to your outside space.
October’s a good month for carrots, peas, asparagus, broad beans, and rhubarb.”
Give your seeds a rake to shield them from birds, and then sit back and relax as they grow and protect your soil.
Once it’s time to prepare for your next set of crops, chop the foliage down, and leave it on top of the soil to wilt.
Then dig the plants into the soil, and leave them to decay.
As the plants are decomposing, their nutrients will leak into the soil, and then after about a month, you will be ready to plant fresh crops.
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