Silt loam has a little more silt in it. Clay loam has more clay in it." Soil needs to be able to hold some water, ... If it ruptures in the hand when squeezed, it's good to till.

Loam soil is a mineral mixture of clay, sand, and silt. In the right proportions, loam is the ideal medium for growing plants. ... A particle of very fine clay, on the other hand, ...

Characteristics: Moist loam squeezed in your hand will hold its shape, but crumble if poked lightly. ... For example, silt loam soil is 25 percent sand, 10 percent clay, and 65 percent silt.

Loam, on the other hand, consists of sand, clay, and silt in almost equal amounts. This allows for just the right amount of infiltration, making it ideal for most plants in your garden.

Loam is a combination of sand, silt and clay. ... If it doesn’t hold its shape and falls apart as soon as you open your hand, you have sandy soil.

LAST WEEK'S column provided a recipe for testing your garden soil's texture and discussed the management of sandy soils. This week, I'll focus on the management of clay, silt and loam soils and ...

Take some soil in your hand and rub it between your fingers. If it feels gritty, it has a high sand content. Clay particles stick together and allow you to mold the soil into little snakes, just ...

Overall, the Cornell lab rated Farm B’s silty clay loam soil health at 48.3 out of 100 and the silt loam soil health at 40.4 out of 100. Both were in the low range.

Clay, sand, silt, loam: How different soils affect gardens By now, you probably know what kind of soil you have out there in your “back 40.” ...

It’s a simple equation: If you want to grow better plants, you first need to understand the soil. “The texture of a soil is its proportion of sand, silt and clay,” said James Cassidy, a ...