What Is Gardening Sand?

Have you ever been to someone’s home and found that there’s sand all around their gardens? That’s gardening sand, and it’s not just used for decoration, though it does look good. Its main purpose is to improve soil drainage, or the ability of soil to allow water and nutrients to pass through to get to the roots underneath. There has to be a healthy medium between allowing and blocking water. If the soil allows too much water, the plants will drown and die. If the soil blocks too much water, the plants will starve and die. Gardening sand is another way to incrementally add needed blockage to a soil that’s letting in too much water, while also adding aesthetic appeal.

Gardening sand is not like sand you find at the beach. This sand is made of crushed granite, quartz, and/or sandstone. This gives the sand a harder texture, with a more even mix of large and small grains. The sand people are used to is random in size and usually softer by comparison.

WHAT ELSE IS GARDENING SAND USED FOR?

While the main and most common use of gardening sand is to control soil drainage, it has many other important uses as well.

• Mixing With Soil - Gardening sand doesn’t have to be laid on top of the soil, it can be mixed in with it. It’s common to do this with clay soil in particular, but can be done with many other soils that don’t drain water as well as they are needed to. This also has the added benefit of improving aeration, which means letting air into the soil.
• Mixing with Compost - Sand makes for a good soilless rooting medium when combined with compost or peat. This creates soil that promotes germination and works well with root cuttings. It makes compost with good drainage and aeration as well. This compost also works well with potted plots, not just plants in a garden.

DON’T MISTAKE THESE FOR GARDENING SAND

For anyone who might be confused during their search for the right sand, gardening sand is also known as coarse sand, horticultural sand, and quartz sand. These are not the names of different types of gardening sand.

There are also four types of sand commonly mistaken as gardening sands. These different types are called builders’ grit, builders’ sand, grit, and horticultural grit. It is important to know the difference because they all contain salt and lime, which can be devastating to the plants in your garden and lawn.

WHAT TYPES OF GARDENING SAND ARE AVAILABLE?

Pioneer Landscaping Centers offer several different types of gardening sand in several different colors.

• Concrete Sand - Our concrete-grade sands are coarse washed. This means they are aggregates, composed of several materials including limestone, granite, gneiss, and trap rock. Concrete sand got its name from being a key ingredient in cement.
• Mason Sand - This is finer-crushed sand with more granules that have been screened and washed compared to concrete sand. It has many applications and works better as joints between stones like pavers.
• Sand & Rock Mix - This is an aggregate of concrete sand and river rocks mixed together when you need to control drainage across inconsistent soil.
• USGA Sand - This is a fine washed sand made to meet specific USGA requirements. USGA stands for United States Golf Association, and they need sand for their courses. It can be used in place of other sands.
• Mortar Sand - This is a washed sand that is thick enough to support its own weight, plus a masonry block on top of it. It’s perfect for things like playgrounds, arenas, bunkers, and golf courses, where people will be playing on it or walking over it.
• Walkway / Driveway Gravel - Also known as red sand, it’s a combination of reddish tones with speckles of brown and black throughout. It works well for walkways, driveways, pavers, and landscape decor where people will walk on it and heavy objects are placed on it .

Concrete sand comes in several brands and colors: Arizona, Colorado, and Southern Colorado. Mason sand comes in: brown, Southern Colorado, white, and grey. Sand & rock mix comes in: Colorado and Southern Colorado. Walkway / Driveway gravel comes in: grey sand and red sand.

CONTACT PIONEER LANDSCAPING CENTERS TO GET GARDENING SAND

Gardening sand may seem like a small detail, but it can play an important role in preserving the health of the plants in your garden. There are several types and brands to choose from, but there are also other types of sand that you can get by mistake. Contact the experts at your local Pioneer Landscaping Center to figure out what’s the best gardening sand for your garden.