growing in sand can be done. I have a front garden (pictures in my album) that is 90% sand.

One trains the roots of the plants to go DOWN so that they don't dry out so fast. I had to move some when we had the big dig up of the street last spring. I had a saponaria plant that I had to move and it was over 12 inches down!

If you sprinkle often but not water deeply every few days, the roots stay at the top and then when the sand dries out, the plant suffers.

So training does take some initial time but can pay off in very dry areas. That garden in the pics is below 100yr old oaks. And I was told by a garden "expert" that growing anything under oaks is impossible--- and I am doing it by following simple logic.
water correctly
feed appropriately
weed when necessary
have adequate light for the right plant

These are the only tricks I use. And I have failures, and just move on.

I think container gardening is the way to go for many things under certain situations. I do it up North and a little bit here.
In containers you can mix in SoilMoist granules and get up to 5 to 7 days between watering! You can use the new pelleted long acting fertilizers too..they are great for feeding. Some of the new fancy (if you have the money) containers are SELF watering now.
I like the big resin urns that Costco has now, for about $20.
I have 3 now, and they work really well and look nice (see my album pics).