Do You Need to Plant Spinach in Sand?

Choose a spot to grow the spinach, which grows well in partial to full sunlight during the cooler months. Spinach prefers fertile, moisture-retentive soil with a neutral pH between 6.3 and 6.8. Spinach does not need to be planted in sand. While pure sand is mostly silica and has a pH of 7, natural sand is impure and thus has varying pH depending on the matter mixed in it.

Test the soil pH by using the shovel to dig down a few inches where you will be planting the spinach and grabbing a handful of soil beneath the top layer. Fill the container with the soil and mix in enough water to make it muddy and moist throughout, but not runny.

Turn on the pH meter and insert it an inch or two deep into the muddy soil. Wait for the numbers on the readout to stabilize and record the number. That number is the soil’s pH.

Add more compost to the soil if the pH reading is too high and the soil is therefore too alkaline. Soil that is too alkaline is deficient in nutrients, and the compost adjusts this. Adding some compost or mulch to sandy soils increases their ability to hold water and nutrients.

Add lime to the soil if the pH reading is too low, which means the soil is too acidic. Sandy soil needs less lime to reduce its acidity, whereas heavy clay soil needs more lime to establish a proper pH for the spinach. Mix the lime into the topsoil well.