Washed course sand

[rary]

I have quite a bit of course sand which I will be putting over the garden, I know that you can buy "rock dust" for adding more minerals to your soil, but can anyone tell me if course sand adds mineral content as well

[roitelet]

I don’t think so. It is usually used to improve soil texture.

[DannyK]

It's good for rooting cacti and other succulents and opening up compost for cuttings.

Might add minerals but imperceptibly

[mothhawk]

I believe coarse sand is composed mostly of silica, which is very hard and is not particularly soluble in water (otherwise we wouldn't have beaches ). Rock dust or ground basalt contains a mix—phosphorus, potassium, calcium, magnesium, iron, all of which dissolve in water, allowing the plants to absorb them.

[Snadger]

Depending on the analysis it could affect your pH.

[ESBkevin]

The 'washed' description denotes that any organic or fine mineral particals are removed. If you have heavy soil then some sand will aid it in not sticking together so badly, but time and lots (and lots) of organic material is a better and more effective solution to that problem and many others.
In the past i have tried adding sand to heavy soil, it does no harm in the quantities I had but I've definitely had much better results digging in or shovelling on organic stuff. I've now got soil in my front garden that most people would call nice compost (after years of repeated applications), the sand early on does no harm and probably gives the worms something to aid thier digestion.

[Dynamite]

I can think of two things Rary:-

1 - Mix/blend in small amounts with any clay soil you have as well as humus and compost.
2 - Mix in with MPC for use in pots & containers, especially lower down.

Kind Regards.............Rob

[It never rains..it pours]

When you say course do you mean sharp type sand. I find on clay here fine sand makes it worse unless it a very high % added so put it through a 50 micron filter first, what remove looks like clay but obvisiously isnt