How to Make Loamy Soil

Getting a garden to thrive in compacted soil or loose, sandy soil can be difficult if not impossible, but not all yards come with loamy soil, which is the ideal type for almost every kind of plant. It is possible to improve existing soil and to change it to loamy soil, though. It will take some effort on your part, but in the long run you’ll have garden soil that is better for your plants and easier for you to work.

Soil consists of three kinds of particles: clay, sand and silt. Clay particles are the smallest of the three types and compact easily, allowing no air or water through them. Sand is made up of large particles that let in plenty of air, but they are unable to hold water. Silt consists of mid-size particles that have a mixture of sand's and clay's properties.

Loamy soil consists of roughly equal amounts of all three kinds of particles, giving it the ability to hold moisture yet drain rather than puddle and giving air a chance to reach plants’ roots. It also holds nutrients.

Figure out what kind of soil your garden has by grabbing a handful of the soil, adding a bit of water to it and kneading it into a ball. If you can use your fingers to flatten the ball into a long ribbon, then the soil is clay . If you try to flatten the ball into a ribbon and it quickly breaks, the soil is silt. If you crumble the ball in your hand and can feel some grit, then soil is sand.

Enhance the soil in your garden by making it more loamy.

Compost, sawdust, peat moss, composted animal manure or wood chips

Tape measure

Coarse sand (optional)

Spade or tiller

12-12-12 granular fertilizer

Spread a 3- to 4-inch-thick layer of organic material on the entire area of soil to be improved. Use compost, sawdust, peat moss, composted animal manure or wood chips as the organic material. If very heavy, clay-based soil is present, also add a 1- to 2-inch-thick layer of coarse sand.

Mix the organic material with the soil to a depth of 8 to 10 inches. Use a spade or tiller for that task.

Scatter 2 pounds of 12-12-12, granular fertilizer across each 100 square feet of soil surface. Incorporate the fertilizer with the soil to a depth of 8 to 10 inches. Fertilizer prevents nitrogen deficiency caused by the decay of the organic materials.

Repeat the process of adding organic material and fertilizer each year before planting until your garden develops the rich, loamy soil in which plants thrive.

Add soil amendments before planting whenever possible. If you want to make the soil around permanent plantings more loamy, then use the organic material as you would mulch, laying it on the soil surface but not touching the plants, and let it work its way into the soil naturally with help from earthworms and rain.