Do You Know Your Soil?

Whether it’s getting ready to grow a garden, fill an athletic field, or top dress a golf course, choosing the right type of soil can be either extremely beneficial or destructive to your purpose. Before you choose your soil, it is important to understand the different types of soil, and what they’re best used for. Classification is based on the texture, size, and mineral and nutritional content of the soil. Depending on the makeup of the soil, it can be used for gardening, as a ground base for building, or a good dressing for a lot or field.

Topsoil

Topsoil is commercially produced material that can be a supplement to soil that is nutritionally drained. Many topsoil blends have up to 10 percent organic material, which makes them very nutritionally dense. Topsoil can be mixed with the existing soil to help provide vital nutrients to plants and help control moisture rates. It can also be used as a standalone if you have no soil.

Beware though, a common problem with topsoil is when it is not blended together if there is existing soil where it is being placed. This is because it creates a water absorptions barrier that prevents the water from reaching the poor soil at the bottom.

Caliche

Often called “nature’s cement”, Caliche is a mineral deposit of gravel, nitrates, and sand found in dry areas around the world, especially in South America. It exists in both stone and soil form, both of which have a variety of uses in commercial construction. The most common use for Caliche is as a raw material used in Portland cement. Caliche is so widely used because it is low cost.

Washed Sand

Washed sand is a surface derived sand that is screened and washed to remove silt and clay. It is usually a light buff color. Washed sand is a finely graded sand which can be used for fill, to top dress golf course green, or as a base for laying bricks.

Fill Dirt

Fill Dirt is an earthly material which is used to fill in an existing hole or depression in land to elevate the land to even it out. Fill dirt is often a subsoil, which is soil extracted from beneath topsoil. Fill dirt is thoroughly screened and cleaned of any organic material, which can decompose and create pockets in the fill, in turn damaging any structures built on the fill dirt.

There are so many different types of soil for your next project, whether it be personal or commercial. Whichever you decide you may need, Nickel Rock LLC is here to help you get the material you need, and help you take it wherever you need it. Give us a call today at 210–468–0290 so that we can discuss your venture, and help you make it a reality.

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