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sandy sandy river bank

 
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hi sweet ones, i am new here (though admittedly i've looked around the singles forum before) and so grateful for all the info and excited about all the subtopics.

after a couple years of looking for my acreage and not finding quite what i want (the goal is to start a homestead-based artist/writing residency), i have paused the search for owning and am renting an amazing place on the columbia river.

i have a big yard, and the ability to (in the long term, after i show the land owner i can be trusted to make things beautiful) garden/landscape there.

i am good with plants and have gardened more avidly in the many raised beds outside my city place for a few years now. i've also farmhanded at a spot or two and keep bees, but i've never really dealt with sand.

any tips on plants or pollinators that might dig this type of crossover from river sand to grass that i'll be dealing with? or will the drainage simply be too extreme? if so, is hugelkultur in beds perhaps a good solve to this? open to all the things i'm not thinking of as well
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sandy river bank with short grass looking over at mature trees in distance
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pioneer
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Location: Wisconsin Zone 5a
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I, took, am on a riverbank. Very sandy. I put in a few raised bed and that worked great. We had success with straw bale planting. Anywhere we planted on ground level, we beefed up that area with compost, sometimes digging a foot down and refilling with compost. I also learned that you can put down cardboard, top with several inches of dirt and compost, and plant in that.
 
steward
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Welcome to the forum!

Now is a good time to plant a fall garden, collect leaves and make leaf mold, and turn all scraps into compost!
 
bayley ess
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elanor, thank you! those are great thoughts. and i had never heard of straw bale planting before and just read a little about it. what an interesting method!

anne, my next reading assignment will be lead mold as i'm not familiar with that either, but very interested to learn more.

i appreciate y'all!
 
master gardener
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If you're there for the long-term, I'd suggest breeding your own locally adapted landraces that thrive in your sand by throwing roots where they need them. But also, adding carbon makes all soil better.
 
Anne Miller
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bayley ess wrote:anne, my next reading assignment will be lead mold as i'm not familiar with that either, but very interested to learn more.

i appreciate y'all!



This might help:  

https://permies.com/t/152261/Fall-Leaves
 
steward and tree herder
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Hi Bayley, I suspect that most annual veg will struggle in a soil that is too sandy - as others have said organic material is your friend there. It will help the soil hold onto the moisture as much as possible, as well as providing food for soil bugs/plants. Another thought is biochar (we have a whole forum of reading material on that!); that is also good for holding onto nutrients and water.
I suspect that perennial plants will be more resilient in sandy soil (once established) so you may be better at looking at forest garden type planting on the river banks - fruit trees and bushes underplanted with deep rooted perennial plants, making use of light and soil at all levels.
I'm not sure where you are based, is flooding likely to be an issue on the river?
 
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Sand cherry!
 
Anne Miller
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A former member of the forum had a market garden on pure sand.

If she were here I bet she would say add organic matter.  I believe if I remember correctly she started her plants as transplants and put the organic matter in the hole with the transplants.

Organic matter could be as easy as some vegetable scraps, grass clipping, etc.

My recommendation would be fall leaves topped with wood chips as a mulch after planting.

Learning about mushrooms is good, too.
 
Holly was looking awful sad. I gave her this tiny ad to cheer her up!
heat your home with yard waste and cardboard
https://freeheat.info
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