sand and more sand

We recently moved from Santa Barbara Ca, to Brunswick County NC, close to the ocean where the soil is sand, sand, and more sand. I would love to grow a veggie garden, but I'm not at all familiar with what will grow. Will veggies survive in this, or would it be a wasted effort? If anyone has tried please advise,,,,,,thanks.

As long as you are far enough from the beach that there is no salt spray. You should be fine. Just remember that sand has very low natural fertility and must be ameded constantly. It is especially good for melons, good for root crops, and with sufficient amendment and irrigation will support most other vegetables. It does not have ability to retain water, so watering is necesary much of the time.

baileynboo - we recently moved from the San Joaquin Valley to 60 miles East of Reno, NV, and are experiencing sand, sand and more sand (at least 5 feet deep), also. This spring I will be planing our first garden. I am going to make raised beds for the veggies and see how that goes. Everything is eventually going to get drip irrigation, but I am hand-watering trees right now. Good luck!

PS I have heard that weeding is easier in the sand :-)

Kmom,

Not only do you have sand, but it is really alkaline!

If you don't mind my asking, how did you end up in Silver Springs of all places?

Melissa

Hi, Melissa -

We were looking for 5 acres in the San Joaquin Valley, CA - but at about $1,000,000 and acre (I kid you folks not, there are 6 zeros behind that number 1!) anywhere close enough to a real job, it was a little out of our price range... The USMC fried my husband's brain in 29 Palms, CA (desert), and then later he spent a summer in N. Iraq as a civilian contractor. I think he LIKES sand and wind and sun. Or, like I said, the USMC did something to his brain :-) We are 7 minutes from the boat dock at Lake Lahontan, an few hours from falling down in the snow (you really can't call what we would do skiing!), lots of ATV trails -- oh, and we saw the property in high desert bloom right after the heaviest snow year in like 100 years (that keeps happening to me - the year I moved to Savannah, GA, it snowed for the first time in 20 years). There were significantly less zeros after the dollar sign for our 5 acre lot. I quit my job, but my company wouldn't let me, so I do the 124 mile round trip to the Reno office -- and it STILL saves me about 5 hours of commuting each week compared to when I commuted in the San Francisco Bay Area. Winter and driving in Snow has been a new experience for me. We have various 4wd vehicles, but this winter it occured to me that DH has always done the driving when we come up this way during the winter. The drivers in Reno and Carson City are SOoooo much more corteous than SF Bay Area and So. Cal drivers (I travel a lot with my job) ... My skin is turning to leather no matter how much hand lotion I use.

Kmom,

Well if your husband loves sand wind and sun, he must be in heaven here! LOL I grew up here, thought it was HORRIBLE, moved to NYC after graduating, then San Francisco, left the country for a year, back to the bay area, and now my husband, our children and i live right back here in the Great Basin. I like it much more now. Funny how those things happen.

My dad has property just over the hill from you in Stage Coach, last winter when we had SO much precipitation, the hills behind his property were positively emerald! Now these are hills that haven't shown green in decades. That whole area looked so lovely, we joked with him that if he had any plans of ever selling that he should put his property on the market immediately!

It is a minimalist beauty. You may grow to be very fond of it :)

Anyhow, welcome to the Great Basin!

Melissa

Melissa, I am learning to love it. In fact, I've found some different sages and lavenders that may do well here. That's for next year, though. This year's goals are a small veggie garden, chicken coop & chickens and the planting of at least 100 trees (I knew I married the right man when he said he dreampt of tractors and power tools :-) And something, anything to the SW of us to slow down the wind!

Baileynboo, the weather where you are should be great for growing just about anything. Many parts of So. Cal. don't get a killing frost, and you might find that winter is for cool season veggies and lovely rose blooms, and that you might still be picking ripe tomatoes in Dec. Oh, I am MISSING zone 9! I know I'll be ok once the daffs start blooming here, but right now I've resorted to looking under dead sage brush to see glimpses of green!

By the way, Baileynboo - dream big - I have delusions that I will have a small English Cottage Garden in the middle of the High Dessert sand lot. (Melisa, now I know you know I am crazy.)

Kmom,

We need to be on the same medication. I have the same dreams! We had an acre and a half of nothing but salt grass. We have planted 73 trees all (but 2) on drip now. Drip is the key!!!!! If you live here you MUST put your trees on drip. There is NO way that you can plant any amount of trees here and keep them sufficiently watered without a drip system. I can not stress this enough. We have broadened our planting now to shrubs and a big veggie garden is going in this month. The girls and i planted almost 3000 bulbs last fall, so we are all eagerly awaiting spring.

Happy Gardening,
Melissa

Oh, and take LOTS of before pictures, you will be amazed at how fast your property blooms. It is fun to look back at what you started with. Also consider the state nursery in Washoe Valley, they sell to homeowners who have an acre or more. They sell natives and things that do really well here. You must agree to use the shrubs and trees as windbreak, re naturalizing or for livestock shelter. Their plants are small, but dirt cheap, and i mean dirt cheap. My dad put in a 200' line of evergreens from them about 15 years ago and they are huge now. I think it cost him about $50. Moana nursery on S. Virginia in Reno is has some huge B&B trees for 75% off now (they've been in the ground a couple of years there and the burlap is almost gone) I got a 25' pin oak there for $150 about four months ago. Oh, i could go on and on. Drop me a D-mail if you like before you go tree shopping. There are some great, and some major rip off nurseries around here, i'll give you the lists...

:)