I read about this terms in gardening books and can't quite figure out the difference. Are these terms used interchangably? It seems that old school gardeners and gardeners from the UK use sharpsand a lot.

MarthaS

Sorry, I can't help with the distinctions, but I'm curious about how you use the stuff. I've been digging sand into my very clayey soil recently, after years of adding compost and still having the dirt harden on me as the season advances. I've run into some real disagreements about the value of adding sand; some experts say it will lead to cement-like soil, others advise it. One did say to use sharp sand (I can't remember if it was printed as one word) rather than river sand, because the edges on sharp sand will allow for better drainage. Me, I've got my fingers crossed...

Kate 

Hi Kate,

Here in Seattle we have very clayey soils. At least I do. Only rarely does it dry out enough into that hard crusty soil. The rest of the time it's just a soggy mess! Hey did I mention that I'm moving back to Austin Texas? Hah well it's a whole other set of gardening challenges there. Anyway, from my experience, it is very difficult to ever put enough sand into a clayey soil to make it work well. The best that can happen is that the clay chunks get chopped into small enough pieces so that they float around in the sand and organic matter. But to do that you have to really remove most of the soil anyway. Sometimes it's easier to just dig out the bad soil and have it hauled off and then replace it with a high quality top soil. Do it once and you'll be done with it for good. I'm not sure if this is very helpful.

Cheers,

Patrick

Hi, Patrick,

I'm the member formerly known as Kate Gardner; since I couldn't figure out how to dump that tag I just created a new account. (Could you e-mail me about this? --Thanks.)

Call me crazy (you won't be the first), but last fall when the growing season was over, I spent a week or so blending sand into my heavy clayey soil by hand, and when I say by hand, I mean that eventually I was kneading the stuff to get the sand integrated.  I've got small beds (obviously) and only did one or two of those, but it'll be interesting to see how they behave this year.

 Replacing the soil isn't really an option at the moment; there simply isn't the money. Maybe someday . . . . In the meantime, I intend to compost like crazy. If I do decide to buy soil, I think I'd build raised beds and put the good soil on top of the old, rather than have some hauled off.

 --Kate

 

As I was looking into sand for a new garden bed I am preparing I found the below information on sharp sand and remembered this post, so I thought I would share it. I hope it helps someone as it helped me.

Sharp sand is used in the nursery industry as a propagating medium, alone or
as a component in a mixture used for rooting perennials, shrubs and trees.
Organic growers in my area use a prepared mix such as Fafard or other brand.
Its ingredients comply with organic certification guidelines. I wouldn't
think sharp sand would be optimum or starting vegetable seedlings; herbs are
another matter. It can be easily obtained from premixed&delivered concrete
suppliers as it is used along with portland cement and crushed rock to
make concrete.
1)
sharp sand = washed sand = white sand (not fine beach sand) is a clean (no
topsoil, clay or organic matter), washed coarse aggregate; some particles
can range around 1/8" in size - good for plant propagation because it is
clean, can be easily sterilized, provides excellent drainage and
never compacts (when used alone or with vermiculite, perlite, sphagnum,
peat or screened compost)
2)
mortar sand - sometimes orange in color (around here) is an even aggregate
with average particle size smaller than sharp sand; mixed with mortar mix or
portland cement to make mortar for laying brick, block and stone - this
material is very poor for use in plant propagation as it will easily compact
when it dries out, can harbor diseases and is a less friable mixture for
development of root systems