what is your native soil..

why sand ...

what are you thinking doesnt like good soil ..

why not just start a new bed of all sand???

ken

Adding a small amount of sand to soil will likely result in something you aren't thrilled about.

What do you mean by 'rich soil'?

I'm guessing on why you want to amend the soil -- look for "fines" -- basically finely ground up pine bark. It may be sold as "soil conditioner" instead.

Mixing that in with thick, rich soil will improve drainage and help prevent compacting of the soil if you walk on it in wet weather.

Does that sound like your goal?

I think the goal is to grow certain plants considered difficult locally. If so, it would definitely help to reveal the identities of the plants.

Rather than trying to mix plants with different growing needs in one bed, I'd follow Ken's suggestion to make a new bed. If you are looking for sharp drainage, make it somewhat raised as well as having a leaner, faster-draining soil.

It isn't always practical to make a new bed as per Ken's suggestion.

I've never added sand around a plant, but I've done it many times when digging a new hole for a specific plant. I did it last year when adding a gaillardia burgundy and the plant returned which it never had before. I just buy a 50 lb bag of coarse builder's sand from home depot and thoroughly mix a few shovels in. This year, I'm also adding a handful of pea gravel to the bottom of the planting hole as needed.

Hi, everyone,

Have appreciated your thoughts. Haven't looked at email for ages as we have had an incredible heat wave followed by destructive winds. So I have been entirely preoccupied with watering and staking to save all our beds [we have over 35 beds with all variations of environments]. We did amend my garden with sand and tilled it before this year's planting. The beds I was referring to had a mixture of blended soil and what is called here "chicken manure soil" - hence what I call "rich". At this point everything is actually doing well, so I guess I did not need to worry. I will remember all your comments for any future needs. Many thanks again.