sand is not heavy soil

ken

I won't pretend to be able to tell you what to do. Most of my experience has been in amending clay heavy soil, not sand. Today I have almost perfect soil which is black and heavy with coal dust. Coal dust is carbon which absorbs and holds moisture without being soggy.
But I have had experience in dealing with landscape supply centers in regards to soil. Many will put together a mix that will amend a difficult soil if you bring them an analysis of your soil. They vary in the amount you need to buy for delivery, and where they are in relation to your house. Most will proportion things together with a front loader if you have a large pickup and don't have a sensitive heart as the loader dumps it into your bed. I confess to having driven a pick-up way overloaded with dirt where if I were shorter I might not have seen over the hood.

If you were to visit their 'yard' you should find huge bins of humus, compost, sand, different mulches, screened black dirt, etc.

But it really isn't, in my opinion, costly compared to buying individual bags. Being a woman I have a hard time muscling around bags of soil amendments. I would rather have a pile and two 5 gallon pails to even left and right loads, and simply shovel into them what I can comfortably carry.

I can't see where you can go wrong working with a local company who supplies landscapers in your area with the soil mix you see commercially. Their reputation is at stake.

Theresa

(sigh) Yes Ken, I realize that sand is not heavy soil.

I was sneaking in another totally different question without explaining myself. My garden by the pond has heavy wet soil and I was wondering if peat would improve it.

Thanks for the info Theresa. I have seen the bins of compost at my local garden center. I was just wondering if you can buy anything good in bags because its only one garden that really needs it. I would love to have some delivered, but I don't really have room for it.

I can't attest to the quality of bagged compost but I have certainly used it and the plants haven protested or croaked, lol.

Regarding the stuff in bins at the garden centers- one place I go to let's me fill up a large bucket for a small price. I just pull up to the bins, shovel it in, and load it into my van. Another place just sold me half a yard of super loam and I just shoveled that into various buckets. I find that easier to deal with than bags of soil for some reason.

This post was edited by coll_123 on Mon, Jul 8, 13 at 9:25

Oh, thats a good idea. Didn't think of that. But then again I am not a morning person. I think faster in the middle of the night.

I'll check with the garden center. A bunch of buckets would be very doable.

Thanks

I was sneaking in another totally different question without explaining myself. My garden by the pond has heavy wet soil and I was wondering if peat would improve it.

==>> caught you.. lol ...

peat will hold more water ... not your solution there ....

you need to improve drainage.. not decrease it ...

===

as to the sand.. could you get a couple yards of good soil delivered... and simply put 6 to 8 inches on top of the sand.. and go from there ?????

do you know how to buy good soil???

where are you in 4b?? perhaps we have other members nearby.. that could guide you ...

a good black soil... when damp.. can be made into a snowball like form.. and when you open your hand.. it will slowly break apart ... that tells you little clay.. drainage capacity .. and water retention ... its what a farmer would call.. friable ....

and.. most importantly.. it smells like good soil ... i know that sounds stupid.. but the smell test works...

are you up to some wheelbarrowing... its a lot better than spending wildly on bagged stuff ....

ken

btw: the boggy stuff near the pond.. might make a great soil for over the sand .... wonder how it smells... i might take a wheelbarrow full.. and dump it on the sand.. and leave it for a week or two.. to find out .... let me know about the smell...

I'm with Ken, add garden soil rather than just compost - a local business that sells mulch by bulk will likely have garden soil. They mix 1/2 compost with 1/2 pulverized black dirt - here I can pick up for $35/yard. If you don't have a truck, find a local kid with a truck or trailer and pay him to pick up and put it in the garden. Mixing it with your sandy soil I would see as a bonus. A local small hosta seller has been mixing sand into their soil one row at a time for years - you could practically dig a plant with your hands...very friable.

Paul

that's what is sold as "super loam" here- a blend of soil and compost. I like that much better than the garden soils sold in bags. I don't have a truck, so I put a tarp down in the back of my van and just put the buckets on that.

This post was edited by coll_123 on Mon, Jul 8, 13 at 11:25

With sandy soil anything organic will improve the soil. I have a bad back, so I buy 2 cft bags of amendments which I can drive from the store up to my garage with my car. From there it goes flat or downhill with my cart to my gardens. For many years I bought bags of 'humus' at minimum cost. Now I have 3 compost bins with rotting chopped leaves from last fall. For every hole for a hosta I add a 4 gal bucket full of that leaf mold/compost, seem to be doing OK.
Bernd

When I'm trying to supplement my ground soil for flower beds, I generally buy the bags of BLACKKOW (BlackCow?) which is composted cow manure. Yellow 40 lb bags. Sold by Lowes and Home Depot here in the south. Something similar can work for you, if you find hauling it too much trouble.

I also have started buying the large bags of shredded pine bark very small. But I do not have sandy soil. Putting the mini nuggets of pine bark near your pond could help with drainage, and not cloudy up the water there. But not the compost stuff. Think pine bark near the water, unless you are dealing with rising water to wash it away.

Ken, I am afraid my soil down by the pond, is rather "stinky".

I do have a small pile of good black soil, and maybe the best option is just adding that on top. We get a load delivered every couple years, but my stockpile is getting kind of small.

I just thought it might be easier to pick up a few bags of compost.

The mini pine nuggets are a good idea for down by the pond. I will see if I can find them locally.

Thanks for all your suggestions. I knew you would all have some good ideas for me.

Funny thing about adding organic matter to either sand or clay soils, it will help both. In sand, it will allow it to hold moisture longer. In clay, it will help add porous spaces and will improve drainage. Unfortunately, in clay it is only as good as the depth you work it in. Deeper than that will be the same, slow draining clay and if you amend a small area you create a bathtub that the area drains into. If, however, you can work it in deep enough and in a wide enough area, organic matter will work well in clay.

tj

TJ, thank you for that very clear explanation of what happens in clay soil....sandy soil too. It finally got through to me about the bathtub in clay soils.

It will work if you keep in mind the lay of the land, and help the drainage contour stay natural, heading it toward the low ground....keep that working for you with clay--always a good idea.

In the Ozarks I did a lot of my gardening in raised beds because of the hardpan and clay. We dug with a mattock and rock bar, but it formed a subsurface clay pot with no drain holes. The raised beds resulted in what I call side drainage.

where I am now doesn't need it. I have the most ideal drainage I have ever gardened in.

Most bagged soil and composts I have bought (particularly animal waste compost) really stinks when opened. Mushroom compost the least. And how well composted can it be when you open it and find weeds sprouting inside the bag. I think someone doesn't know the difference between compost and rotted organic matter.

I think I have it right: composting is decomposition by aerobic bacteria (in the presence of air) and sewer rot is decomposition by non-aerobic bacteria (where oxygen is not present). In the bags no oxygen is present. That is what you get in a wet boggy area where water won't let the soil aereate, so it only would worsen the condition to use the soggy bagged compost.

Theresa