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Soil texure explained
GARDENACTION ALLOTMENT
Allow it to stand a day until the water clears and all the solid matter sinks to the bottom. Then look closely. The largest particles will have sunk to the bottom and the finest material will be at the top of the column. We have allowed the soil to settle into grades of particle size. The largest particles will be sand and stones, followed by silt and then clay at the top. The proportions of each of these soil fractions determine soil texture and its properties. Soil texure explained
We take soils very much for granted without ever considering what goes to make up a soil. A simple test is to fill a glass cylinder to a third with your ordinary garden soil, a jar will do. Then fill it to the top with water. Stir up the lumps until all the crumbs break down and you end up with mucky slurry.
Soils are developed over thousands of years by the breakdown of rock on the surface of the earth by weather. Soils are complicated mixtures of mineral matter (sand, silt and clay), water, air, organic matter (the remains of plants and animals) and organisms that live in the soil.