Six of the best plants to sow now…

Here’s a guide to some good manure crops, though you may also find a ready-made mix available in garden centres.

Crimson clover

A perennial for light, sandy soils to sow now and leave until spring before digging in. It has beautiful flowers, but used for green manure you usually dig it in before it blooms. Have a patch to look at and a patch for use!

Yellow trefoil

A low-growing legume for light, alkaline soil, this pretty green manure, loved by bees, is the perfect unobtrusive weed suppressant, and can be left for a year or so before digging in. Stems are supple and rot quicker if dug in before flowering.

Winter field beans

Basically an uncultivated broad bean, this is a brilliant crop for overwintering and is good for heavy soils. Chop a third off once grown to use as a first mulch, before chopping down its further foliage just before flowering. Sow from early September.

Phacelia

A hardy annual to overwinter or, in harsher climates, to sow now and dig in after two or three months. It’s quick-growing, has dense foliage and an extensive root system to benefit soil. The beautiful flowers are also beneficial to wildlife.

Winter tares

This is one with a dense mat of foliage that will provide a hefty portion of nitrogen to ensuing crops. Really good for overwintering in heavy soils. Good weed-suppressing ground cover that can be mixed with other green manures.

Mustard

A fast-growing, hardy annual that’s particularly good at improving the soil texture and retaining moisture. Dig in after three months. As a brassica, it shouldn’t be followed

by any other brassicas as a way of preventing any spread of clubroot.