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Soil accounts for almost 10% of the Earth’s surface, and yet for most people, when it comes to gardening and plant care, it remains a mystery. We vaguely know we should improve its health and avoid putting chemicals into it, but from there it becomes murky. Do we till it or not till it? Do we cover it? Do we add stuff like sand to it?
For now, let’s focus on that last part. While there is a lot of casual advice on how to use sand in your yard, it should only be done sparingly, and only when you’re using the right kind of sand. Sand isn’t necessarily bad, but it is only one part of what makes soil effective, and using it can have some side effects that you should watch out for.
Your lawn isn’t a golf course
Golf courses are the platonic ideal of lawns (although we don’t recommend you actually grow a lawn), and golf courses do use sand as part of their maintenance programs. This is likely why casual lawn connoisseurs picked up the idea that they should do the same, without the context or specifics of how golf courses utilize the resource, so let’s clear up those misconceptions.
Sand should only be used on a residential lawn to level out a dip or protect an exposed tree root. Even under those circumstances, the kind of sand you use and how you use it are important. To level out your yard, you’d use the sand only where needed, and then as sparingly as possible. Using a lawn leveling rake will help you find those low spots to fill and will ensure a final product that is mostly even. Also, you could just use fine compost instead, which will still level out the lawn, and also provide actual nutrients back to the soil, while providing a good substrate for lawn seed you put down.
To protect tree roots that are above ground, combine sand and soil in a one-to-one ratio, creating a mud, and then compact it around the root in layers, building up the ground around the root over time. The goal is to simply protect the root from being damaged by lawnmowers, yard tools, people, pets, etc. You can also just use compost.
You’re probably buying the wrong sand anyways
The kind of sand you use is really important, too. On golf courses, they use special round sand, and it’s often dyed to match the lawn. You don’t need to do that (and I don’t recommend using dyes since it just adds chemicals to the water table), but you do want to get the right kind of sand.
Sand is mostly made of silica. Construction sand, or brown sand that you buy, has aggregate in it, and may only be 20% silica. It’s used to provide structure and support in construction, but those ragged edges on the particles that are good for construction are bad for the lawn. Even “play sand,” which has been filtered and washed, is not primarily silica. Store-bought sand can also have high sodium levels and you wouldn’t pour salt on your lawn, so you shouldn’t put salty sand on it either. Sand, even when it’s appropriate, can acidify your soil, so you’ll want to monitor the pH to ensure you can counteract the acidity if necessary. Golf courses might use local beach sand, which you and I don’t have access to.
What you need is “lawn sand,” which is likely going to be obtained through a local stone and soil yard. You can find it locally by Googling “lawn sand” plus the name of your city.
You’d be better served by amendments than top dressing with sand
Golf courses do occasionally top dress with sand, but they do so for reasons that likely don’t apply at home.
Sand can be useful for treating fungal infections in lawns, but home lawns don’t generally suffer from the same problems. The greens on a course are subject to a lot of scarring through walking, putting, and driving, and as a result, the soil is naturally scarified—this just means the soil is scratched up. Golf courses also routinely dethatch the lawn, and that process aerates the soil and scarifies it. At that point, a light top dressing of sand is likely to penetrate into the actual soil, not just sit on the lawn.
Your home lawn doesn’t suffer from the same problems, so sand isn’t the most effective way to deliver nutrients to your soil—lawn treatments are, and your local garden center can help you with the right amendment (like fertilizers or other top dressing mineral treatments that are designed to augment your soil) for your specific lawn.
A couple situations where sandy soil is actually useful
There’s a use for sandy soil in your garden that people don’t talk about enough, and that’s carrots. Some vegetables, like carrots, benefit from a sandier soil, which is looser and more aerated. Carrots even enjoy a little acidity, so while you do need to watch for pH levels due to the sodium, you might benefit from a deep, sandy bed for your carrots to grow in. This will reduce the twisty appearance and stunted growth some carrots have in compacted soil. Sand has a nice side benefit of getting hot, since it’s silica, so as long as the pH is in check, it can be a positive addition to parts of your garden soil.
Another practical use for sand in the garden is for added traction on sidewalks. While sand might have sodium in it, it contains far less than the salt frequently used to keep sidewalks from getting icy. That sidewalk salt is bad for pets’ feet, it’s bad for the water table, and it’s bad for your garden, because as the snow melts, it makes its way into the beds that line your sidewalk. Sand can work as a reasonable alternative to help provide a little traction.
