The Importance of Sandy Soils

Farmers and gardeners are often frustrated when it comes to planting in sandy soils. However, the vegetation that lives off sandy patches is unique, rugged and often tasty. Although it is a special challenge learning to water and tend sandy soils, the outcome is a plentiful and beautiful oasis sure to impress with its culinary and aesthetic bounties.

Features

Extremely parched soil

Sandy soils are 60 percent sand, 15 percent clay, and 25 percent silt. For this kind of composition, water is absorbed very quickly and is prone to drying out. When sandy soil dries out completely, it forms cracks both above and below the surface.

Misconceptions

Vegetation growing along a natural body of water.

Watering sandy soil takes too much time, money and effort. This is untrue, as there are plenty of cheap ways to prepare sandy soil to act like good, moist soil. These include fertilizing soil, planting next to natural irrigation systems like rivers, and planting grasses which speedily spread over sandy soil.

Another misconception is that it's impossible to farm a desert. There are desert farms in Chile, Israel, and California that would beg to differ. Not only can desert farms thrive with proper attention, many plants prefer sandy soils.

Plants that Prefer Sandy Soils

Violets

You'll never find as many cacti or palm trees as you will in sandy soils. Grasses that love this type of soil include prairie grasses like Canada wildrye, sheep fescue, sand dropseed, smooth bromegrass, Chinese silvergrass and many more. Some flowers that like sandy soils are day lilies, barren strawberries, lily-of-the-valleys, and violets. Even some fruits and vegetables are prone to love sandy soils, namely strawberries, potatoes, carrots, and other root and vine plants like radishes and tomatoes.

Special Care and Maintenance

There are many techniques for making an abundance of vegetation thrive in even the driest and sandiest locations. Introducing organic matter such as bark, manure, or dead plants will improve how long water stays in soil. Adding decomposed organic matter like mulch will allow vegetation to be planted right away. However, in the case of both decomposed and non-decomposed organic matter, little amounts of additive should be added at a time, since everything runs through the soil very quickly.

Drainage

The most effective technique for adapting sandy soil to grow plants is drainage. The effectiveness of creating drainage systems on this type of land is so great, that it may even be the solution to world hunger. Deserts in Chile, Israel, and even California are using man made and natural drainage systems like ground water to grow fruits and vegetables. The benefit of this is that it uses land which would otherwise be unoccupied, thereby allowing expansion of urban areas. It also shows that with proper drainage, sandy soils in Africa, South America, the Middle East, and every other region besides polar climates can yield enough vegetation to feed inhabitants.

References

• NC State University: Perennial Bulbs: Site Preparation
• University of Minnesota Extension: Ground Covers for Rough Sites
• Los Angeles Time: For Israeli Pioneers, Negev Desert Holds Promise of a Fruitful Future