Growing a vegetable garden in sandy soil

Gardening in sandy soil can be a real challenge. When it rains, the water seeps in and drains away almost immediately; when it doesn't rain, the soil dries out very quickly! Certain vegetables thrive in this type of soil...

How to recognize sandy soil?

Sandy soils are light, with little cohesion. They are easily recognizable by their granular, rough feel. When you hold a piece of soil close to your ear and rub it between your fingers, you can hear it crunch.

You can also do the soil ring test: moisten a handful of soil, roll it and try to make a ring: if you cannot roll the soil or make a ring, this means that the soil is predominantly sandy.

Meadow anthemis, field pansies, and wild carrots are plants that indicate light, rather sandy soil.

What are the characteristics of sandy soil?

Soil is a reservoir, providing water and nutrients essential to plant life. Sandy soils are mostly acidic and poor in organic matter. Sand particles are large, and there are many air spaces between the particles. These two characteristics allow water to infiltrate quickly. However, it is not retained and escapes just as quickly. Minerals can therefore be easily washed away. Sandy soils therefore have great difficulty providing the amount of water plants need for growth.

But these lands also have undeniable qualities!

In winter, the porosity of this type of soil allows excess water to drain away and warm the soil more quickly, promoting early-ripening crops. For gardeners, sandy soil also means soil that's easier to work. For plants, a light substrate like sand is much easier to explore than heavy, clayey soil.

How to grow in sandy soil?

Organic matter (compost, etc.) plays a fundamental role in providing plants with water and minerals. It is thanks to it that nutrients are retained and made available to plants. Sandy soil will require regular additions of organic matter to improve the exchange of minerals between the plant and its substrate and to limit their leaching.

Mulching is also an extremely useful tool for sandy soils and all types of soil! It will limit the evaporation of the little water retained, strengthen its cohesion and reduce the risk of leaching.

Finally, frequent but small amounts of water will prevent minerals from being washed away.

What to sow or plant in sandy soil?

Root vegetables thrive here and produce bountiful harvests: carrots, beets, radishes, turnips, celery, and potatoes, or any other plant with a taproot.

Garlic, shallot, artichoke, chives, tarragon adapt well to it.

Sandy soils are very popular with plants that need good drainage and are prone to root rot: sedum, purslane, euphorbia, rosemary, thyme, agapanthus, tulips.

We find Californian eschsoltzias, cleomes, cosmos, penstemons, yarrows, rudbeckias, echinops...

But also poppy, cornflower, sea alyssum, marigold and cosmos for edible flowers.

For small fruits, you can plant raspberries, gooseberries, ragouts, sea buckthorn, chalef, strawberry tree, and serviceberry, which will of course need to be watered from time to time.

What berries should I plant in sandy soil?

It is possible to plant raspberry bushes, gooseberry bushes, ragout bushes, sea buckthorn bushes, strawberry trees or even serviceberry bushes which will need to be watered from time to time.