Advice on soil composition

[Rayleigh]

I recently bought some soil from my local plant nursery. However, I noticed that the soil retains water too well. I suspect that the soil may have a rather high clay proportion that is retaining the water in the soil. When dry, it tends to lump into somewhat hard clumps of soil. When too wet, the soil tends to become "bouncy" when tapped a spade.

I did a simple mason jar test to determine the composition of the soil. I suspect that the bottom half is sand, and clay(?) on the top half with almost no silt (thin dark line between the two). Could anyone with more experience here verify my findings and also advice on how to improve the soil mixture?

 

[Marck]

Greetings, welcome to the Forums.

Add organic matter to your soil. Any soil, regardless of particle size (clay, sil, sand) will benefit from added organic matter.

At the time of planting mix in generous amounts of compost.

For established plantings, add more organic matter by repeatedly mulching with wood chips, bark, fallen leaves, garden clippings, cardboard, more compost, etc.

 

[cpp gardener]

It's actually more sand than anything else, but it doesn't seem to have much organic matter. As Marck said, add it when you can to improve porosity and structure. There's a 1/2" layer of silt right above the sand with some settled clay on top. The line isn't very clear though. Add the compost.