If the soil remains in a tight ball and is an orange-brown colour, you have quite heavy clay soil. This tends to stay wet in winter and bake hard in the summer,' explains landscape gardener Paul ...

Sandy soil - feels rough and gritty when handled and will not form distinct shapes like clay. It usually has a sandy brown colour and is easy to dig over. Water-logging is rare on such soils as ...

Clay soil is usually sticky and has small particles. They contain very few air gaps and water does not drain through it easily. Chalky soil is a light brown soil. Water drains through it quickly.

Brown also touched on the importance of top-dressing beds with mulch or pine straw. Because a lot of soils in the Southeast are clay-based, Brown recommended breaking up the clay-based soil and ...