Gardening in sandy soil can be a blessing and a challenge. The benefits include good drainage, root penetration, air circulation, and of course less sweat and easy digging. The disadvantages: rapid water and nutrient loss. Workability of the soil is a certain encouragement to get out and start planting. Its great to be able to sweep aside the soil with your hand alone to plant your trees but in the long term that very characteristic can also jeopardize the health of your plants. Soil must hold nutrient and water. The reality of sandy soils is that the effort will remain in ongoing application of compost and organic matter. With a commitment to these additions you can turn a sandpit into dark moisture holding soil with all the necessary structure and texture for growing healthy and luscious gardens.

Ingredients for your compost can include: Food waste, manure, hay, grass clippings, sawdust (especially the stuff that has been lying on the floor of your chicken coop for 2 years), seaweed, leaf litter, paper waste, ashes from the fire, even your old woolen jumper that Nanny knitted for you can be composted, although it may take a while. Numerous are your options, and believe me it will all disappear graciously into your sandy soil.

Never skimp on the amount of mulch that you use on sandy gardens. Your selection of mulch should lead towards the type that breaks down quickly in order to increase your organic matter content. Where Lucerne is available, its worth the extra cost, particularly where food production is concerned. Leave the pine bark to the broad scale landscapers.
Water is another factor in the equation. It’s important to learn how much water is needed to wet your soil as deeply as the roots can grow. Merely sprinkling the soil surface does no good. For most fruit trees, the soil should be wet 40 to 60cm deep.
Water requirements vary greatly with soil type and depth. In general, trees growing on sandy soils require more frequent irrigation. Clay soils need less frequent irrigations, but larger amounts of water need to be applied to wet the soil deeply. As a general rule, you’ll need to water trees growing in a sandy soil every 10 to 15 days. Water trees on a clay loam soil every 15 to 20 days. Use the shorter intervals during the hot days of summer, and the longer intervals when the weather is cooler.

Choosing plants that are best suited to the sandy conditions is a great leap in the right direction. Where coastal conditions are concerned you will also need to consider the plant tolerance for salt winds. The below listing is of plants that perform well in very sandy soils and are tolerant of salt spray for those coastal sandy positions.

Our Plants of the Month;

Our new Exotic Fruits-

Lakoocha - Artocarpus lakoocha

Also known as monkey jack, this fruit, native to India is often used for chutneys or eaten fresh. The bark can be chewed like betelnut, the timber comparable to teak and the roots used as a dye. A multipurpose tree growing to 8m.

Tamarind: Tamarind indica

Tamarind: This tropical member of the pea family (Leguminosae) is believed to be a native to Asia and Africa. Most parts of the plant are useful (the bark, the wood, the leaves, the flowers, seeds and pods). It is widely cultivated for its fruit which is used as a tasty tangy addition to Asians and Indian dishes. The leaves and flowers are also eaten throughout much of Asia. The fruit pod reaches up to 15cm and usually contains between 5-10 seeds. When mature the pods are dark brown and sweet. The tree can reach up to 15m but is usually seen stretching to 10m .
Tamarinds tolerate a great diversity of soil types but do best in deep, well drained soils which are slightly acid. Trees will not tolerate cold, wet soils but are tolerant of salt spray and can be planted fairly near the seashore.
for more info see http://www.crfg.org/pubs/ff/tamarind.html


From our Bush Foods Section -

Sterculia quadrifida – Peanut Tree

While Peanut trees are native to Australian coastal monsoonal forests they happily adapt to a garden environment. They are a very fast growing slender tree reaching up to 15 m in their native forest environment. Their attractive dark green leaves and smooth grey trunk is insignificant in comparison to the stunning clusters of yellow flowers growing to leathery bright orange pods which split when rich to expose the shiny and very tasty edible peanut flavoured black seeds. A great snack straight off the tree. Should the time ever come to move your tree to the great compost in the sky, the tap root is also supposedly an indulgent delight when roasted. I can’t speak from experience though, so attached to my sterculias trees, they all have names.




The trees listed above and many more are available at Daleys Nursery. See our website at https://www.daleysfruit.com.au.htm and go straight to the shopping trolley to order these plants or call in and see Emma at the Nursery for more information.