5 Strategies to Improve Your Garden While the World Melts
0August 16, 2022 by Hope Gardens
aka what’s green manure? check out the answers below!
Trash or compost joyless plants. If your garden makes you sigh rather than sing, it’s ok to pack it in. Plants that aren’t thriving now are not likely to show improvement over these hot summer and early fall months. Out they come.
Keep watering. Soil is a living thing. This is your main investment in the garden and what you need to focus your energy on protecting. Keep watering your soil regularly. You don’t need to soak your beds and containers through everyday. I prefer less water with more consistency. Remember trees are different needing deeper watering infrequently. Also keep an eye out for natives. Many need very little summer water.
Cover your soil. Protect your precious ecosystem with mulch and a row cover. This also suppresses weeds and retains water.
These crops are bad-asses of the garden. Depending on the crop they can
🤘🏼form an alliance with bacteria to harness nitrogen oxide from the air
🎸 grow a deep tap root that pulls embedded soil nutrients towards the soil surface
🚀 attracts beneficial insects while the gardener is taking a well-deserved break
🧨 gathers toxins or excess nutrients – sometimes called a trap crop, sometimes called “thirsty.”
👊🏽 These rock stars of green manure include: nettles, moringa, dandelion, radish, beans, fova beans, mustard, com free, borage, sorrel, amaranth, yarrow.
Lastly enjoy the fruits of your labor. Do one little thing like make a tomato and cucumber salad, marinate and grill that zucchini, muddle some over-ripe strawberries into your thyme lemonade.
Or just watch the bees enjoy your cover crop. You did good. See you in November.
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