Green manure

I'm a big fan of green manure. They're seeds you sow to enrich the soil - they grow quickly and suppress weeds, add nutrients into the soil and aerate heavy clay as they grow, and you cut them and dig them in to keep all the goodness in the soil. Or let them flower for the bees, which I sometimes do.

I use them as ground cover, for example in places where I want to see a bit of green that won't need the same attention as grass in between paths, or when I've harvested crops and don't want weeds to take over.

This is where I had my early potatoes and I now have mustard, phacelia, alfalfa and rye grass growing happily.