Soil types in the garden, from sand to clay
We cover four soil types: sandy, loamy, clay and chalky or stony soil, because each holds water and nutrients differently and each calls for different plants and preparation. The drawings follow real, published Hungarian soil profiles, and alongside them we explain how to recognise your own soil and how to improve it.
How to recognise sandy, clay and other soil types
The simplest method is the hand texture test: wet a tablespoon of soil, knead it like dough, roll it into a thin sausage and try to bend it into a ring. Sand won’t form a sausage, you can feel gritty grains, and even wet soil crumbles through your fingers. Clay is sticky and slippery, bends into a ring without cracking and can be polished to a shine with a finger, while loam sits in between, neither gritty nor sticky when wet but smooth and almost floury.
Chalky soil often gives itself away as you dig, with whitish lumps of limestone or dolomite, but you can also test it with vinegar: if a little soil fizzes, it contains free lime. In the drawings, the layer thicknesses follow measured profiles: the sandy one comes from Pest County, the loam from Gödöllő, the clay from the Kalocsa Sárköz area, and the stony chalk is a deliberately extreme example from the edge of the Vértes Hills. Real garden soil varies from plot to plot, and its top layer has often been filled or disturbed.
Sandy soil
- 1. Humus-rich topsoil0-25 cm
Loose, weakly structured sand with a little humus and lime, slightly alkaline.
- 2. Transitional layer25-60 cm
Structureless, lime-rich sand in which humus barely shows any more.
- 3. Parent sand60-80 cm
Pale yellow, calcareous sand deposited by the ancient Danube, the material the soil formed from.
- How to recognise it
- Roll test: take a tablespoon of soil, moisten it, knead it until it feels like dough, roll it into a thin sausage and try to bend it into a ring. Sand will not roll into a sausage at all: you can feel gritty grains between your fingers, and even moist soil crumbles apart in your hand. In laboratory terms, sand has an Arany plasticity index (KA) of 25-30, and coarse sand below 25.
- Water
- Drains very quickly and holds on to hardly any water, so it dries out soon after rain or watering, suffers in drought, and nutrients are easily washed out of it.
- Advantages
- Easy to work, well aerated and quick to warm up in spring.
- Drawbacks
- It is low in humus and nutrients, so it needs more frequent watering and feeding, and on exposed sites the wind can blow the surface away.
- What you can do
- Dig in plenty of well-rotted compost or manure regularly, as it binds the loose sand grains into more fertile crumbs, and cover the surface with an organic mulch at least 5-7.5 cm thick. In Hungarian trials, clayey soil or bentonite mixed into the compost also improved how well sand holds water and nutrients, and when planting it is worth choosing drought-tolerant species.
- Arany plasticity number
- 25-30 (coarse sand: below 25)
- Based on
- Humus-rich sandy soil under pasture, Kiskunság Sand Ridge, between Örkény and Tatárszentgyörgy (Pest County)
Loamy soil
- 1. Cultivated topsoil0-30 cm
Dark, humus-rich loam (approx. 2.8% humus), neutral pH; heavily compacted by cultivation.
- 2. Humus-rich subsoil30-40 cm
The bottom of the former undisturbed humus layer, also heavily compacted loam.
- 3. Transitional layer40-65 cm
Dark yellowish-brown loam with a cloddy structure, in which humus drops to around 1%.
- 4. Loess parent material65-100 cm
Loose, calcareous (approx. 19% lime), alkaline loess-like sediment.
- How to recognise it
- Roll test: take a tablespoon of soil, moisten it, knead it until it feels like dough, roll it into a thin sausage and try to bend it into a ring. Moist loam feels neither gritty nor sticky but rather fine and floury; light loam breaks up as you roll it, medium loam forms a sausage that falls apart when you bend it into a ring, and with heavy loam the ring holds together but cracks. In laboratory terms, loam has an Arany plasticity index (KA) of 38-42.
