Sandy

There’s no problem with drainage on sandy soil, and for those of us gardening on heavy clay, the thought of being able to cultivate the garden easily throughout the year, seems just a dream. But as with everything there are downsides, and with sandy soils it is the water draining through so freely that it can cause leaching so that often sandy soils are quite acidic and nutrient poor. Just like the shingle gardens, they heat up rapidly in the spring which gives a head start to cultivation and growing, though this advantage is lost in the autumn when the soil cools so much faster than a loamy or clay soil would do.

Mulch is your friend. Add as much organic matter as possible to improve the soil texture and both water and nutrient retention. Dig it in when planting and spread mulch thickly over the soil surface on an annual basis since it makes so much difference to the fertility, friability, both drainage and water retention, remembering always to leave an air gap of a few centimetres around the base of each plant to prevent disease and root rot.