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If your subsoil is hardpan or clay, the pit may not drain well, and stagnant water can make the sand smell like a swamp. If the sand pit is on a slope, dig a narrow trench out from the pit bottom in a slight down angle till it exits the brow of the hill. Put in perforated drainage pipe or drain tile or fill with crushed rock or coarse gravel, cover with a layer of plastic sheeting, and replace soil and sod. Or, in the center of the pit, use a posthole digger to grub out a dry well a foot across and as deep as you can reach, and fill with rubble, stones, or crushed rock.

Rim the pit cleanly by digging an undercut around the rim—scraping about six inches of soil out from under the sod all around. Especially if soil is wet, loose, or sandy, set corrugated metal or plastic lawn edging in under the sod all around the cut to keep the edge from subsiding, and letting topsoil intrude into the sand wedge. The edging will also bar soil critters from moving in and will slow the inevitable mingling of soil with sand. Don't run the edging up to ground level, as the sharp edge could cut a child; push the ring of sod jutting beyond the undercut down over the edging to form a rounded lip at the pit's edge. The mower won't reach down, but the kids will keep grass around the lip worn down.

A SANDBOX

If you do not want to dig up your lawn, boxing the sand above ground is fine, although the grass under it will be killed unless you make the considerable effort to move box and contents every few days.

You can make a simple but serviceable wooden sandbox from a sheet of 1/2" thick plywood for the box and a cheaper 1/4 sheet for a base. Cut one 4' x 8' sheet into three 16" x 8' strips (see illustration above). Bisect one strip into a pair of 4' lengths. Form the four panels into a 4' x 8' x 16"-high rectangular open-topped box (make it shorter if you wish by trimming the long panels equally).

Fasten 2" long wood-lath stakes at ends and every two feet along the outsides of plywood panels, and hammer stake ends into the soil to hold the panels down. Fasten the galvanized-steel right-angle truss plates you bought from the hardware store inside each corner—running self-tapping drywall screws through holes in plates ...through ply panels ...and into end stakes.

Make triangular corner seats with scrap wood cleats fastened underneath to fit the edges of the plywood sides. Glue and nail the seats to the ply and corner stakes, and sand the seat—the edge facing into the box especially. Finish seat and box with paint or outdoor varnish to bind in any potential splinters.

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