Amandine - Oxford garden coach

30/05/2026

Some gluts are better than others - been eating homegrown asparagus for 2 months and still not sick of them.

Keep 'em coming until the summer solstice ☀️🌿

30/05/2026

Clay soil in Oxford.

It's not all bad as it remains moisture and nutrition but it goes soggy in winter and turns into concrete in summer (or spring nowadays) and it needs constant additions of organic matter to improve its structure.

Before you blame watering or bad luck, grab a handful of soil from the bed and squeeze it. What it does in your hand has already narrowed down which plants will ever settle in.

Sandy soil feels gritty and falls apart the moment you open your fist. It drains fast and holds little, so deep-rooted, drought-adapted plants belong here: lavender, rosemary, yarrow, and sedum. The same plants rot in anything wetter.

Clay soil feels sticky and rolls into a long ribbon. It holds water and packs down hard, so it wants tough-rooted survivors that push straight through it: baptisia, asters, daylilies, and ironw**d.

Silty soil feels smooth, almost floury, and stays moist and fertile but compacts over time. Moisture-lovers settle in fast: blue flag iris, swamp milkw**d, ferns, and Joe Pye w**d.

Loam holds its shape, then crumbles when you press it. It is the balanced soil that drains well and still feeds roots, which is why it grows almost anything, from tomatoes and peppers to most perennials.

Squeeze a handful from each bed before you buy another plant. Match the plant to the soil you already have, and most of the guesswork falls away.

29/05/2026

28/05/2026

28/05/2026

Enjoy a wee dip when it's hot? So do your houseplants!

Leave them in their cool bath for a few hours, wet their leaves and put them over a tray of lecca balls (or put a bit of gravel in their container/saucer) afterwards to keep humidity levels up.

28/05/2026

If you're worried about your garden's ability to cope with future droughts, head for the comments section which has a link to an article I wrote on 'Climate-proofing your garden'

Oxford, the longest running continuous weather station in UK history, has preliminarily broken its maximum temperature record for May by OVER 3ºC with a temperature of 33.7ºC. (H/T MetJam – links in the comments 👇👇👇)

27/05/2026

23/05/2026

Sadly very early for the pond shade to go up but needs must.

21/05/2026

Who doesn't like the fragrance of star jasmine on a warm evening? ☀️💛