Understanding Soil Types
Garden soil is a mix of sand, silt, and clay, and the ratio decides how it behaves. Sandy soil drains fast and warms early but dries out and loses nutrients quickly. Clay soil holds water and nutrients well but compacts, drains slowly, and stays cold in spring. Silt sits in between. The ideal for most crops is loam - roughly equal parts of each, with enough organic matter to stay crumbly. To find out what you have, squeeze a handful of moist soil: if it forms a tight ribbon it is clay-heavy, if it falls apart it is sandy, and if it holds a loose shape it is close to loam.