Hi Angela,
For many years I plant some of my succulent for the summer in the garden. Now it is the time to dig them out for the winter to come.
I'm not making a big deal of the ground. It's a mix of our local ground; some stoney sand and for the drainage some stone. (it can be very wet here and it is not to hot - never more than a few days 30 C.)
Practicly all do fine and grow sometimes like weed.
In the picture a E. lilicene that has been in the ground from april till this afternoon and it looks fine to me.
I don't know your weatherconditions, but I would not worry to much. (Maybe shade is needed in California???I don't know about that) Plants -if healthy - are strong.

greets
Harry

Have a look at:

http://smsf-mastergardeners.ucanr.org/Elkus/Planting_a_succulent_garden/

I, too, have sandy soil. The difference being that I get 30-35 inches of rain between July and September. So good drainage is a must!

I have amended my soil pretty much like the example BoulderGrower posted, building up the beds some. I did mix the sand back in for some areas. All of my landscaping slopes down to the lake or down to the road, so I worked with that terrain as well.

I also have a raised island that is Florida sand and something black, maybe old loam or topsoil, layered in. When I plant anything out there I dig a large hole and fill it with a gritty mix. This has worked well for me.

I can't grow some of the nice plants that you can grow due to the soggy summers. Echeveria and Aeonium really struggle. But aloes, agaves, sedums and similar plants do very well with this plan.

Good luck!

Looks like you could mix in some crushed granite or pea gravel and a touch of compost and call it a day.

Put the plants in the ground, and see how they do. you might not need any amendments. The money saved on amendments could be spent on more plants........

Rob

Thanks for the input everyone! I feel better about not re-creating a sandy mix from scratch to replace my native garden soil. Sounds like Harry and Crenda are doing well with using existing soil as a baseline.

I think I'll add a mix of stuff I have lying around: perlite, cactus pot mix, and a little compost. Probably 1 part mix to 4 or 5 parts garden dirt.

Thanks again

I would use pea gravel or some chunky rock instead of perlite. It will float to the top or away with time..I use a small crushed granite.