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Serving Ozaukee and Surrounding Counties
Southeastern Wisconsin is pretty much made up of 3 different soil types. If you go North of Milwaukee; in the Mequon and Cedarburg Areas the ground is 100% clay, if you go northwest a bit to the West Bend area, in an instant it becomes complete sand. If you go out to Waukesha; I have found much of the soil from this area to be loaded with rocks, stone, and more or less a gravel/rock mixture. When it comes to growing things, none of these soils are going to win any awards.
So lets focus on Sandy Soil. If you were to go out in the woods and start digging, you would find that in a natural environment there is typically a layer of topsoil and rich organic matter that is between 1-3 feet deep. One reason is that Forests and Grasslands don't get cut back and raked up; instead, all the dead stuff decomposes into humus, which has many elements that plants need for growth. Humus creates a loose soil structure that holds moisture and air, and drains well.
What we want to try to do is copy nature by making compost in your backyard, or add composted manure or other organic matter, which you can buy at garden centers and mulch yards. Unfortunately, if your house has been constructed in the last 10 years or so - most likely you home only has about 3 - 4 inches of topsoil on the ground. Three inches is the least amount of topsoil you can have to keep your lawn healthy. The problem is your flowers, shrubs, and trees would like to have more than 3 inches of healthy soil to grow in.
Most plants thrive in loamy soil that is moist but well drained - this may seem like a contradiction; but this simply means soil that retains moisture, but does not stay too wet. The problem with sandy soil is that it lacks nutrients; and sandy soil will not retain moisture for an adequate amount of time.
With sandy soil, humus acts like a sponge to hold moisture; it will also bring in and help store a lot of much needed nutrients and vitamins that is lacking in sandy soils.
Before you start, remove grass or other existing vegetation with a flat spade or kill with a glyphosate herbicide such as Roundup. It's very important to do this job well, making sure that you don't have grass or weeds growing where you want to plant. If using glyphosate, wait one week before spading or tilling the bed. The plants you sprayed should be turning yellow.
The first step is to remove the topsoil and set it aside. Even if it is only 3 inches, it is still good soil and worth reusing. Dig out about 7 inches of sand and have it removed. Place the topsoil that you have set aside back into the area that you have dug out and add enough of your composted manure or other organic matter, in a layer that totals about 4 inches thick over the sand and dig it in about 8 inches, this will add fertility deep in the soil and help it hold and maintain adequate moisture levels.
Be sure to dig in the soil amendments, rather than tilling them in, as this can pulverize the soil and make it too fine of a texture. Then add a layer of 3 inches of additional composted manure or other organic matter on top. Finally, make sure that you mulch between plants to help the soil retain moisture.
Finally, after you have finished this process treat your new plants and perennials with a root stimulator that contains mycorrhizae fungus. Then sit back and watch your plants thrive!
Follow this process and you will be sure to turn your Starving Garden into a Goldmine of Growth!
Landscaping Articles
Office: Tree Transplanters, llc 6079 W Mequon Rd #155 Mequon, WI 53092
Turning your Starving Garden into a Goldmine of Growth for Sandy Soil
Areas we Service Include: Mequon, Cedarburg, West Bend, Port Washington, Saukville, Belgium, Grafton, Germantown, Menomonee Falls, Brookfield, Waukesha, Pewaukee, Oconomowoc, Nashotah, Jackson, Hartford, Slinger, Lannon, Sussex, Hartland, Elm Grove, Delafield, New Berlin, Milwaukee, Greenfield, Glendale, Bayside, Shorewood, River Hills, Wauwatosa, Franklin, South Milwaukee, Caladonia
