5 Types of Soil to Use in Your Backyard

Written By Carli Holas

When it comes to growing a garden, you need more than a green thumb. A seasoned landscape material supplier will tell you how crucial it is to ensure you have the right conditions to support plant growth. From proper temperature to adequate sunlight, there's a lot you need to take care of to help your precious plants thrive. That said, one of the biggest reasons plants fail to grow is using the wrong type of soil.

While it is easy to see soil as just dirt strewn across your backyard, the reality is far from it. Soil offers plants the nutrients they need to thrive. Simply put, you can’t garden without first choosing what type of soil to use.

The 5 Types of Soil for Landscaping You Should Know About

It’s important to first understand different soils and their characteristics before you can work with them. Here’s a look at the five main types of soil for landscaping, and the applications they’re best suited for.

#1. Loamy Soil

Often touted as the easiest soil to work with, loam combines clay, silt, organic matter, and sand in nearly equal proportions. It usually holds its shape when squeezed and crumbles slightly under pressure, meaning it isn’t overly dense or loose. Additionally, loam’s sand content keeps it open, allowing air, moisture, and sunlight to penetrate and reach the plant’s roots.

Since loam warms up early in spring and does not dry out during the summer, it’s the perfect type of soil for gardens. You can always use compost or mulch to fix minor imperfections in the soil content.

A word of caution though. These types of soil require a lot of care to prevent depletion and drying. Be sure to plant green manure crops and use mulches regularly.

#2. Clay Soil

40% of loam soil is clay particles so it is also classified as clay soil. It is easy to separate from other types of soil for the backyard, thanks to its greyish color and lumpy texture. 

While this type of soil is hard to manage and drains poorly, it is extremely rich in nutrients. With a proper drainage system, clay soil can be a great fit for summer crop vegetables, berry trees, perennials, and shrubs. Additionally, it is sticky to the touch when wet. For more information on how to cultivate clay soil, talk to an experienced landscape material supplier!

#3. Peaty Soil

By definition, peat is a sponge-like organic substance made from partially decomposed natural materials compressed under watery, anaerobic conditions. Peatlands are said to cover only 3% of the Earth’s land mass, and are naturally found in marshes and bogs.

Being acidic, peat slows down decomposition, leading to lower nutrient content. These types of soils for landscaping also heat up quickly and retain a lot of water. Hence, you may need to dig drainage channels to make full use of peaty soil.

However, peat can be one of the most beneficial types of soil for a garden, especially when blended with acidity balancers like compost, lime, and rich organic matter. You can also use glacial rock dust to mend the soil’s pH content.

These types of soils can support:

  • Heather, lantern trees, rhododendron, and azalea
  • Legumes, root crops, and salad crops

#4. Sandy Soil

You’d be forgiven for thinking that sand isn’t the best type of soil for any situation, but that’s not entirely true. Sandy soil is light, dry, warm, and perfect for backyards that need quick drainage. However, this also means this soil is unable to retain moisture, meaning it doesn't take much of a dry spell for it to become completely dehydrated.

Sandy soil isn’t known to be nutritious either. It might be the least nourishing of all the types of soil mentioned here. That said, you can always use organic fertilizers to pump a few much-needed nutrients into the soil. As a bonus, compost can also boost the sand’s hydration capacities.

Most landscape material suppliers agree that when maintained correctly, sandy soil makes a great bed for plants that need soft places to grow and good drainage more than extra nutrition. These include:

  • Carrots 
  • Tulips 
  • Lettuce 
  • Strawberries 
  • Peppers 
  • Corn 
  • Squash 
  • Zucchini 
  • Tomatoes

#5. Silty Soil

As the name suggests, silty soils contain a very high concentration of silt– a granular material smaller than sand but larger than clay. Compared to other types of soil for backyards, silty soil has impressive water-retention capacities. Besides, it is easier to work with than clay soil and can hold onto more nutrients than sandy soils.

Here’s what you can grow in these types of soils.

  • Shrubs, grasses, and perennials like Mahonia and New Zealand flax
  • Hydrophilic trees such as willow, birch, and dogwood
  • A large variety of vegetable and fruit shrubs

Find the Best Types of Soil for Your Garden with Pioneer Landscape Center

There you have it, five types of soil for your backyard! Remember, different soils suit different planting needs. So, it’s crucial to match the soil to the plant and vice versa. Be sure to add adequate amounts of compost and organic matter to maintain the health of your soil too!

Do you need a reliable landscape material supplier to provide you with different types of soil? Your search ends with Pioneer Landscape Center. We’ve been the go-to supplier for landscape materials in Arizona and California for over fifty years. We can get everything you want to be delivered to your doorstep. For more information, contact us today!

Carli Holas