- Water
- It lets excess water drain away well while holding on to enough moisture and nutrients for plants.
- Advantages
- Fertile and easy to work: a balanced mix of sand, silt and clay, so most garden plants are happy in it.
- Drawbacks
- With frequent cultivation and trampling the top layer can become badly compacted, so roots can only push down along the edges of the clods, and its humus runs down unless you replace it.
- What you can do
- Top up the organic matter every year with compost or a mulch at least 5-7.5 cm thick, and don't dig or rotavate it when it is too wet, so that it keeps its crumbly structure.
- Arany plasticity number
- 38-42
- Based on
- Leached chernozem under arable land, Józsefmajor teaching farm, Gödöllő (Cserhátalja micro-region)
Clay soil
- 1. Cultivated topsoil0-25 cm
Black, humus-rich, strongly clayey layer (KA 68), compacted by cultivation.
- 2. Clay layer25-55 cm
Dark, clayey alluvial layer (KA 70).
- 3. Heavy clay layer55-110 cm
Heavy clay (KA 72) with extensive gley mottling and iron speckles, both signs of long-standing waterlogging.
- 4. Deeper alluvial layer110-170 cm
Clayey alluvial layer in which groundwater appeared at a depth of about 160 cm.
- How to recognise it
- Roll test: take a tablespoon of soil, moisten it, knead it until it feels like dough, roll it into a thin sausage and try to bend it into a ring. Moist clay feels sticky and slippery, rolls easily into a long, thin sausage that bends into a ring without cracking, and can be smoothed to a shine with your finger. In laboratory terms, clay has an Arany plasticity index (KA) of 51-60, and heavy clay 61-80.
- Water
- It holds a lot of water but drains slowly, so water can stand in it for a long time after rain; it warms up slowly in spring, and in summer it dries out, bakes rock-hard and cracks.
- Advantages
- Rich in nutrients, because clay minerals hold on to them, so with good management it can be very fertile.
- Drawbacks
- It compacts easily if you walk on it when wet and is hard to work, and long-standing waterlogging leaves greyish gley mottles and rusty iron stains in it.
- What you can do
- Dig in plenty of organic matter, such as compost or well-rotted manure, which breaks the clay into crumbs and improves how it handles water, air and nutrients. Don't walk on it or rotavate it when wet, as a compacted pan can form beneath the machine, and when planting choose plants that tolerate heavy soil.
- Arany plasticity number
- 51-60 (heavy clay: 61-80)
- Based on
- Meadow alluvial soil under arable land, Kalocsa Sárköz
Chalky, stony soil
- 1. Thin humus layer0-6 cm
A topsoil layer of fine-crumbed sandy loam just 6 cm thick.
- 2. Stony transitional layer6-20 cm
A layer mixed with rock fragments that leads from the topsoil into the bedrock.
- 3. Weathered rock20-22 cm
Fragmenting dolomite directly above the solid rock.
- 4. Solid dolomite22 cm and below
Solid carbonate bedrock.
- How to recognise it
- You can often see whitish pieces of limestone or dolomite and stone fragments larger than 2 mm as soon as you dig. If you drop a little soil into vinegar and it fizzes, it contains free lime, which means you are dealing with a chalky, alkaline soil; professionals run the same test with dilute hydrochloric acid.
- Water
- It is often shallow and drains quickly, so it dries out fast; where clay is mixed in, it holds a little more water.
- Advantages
- It is well aerated, and a wide range of lime-loving or lime-tolerant plants positively thrive in it.
- Drawbacks
- It is often low in nutrients, organic matter mixed into it breaks down quickly, and the leaves of lime-sensitive plants can turn yellow from iron and manganese deficiency (chlorosis).
- What you can do
- Choose lime-loving or lime-tolerant plants, because you cannot make this kind of soil permanently acidic, and top up the organic matter and mulch regularly. On suburban plots the soil is often mixed with building rubble as well, so expect stones and debris when you dig or rotavate.
