"Laura J" wrote in message
...
Hi all,

I'm a complete newbie when it comes to gardening and am trying to start a
plot using the concepts of www.squarefootgardening.com. He suggests a
mixture of 1/3 peat moss, 1/3 coarse vermiculite and 1/3 compost. Problem
is I can't find the vermiculite and the guy at our local garden center
says
it's because it's now illegal. I did some research on this group and see
that it's been discussed extensively but couldn't find any suggested
alternatives. What else would you put into this mixture if you couldn't
find vermiculite? In case it matters, I'm in zone 6a and am planning on
planting tomatoes, peppers, beets, arugula, basil, parsley, peas and
beans.

Thanks for any advice you can offer!

LauraJ

I've always found perlite to be useful in applications similar to this.

BTW vermiculite is NOT ILLEGAL but it seems that some of the ill-informed
have decided that since vermiculite from one location in the US had some
asbestos in it that all vermiculite must be dangerous and that the sky is
falling and refuse to have anything to do with it no matter the source. If
you can find a vendor with the intelligence to know the difference you
should have no trouble buying vermiculite.

http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/asbestos/ve..._overview.html

--
John McGaw
[Knoxville, TN, USA]
http://johnmcgaw.com