I'm on the edge of the sand in Kershaw SC. Beautiful Sandy Loam!!! I'm new to this type of soil myself, just moved into my house a year ago. Prior I was in NC with red clay and a little topsoil over it. The last house was actually Yellow clay with streaks of blue Potters clay running thru it. NOTHING would grow there!! First off, you are going to love the ease of cultivation for the soil!! If you need to dig or till you will think you are in heaven! For grass, plant Bermuda, Centipede or Zoysia(sp). I elected to go with Bermuda because of the lesser price and drought tolerence. I have a blank slate and was starting from complete scratch. I dug up the stumps, raked the soil, threw out the fertilizer and seed and instant yard. No straw and little water. For the first few weeks I had to water but after that, cut back to once or twice a week till water restrictions kicked into stage 3. Then I still had green grass until the fall dormancy stage. For plants, I'm having great success with Palms and Evergreens. I haven't had the chance to put any beds in yet. Last summer was spent on outbuildings to put the tools in. Native on the land, I have a lot of pine and oak. And some prickly paw cactus. I will be doing veggies this year, and have seeds for Sweet corn, Squash, Watermellon, Cantalope, cukes, eggplant, Sweet pepper and banana pepper. Got the pepper seed and eggplant seed germanitaing now in peat pots for planting in a few weeks. I just got a dwarf Cavindish Banana today that I'm going to put in a container for the deck and have a Dwarf tangerine, dwarf pineapple, strawberries, roses and more palms on order. I'm going with a fairly tropical theme for the landscaping. Plans are hostas, annuals, more roses, spring bulbs for next year, and about any thing else I see that strikes my fancy. I'm going to try some ornamental grasses as well, I love the fountain grasses. LOL I'm like a kid in a candy store!! :-) My beds will be going in very soon and I'm going with the approach to till the ground, and mix in some potting soil. I had great success with this method at my old house where I had red clay. And I'm very open to any suggestions from anyone on any other plants and ideas!!

Welcome to South Carolina!
I'm surprised your new home has such sandy soil; most of us are dealing with clay.
I think your best bet would be to hold off buying new plants. Take the time to decide where you want to start a new garden or expand/improve an existing one. Then put your money into soil conditioners like compost to improve the garden. The more you add now, the easier it will be later.
If you're just too anxious to wait and want to get some plants in now, plug the word "Xeriscape" into an internet search engine and you'll find many wonderful plants that will grow in sand.

It seems most of the counties in NC have some program dealing with compost. In Guilford, you can purchase it from the county for $20 per ton (lovely black hot stuff). Other counties have give aways at certain times of the year. I'd stock up on compost and then take a look at what is selling in the garden centers and the farmer's markets. The farmer's markets are a great source for plants, fresh fruits and vegetables and information. Find the nearest one and go hang out on Saturday morning. The stuff they are selling is, with few exceptions, going to do well in your new home. You'll also find there are lot of wholesale nurseries in the state. Growing nursery plants for the trade is big business. Track them down, they'll sell to walk ins.

Welcome to NC - I've been here a bit over a year (from TN) and its a wonderful place ot garden.

They don't call this the "sand hills" for nothing! But we grow just about everything in this sand. Only plants that are really bog lovers are off limits. You know all those plant tags that say, "MUST HAVE GOOD DRAINAGE"? Well...now ya do!

The important thing is to continually add to the sand - compost, mulch, shredded leaves...anything that will gradually break down and hold a bit of moisture in...add a little nutrition...make DIRT out of it.

I've gardened in adobe and in Georgia red clay. I'll take the sand, thanks. It's easy diggin!

Are ya gonna have a place at Lake Murray? My grandparents had one there; still have friends down there as well. I don't remember much in the way of sand in the area, but then again, the peach orchards are sandy looking. Oh you're gonna LOVE IT about the 4th of July when Taylor's starts their harvest. PEACHESPEACHESPEACHES....mmmmmmmmmm.

Good luck!

Jody, would you be so kind as to post the how and where of getting the Guilford compost? I live in eastern Guilford county and would love to get it for my wife's new veggie garden going in soon! Thanks very much.