- Based on
- Stony, rocky skeletal soil on dolomite, on the fringes of the Vértes Hills (an extreme, shallow example)
What is the soil like in eastern Pest and the Gödöllő Hills?
According to the micro-region description, the Gödöllő Hills, whose south-western tip reaches as far as Maglód and Pécel, are typically brown forest soil country: Ramann-type brown forest soils and chernozemic brown forest soils dominate, with scattered patches of humus-rich sand and meadow soils in between. The surface is covered by varied sediments, from sandstone and gravel through sandy clay and river deposits to loess, marl and freshwater limestone. In an arable profile dug between Maglód and Pécel, the top 25 cm was sandy, with sandy loam below it down to 60 cm, followed by a calcareous, loess-like sediment mixed with sand. At the Józsefmajor teaching farm in Gödöllő, researchers described a chernozem with a loam texture and a 40 cm thick humus layer, formed on loess. In neighbouring District XVI, according to a talk by a geologist, the ground near the surface is typically sand laid down by rivers and wind, with gravelly sand beneath; the soils are slightly acidic, not rich in humus, and in many places mixed with building and household rubble. Because soil varies even from one plot to the next, it is worth checking what you are dealing with in your own garden using a roll test and a vinegar test.
How to improve your garden soil
- Dig plenty of well-rotted compost or manure into sandy soil regularly, as it binds the loose grains into more fertile crumbs, and in Hungarian trials, clay soil or bentonite mixed into the compost also improved how well sand holds water and nutrients.
- Generous amounts of compost or well-rotted manure break clay into crumbs, but don’t walk on it or rotavate it when wet, because a compacted layer forms under the machine.
- Top up organic matter in loam every year with compost or a mulch at least 5-7.5 cm deep, and don’t dig it when it’s too wet, so it keeps its crumbly structure.
- On chalky soil, choose plants that like or tolerate lime, because you can’t make the soil acidic for good, and keep topping up organic matter and mulch.
- On suburban plots, expect the soil to be mixed with building rubble, so be ready for stones and debris when you dig or rotavate.
Frequently asked questions
What’s the problem with sandy soil?
It lets water through very quickly and holds on to very little, so it dries out soon after rain or watering, and water washes the nutrients out. On the plus side, it’s easy to work, well aerated and warms up early in spring, and you can make up for its weaknesses with plenty of compost and mulch.
Why does water sit on clay soil?
Because clay stores a lot of water but lets it through slowly, so water can stand in it for a long time after rain, while in summer it dries out, bakes hard and cracks. Long-standing water also leaves traces in the soil in the form of grey gley patches and rusty iron mottles.
What is the best soil for a garden?
Most garden plants do well in loam, a balanced mix of sand, silt and clay that drains surplus water but keeps enough moisture and nutrients for plants. With frequent cultivation and trampling, though, its top layer can become badly compacted, and its humus runs down unless you replace it.
What is the soil like in eastern Budapest and around Gödöllő?
It varies. The Gödöllő Hills, which reach as far as Maglód and Pécel, are mostly brown forest soils, while in neighbouring District 16, according to a geologist’s talk, river- and wind-borne sand is typical near the surface. A profile dug between Maglód and Pécel had sandy soil in the top 25 cm and sandy loam down to 60 cm, so it’s well worth doing the hand texture test in your own garden.
What is the Arany plasticity index?
It’s a figure used in Hungarian soil science (Arany-féle kötöttségi szám, KA) that indicates soil texture: the higher it is, the heavier and more clayey the soil. Sand scores 25-30, coarse sand below 25, loam 38-42, clay 51-60 and heavy clay 61-80.
Soil preparation for lawns, trees and beds
If you’re planning a new lawn, tree or bed, we’ll look at the soil during the site visit and take care of the preparation, levelling and planting. The site visit is free, we send a written quote afterwards, and you can write to us in English.
Quicker by phone? Call us on +36 20 944 3464.
