What are soil textures? It's actually the feel of the soil when you rub it between your fingers. How it feels will determine what type of soil you are dealing with in your garden. The soil will be classified as clay, sand, or silt. Having your soil analized by a lab will give you the right composition, but you can roughly do the same by rubbing some moist soil between your fingers.

Clay soil is classified as 'heavy' soil due to the fact that the particles are so fine that if you walk on it or till it will become cloddy and very compact. If you rub it between your fingers it can become very cylindrical. It will absorb nutrients and moisture therefore becoming more compact and difficult to drain. Adding compost and other organic materials to this soil will be a great improvement.

Sandy soil will feel gritty and its grains, made up of granite, limestone, quartz, and shale, will barely hold together. If these particles were any larger they would probably be called gravel. It will drain easily, and many of the nutrients will filter through it with water. If enough organic matter has been added it is easy to cultivate. It does have a tendency to over-drain and become dehydrated in the summer months and during wet weather it has difficulty retaining moisture and nutrients.

Silt soil has particles that are smaller than sand and larger than clay. If you rub it between your fingers it will feel smooth. It drains slower than sand but is poor at holding together. It makes superior farm land but will erode very easy and will get blown away in heavy winds or even a dust storm. This is also the soil that is found in the bottom of a river.

Loam is a medium textured soil that contains equally balanced amounts of sand, silt, and clay. This is also termed as good soil; all clods will break down easy and create smaller particles.  

With this good loam you probably won't want anything else. It holds moisture and with proper maintenance you can grow just about any crop. You will still have to add compost or humus and fertilizer regularly to maintain the good levels and maybe some lime occassionally to correct the acidity level.

Now that you have a little better idea about the different soil textures you will be able to amend your soil to the proper level for growing your gardens.