Sand and clay in garden soil - what do I do??

[Serrina]

Looking for some advice. I moved into my house last year, the garden was covered in patio slabs which had been poorly laid, all cracked and uneven with weeds and grass growing through the cracks. So I decided to take them up and plant grass instead, and maybe add a flower bed and a small vegetable patch later on. However the soil underneath seems to be full of sand, and not just on the surface, it seems to go right down into it. There's also clay in the soil. Will I be able to grow anything in this? What can I do to improve the soil?

It sounds as though the slabs have been laid onto sand with no mortar. Can you describe what’s underneath - normally you’d expect rubble and bits of cement - is that not there? If it isn’t there you’re lucky!

Whatever is underneath, you need to clear it out - as much of the sand as you can and any rubble - and then replace with some top soil before planting.

Others might have thoughts about the sand - some types of sand are good for the soil (silver or sharp sand) but the problem is that builders sand (which is most likely to be what your slabs are on) isn’t so great.

In terms of the clay you mention, is it big lumps of wet clay? Or dry? If it’s wet then i guess you have clay soil. That is ok - if you have a look at gardening sites you’ll see some suggestions about how to manage and improve it. Really important not to stand on it when it’s wet - always try and stand on something like a plank.

Good luck with it. I’d start by digging down to work out what you’re dealing with.

It's wet clay. And there is some rubble underneath, but not much at all. I've tried raking off the sand, but in some places it seems to go all the way down! So not sure what to do about that 😕

You can build up- make raised beds filled with good earth.
Or you can work on what you have adding horse manure etc.

Lasagne beds are good. I like to work with nature, so rather than digging everything up I add to it. I let worms do the work. I have a wormery that generates good compost and worms so I add it to the soil and they do the work- along with plants.

If you plant potatoes they debeak the soil up. The worms move it all around.