WHAT IS SOIL TEXTURE?

SOIL HEALTH SERIES

Soil texture is a measurement of the minerals in your soil -- those ground up bits of rock which are pulverized by erosion into small particles over thousands of years. Soil texture is determined by the PROPORTIONS of sand, silt and clay particles in your soil.

• SAND … The gritty bits. Each grain is about the size of the head of a pin or less.
• SILT… Smooth and soft like cornstarch.  Silt particles are about the diameter of
  a human hair.
• CLAY … Sticky when wet. Each bit is microscopic, about the size of a bacteria.

Soil texture has an ENORMOUS effect on soil’s water retention ability and on nutrient availability.

CLAY and SILTY soils hold more water and nutrients, but are easily compacted.

SANDY soils drain freely and resist compaction, but nutrients are easily leached from the soil.

Gardeners’ dream of LOAM, an ideal soil in which the mineral content consists of about 40 percent sand, 40 percent silt and 20 percent clay. 

An ideal SOIL would be made up of 45 percent minerals (sand, clay, silt), five percent organic matter (plant and animal), 25 percent air and 25 percent water.        

Sources:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/earth-and-planetary-sciences/soil-texture https://agriculture.canada.ca/en/agriculture-and-environment/soil-and-land/soil-and-water/soil-texture-and-water-quality