Are you wondering, “how do you farm on sandy soil?” The truth is, this isn’t always an easy question to answer. However, there are tips you can incorporate into your gardening and farming strategies to make sandy soil easier to deal with.
What You'll Learn Today
Types of Soil
Before diving into the question of how to farm on sandy soil, it’s important to first understand what sandy soil actually is.
As a natural resource, soil can loosely be categorized into many different soil types. Each of these types has different characteristics with various limitations and benefits.
Clay soil is the heaviest type of soil. Since the particles in clay soil are large, they hold a high amount of water. It becomes compact easily and drains slowly. It can be a difficult soil type to work with for this reason, especially when you consider that it cracks when it becomes dry.
Silt soil is light and retains moisture easily. It has medium-sized particles that can easily become compacted and can wash away in heavy rainfall.
Loam is often considered the ideal soil type as it is a mixture of sand, clay, and silt. This kind of soil is fertile and easy to work with, offering excellent drainage.
Last but not least, sandy soil. Sandy soil tends to be warm, dry, and light. It is low in nutrients and high in acidity, draining water quickly. It is relatively easy to work with and also warms up faster in the spring. That said, sandy soil also dries out and loses nutrients faster.
You may also encounter chalk or peat soil, though these aren’t as common as loam, silt, sand, and clay.
Is Sandy Soil Easy to Cultivate?
Sandy soil tends to be relatively easy to work with. It drains quickly and is light, meaning it won’t turn into a heavy, sodden mess when you try to plant into it.
Because it drains quickly, though, you’re going to need to pay special attention to your irrigation to make sure your plants don’t dry out.
Not only that, but sand warms up quickly in the springtime.
It doesn’t hold as many nutrients as you might like, so you may find yourself having to fertilize more often.
How to Turn Sandy Soil Into Good Soil?
If you’re sick of feeling as though you live on a beach and want to stop having to water your garden constantly, there are a few tips you can try to improve your sandy soil.
First, perform a soil test. Although you might think your soil is pure sand, there’s a good chance that it actually contains a combination of soil types.
To figure this out, pick up a handful of soil. Wet it, then attempt to roll it into a ball. Sandy soil will crumble and fall completely apart. Clay soil will clump together, while silty soil will appear almost soapy. Loam will be somewhere in between.
This helpful video will show you another simple test you can do for your soil:
If you’re still not sure, feel free to take a sample over to your local cooperative extension. They will often test your soil for you for free (or for minimal expense). Then you’ll have zero guesswork involved!
Once you know what kind of soil you have, you can work to improve it.
The name of the game here is organic matter.
Adding lots of organic matter can improve any kind of soil – regardless of whether that soil is sand, silt, clay, or anything in between.
Both compost and manure are great choices. Not only will they add nutrients to the soil but they can also increase the pH of acidic sandy soils.
Organic matter will improve soil structure and its ability to hold water. You’ll need to add organic matter frequently – ideally at a ratio of at least two five-gallon buckets of organic matter per square yard each year. You can also apply organic matter as a mulch, which will not only improve the soil as it breaks down but can also limit erosion.
You won’t notice much improvement after the first year or perhaps even after the second. After doing this for several growing seasons, however, you’ll likely discover that your sandy soil is no longer sandy.
What to Farm in Sandy Soil: A Few Sand-Loving Crops to Try
If you’d rather work with the soil you have rather than try to change it (or worse, try to work against it!) There are a few plants you can try to grow.
Certain plants prefer the conditions offered by sandy soil. They might like growing in sand because they don’t like having wet feet or they prefer soils that are not overly fertile.
Some good plants to consider growing in sand include:
- Tulips
- Sun roses
- Tree mallow
- Hibiscus
- Carrots
- Potatoes
- Parsnips
- Lettuce
- Corn
- Strawberries
- Squash
- Peppers
- Collard greens
- Tomatoes
Root crops, especially, do quite well in sandy soil. That’s because the loose, airy soil makes it easy for these plants to extend their roots deep into the soil. They don’t become misshapen or craggy, as is often the case when they are grown in heavier soils, like clay.
Just keep in mind that some plants may like the looser conditions of sand but will still need supplemental watering and nutrients. Potatoes, for instance, tend to be thirsty, so up your watering regimen a bit when growing tubers in the sand.
Gardening in Sandy Soil: Other Tips
There are a few other tips you can follow when you’re gardening in sandy soil.
One is to consider planting in raised beds. By growing in raised beds, you don’t have to worry about the quality or texture of the soil at all, since you’ll be planting several inches above the actual soil line and adding new soil of your own.
Building and then filling new raised beds with soil can be costly and time-consuming, but worth it if you don’t have the time to commit to improving your sandy soil over time with organic matter.
You may also want to install a drip irrigation system for your garden. This will allow you to water your plants more frequently and to do so where it counts – at the roots – rather than watering the leaves.
Be sure to follow proper spacing when planting your vegetables and flowers, too. It is already tough for plants to get the water and nutrients they need in sandy soil – don’t make it more difficult for them by making them compete with each other!
Finally, remember to fertilize your plants often. Avoid using synthetic fertilizers whenever possible, as these only make it harder for soil structure to improve. Use organic matter, like compost or manure. It will provide your plants with the nutrients they need while also improving soil structure over time.
Is Sandy Soil Best for Farming?
Sandy soil isn’t the best for farming, but as long as you follow the tips we gave you above, it’s not the worst, either.
The truth is that there is no “worst” soil for farming. There are some soils, like sand and clay, that can certainly be more challenging to work with.
However, once you know the best practices for improving and working with the soil you have, it will be much easier for you to grow crops – no matter where you might be!
Plus, gardening in warm, sandy soil will make you feel as though you’re on the beach. So kick off your shoes and enjoy the experience – there’s got to be something to love about sandy soil, right?
