Dirt

by John Ince, President Charlottesville Country Properties, LTD
There are a few places around Charlottesville where topsoil has to be trucked in to grow good grass. This is the exception rather than the rule and generally soils in the area are very well suited for pretty much anything you’d like to do with the land. A look at the soils map for the area will give you a quick indication of how quickly soils change from one hill to the next. It’s a fascinating study in geology and can be pretty important if you have a specific land use in mind. There are a few things I’ve learned over the years.
The redder the better. That’s what the old farmers say. The best soils for growing things like corn or soybeans, good hay or vegetables is a deep red with a pretty high clay content that retains moisture but is still friable, (crumbles) when it is moist. These soils are generally nice and deep and will be found in softer, gently rolling terrain. The beautiful, fat fields of southern Albemarle and Orange counties are good examples of these great Virginia soils. These good deep soils also tend to work easily for septic fields. While they do not drain quickly, they drain consistently.
Closer to the mountains where the ground is a little steeper and the runoff faster, the soils tend to be shallower, a little rockier and drain pretty quickly. While this may not be ideal for heavy farming it is the preferred soil for orchards and vineyards. We are seeing much of the piedmont’s prime orchard country, especially in western Albemarle County gradually transforming in wine country with great success.
There are certain soils to watch out for so it’s worth it to ask if you are looking for anything more than just a front and back yard. There is some grayish-greenish soil heavy with mica and clay that is problematic even for pasture and a famous sticky soil called blackjack that will retain rain water in puddles for days and tractor ruts left from the winter seem to be made of cement in the summer when they dry. These may be found in less rolling terrain and can function perfectly well as grazing land and less productive hay land.

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