I live in Michigan, and most of the soil here is sand. How do I plant gardens...

D

donna p

New member
...successfully? I have weeded and trimmed everything in the areas I want to plant flowers but the ground is solid and sandy. How do I turn it into a sucessful garden?
 
You have to add nutrition to the soil. This can be done in many ways. Go to the nursery or garden store and buy topsoil, compost, potting soil, or any organic soil additive within your budget. Mix it into the soil you have. It's like adding vitamins. Then plant.

If you are on a limited budget, dig a hole in the corner of your land, and put potato peels, carrot peels, anything leftover that grows in soil into it and mix it up. You can also add chicken or horse or cow S**t to it. Let it mix and rot. This will give you a nice organic compost for next growing season.
 
Donna, if weeds can grow your plants can too. How are the weeds looked like? Are they healthy looking? If they are, that means the soil is fertile. If the areas you want to grow plants haven't dug or gardened for so many years, of course it'll get compacted. You just have to loosen it up by digging and turning the soil. I know it's back breaking but it's rewarding too in the end. Of course it doesn't hurt to add organic matters, like manure, compost, peat moss, or pearlite, vermiculite, and so on. But as I said, if those weeds are healthy looking, the soil is fertile and you don't have too for now.
 
You have to add organic material to form loam. This can be leaves, grass clippings, straw, old hay, even the wood chips from tree trimmers. It will take a while for all the organic material to break down and form loam, but the sooner you start, the sooner you have good soil.
 
Have you looked into square foot gardening? It is cheap, easy, and amazing. You bring in new dirt so you can plant anywhere. They should have the book at your local library. They also have a website.
 
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