A few bad things: Since sandy soils are made up of well…sand you will find that it doesn’t hold water or nutrients very well. Sand is composed of silica, usually quartz crystals, and these have relatively no ability to hold onto nutrients and little ability to hold on to water.

Sand allows water to drain through it more easily than silt and clay so more water should have drained through the sandy soil than the potting soil. The potting soil should have absorbed more water so less water should have drained through it and into the cup.

Clay soil

When a soil becomes hydrophobic, it repels water instead of absorbing it to provide moisture for plant growth. This occurs when uncomposted organic matter sits on the soil and, as it breaks down, the soil particles are coated with an oily, waxy residue that prevents water penetrating.

To make a soil wetter, simply mix the powder with boiling water to make a paste, then combine 250mL of paste with 4.5L of water. Apply to water repellent soil and potting mix. Agar is so benign that it’s most commonly used as a vegetarian substitute for gelatine.

To help choose a suitable wetting agent simply check the ingredients. Look for soil conditioners like fulvic acid and seaweed, polysaccharides (natural humectants which draw moisture from the air), and natural soil surfactants (potassium soaps and saponins). These will add rather than detract from your soil.

Make a well in the top and then pour on some water. If the soil is hydrophobic, the water will pool on top. In contrast when you wet soil that is not hydrophobic, the water is quickly absorbed,” he said. The simplest way to improve water take up by hydrophobic soils is to use a soil wetting agent.

Apply one application every 3 to 6 months, or more often if required.

For liquid wetting agents, we recommend a hose attached bottle product, then you simply attach it to your hose and water the product in. We recommend Lawn Solutions Lawn Rescue, which contains not only a liquid wetting agent but also a liquid fertiliser.

Wetting agents will help keep lawns greener for longer in the summer. Soil that has been treated with a wetting agent will not only absorb rain quickly but it will hold onto it better allowing the grass to stay hydrated and absorb vital nutrients from the soil (including your fertiliser!).

Wetting agents are like a detergent or surfactant that attract water to the soils surface, helping it to soak in. Hydrophobic soils repel water which can lead to serious problems in the garden and lawn. For existing lawns that are hydrophobic, a wetting agent is needed.

You can make your own soil wetting agent using the food grade thickener, agar agar (algin), derived from seaweed. Buy powdered kelp from a health food store. Slowly add boiling water to agar agar and stir to make a paste about the same consistency as wallpaper paste.

Mix one tablespoon of liquid dish-washing soap in one gallon of water. Soap also is a surfactant — a wetting agent that helps water spread out evenly over the leaf surface. As a result, a small amount of soap mixed into herbicide or fungicide sprays increases their effectiveness.

They help to reduce the surface tension by penetrating in between the water molecules and thus reducing the cohesion between them. As the main purpose of the wetting agent is to reduce the surface tension of the water, the surface tension measurements are routinely done.

A soil wetter combines the soil and moisture in a deeper way, which makes it more difficult for the moisture to be evaporated away. Soil wetting agents usually come in a granular form, and can be spread by either hand or a seed spreader.

Applying a wetting agent before your fertiliser will improve penetration of the fertiliser, while enhancing grass revival and overall performance. Conditioning the soil, Seasol Super Soil Wetter also improves its ability to hold onto valuable moisture at the root zone and nutrient uptake in your grass.

Sand is one of the cheapest things you can add to your garden soil that will help to break up the soil. The small particle size of the sand will get in between soil clods and break them up, increase drainage, and help to aerate the soil for good root development. Mulching can do miracles for your soil.