[missmoneypenny]

I couldn’t find any horticultural sharp sand in the garden centre. However wickes sells builder’s sand at £2 per bag. Would that be ok? I want to put some down the hole I’ll use to plant garlic, to reduce water logging. Thank you.

[Growing Weather]

What do you want the sand for?

[wighty]

Builders sand usually contains lime.  Don't know what it would do to your garden.  Sharp sand is slightlier (sp)
grainier.

[jambop]

I honestly do not see how that doing this can solve water logging. If you have a drainage problem and you use some sort of sand the water just lies in the sand. The only way to stop water logging is to improve the drainage of the land. How you do that is by making the soil more permeable not by putting sand onto land that will not drain. The best way I can think of is by digging in lots of material that will open up the soil. If like me you are a raised bed no dig gardener the very act of adding material onto the top of the ground will allow the soil in the beds t remain relatively well drained because the above ground soil will drain.

[missmoneypenny]

@GrowingWeather it’s to mix into the soil I’ll be planting garlic in.50% of this years crop was rotten when I dug it up.

[8doubles]

 I use sharp sand all the time as i have half a metre bag left from rendering the house !
Never had a problem with it !
It probably comes out of the same pit as the more expensive 'Horticultural ' stuff !

[mumofstig]

I couldn’t find any horticultural sharp sand in the garden centre. However wickes sells builder’s sand at £2 per bag. Would that be ok? I want to put some down the hole I’ll use to plant garlic, to reduce water logging. Thank you.

You need sharp sand (still from the builders merchants) and I like to give it a good wash through with the hose.
I'm sure that horti sand is exactly the same but it's been washed before they sell it So you do the washing and it is cheaper.

[missmoneypenny]

Thanks mum I am always one for a bargain. That’s me off to Wickes tomorrow!
Jambop I am not no dog. It goes against my Protestant ethic  .

[missmoneypenny]

I am not no dig either. Blasted autocorrect!

[missmoneypenny]

Seriously though, I add lots of organic matter. A good quarter of my plot is very satisfyingly covered in horse manure at the moment and I have 2 compost heaps on the go. I also grow green manure every autumn so I have clover and Hungarian rye there. I thought the sharp sand would lighten up the structure a bit under the garlic and allow water to drain away better. I’m going to give it a go.

[Subversive_plot]

Is your soil clay?

If your soil drains poorly because it is clay, mixing sand into the soil won't help.  If it is a raised bed and you build a sandy bed above the clay, with compost, that could help.

Add soluble magnesium and/or calcium (as Epsom salts or gypsum) plus organic matter mixed into a clay soil to improve drainage. Anything high  in sodium, mixed into clay, will make drainage worse.

[jambop]

I am not no dig either. Blasted autocorrect!

**

 

Yes then in your case digging in some manure and gritty sand may help. Unfortunately if like my plot, and the reason why I changed, the soil is shallow and sits on top of a clayey subsoil the only real way to cure water logging is to put in some sort of field drainage; I took the slightly less labour intensive route and made raised beds.

[missmoneypenny]

@Jambop I don’t really know what soil type my plot is, and I think it varies across the plot. On some parts it is quite clay like , gets very dry and solid in summer. In others it is richer and crumblier, especially where I have added manure/ compost. I thought of using the RHSs soil analysis service but they don’t offer it at the mo, you guessed it, because of covid ( they don’t have room to socially distance in the lab apparently).

[Growing Weather]

missmoneypenny

  I wonder if your Garlic suffered from Onion White Rot or one of the other moulds inherent in the soil or in the planted cloves.

https://www.growveg.co.uk/guides/how-to-control-onion-white-rot/

[missmoneypenny]

Thanks @growingweather. I bought what I presume were good quality cloves from the Garlic Farm. Maybe it was onion rot, I don’t know. My onions are usually fine. I think really they were just water logged, towards the end of the growing season because their size was good.