Anyone use Vermiculite?

[Dirtdoctor]

Dilly,

Its a good product but.... Spendy.......you would do better to enrich your soil and improve tilth by addding compost.......not mineralized compost.....but somethign that had composed wood fiber........(NOT RAW WOOD) these pieces of wood would feel like a sponge, all teh legnin woudl have been decomposed and just left the shell of the fiber..... we normally put 10 inches of compost.....(not mineralized compost) in a bed of soil and double dig it......You will NEVER have to worry about tight hard soil again.....and you would then top dress with high nitrogen manure during the winter...and cover crop turn in during early spring as soon as ground is dry enought to blend.....oh and NEVER use a tiller.......they compact the soil on the bottom.
Best to you
Jack

SOILS TO GROW LLc
Hollister Ca.

 

[Iowamom]

Hi,

I made three raised beds and used Mel's mix for my garden. We did vermiculite, peat, and compost. But I used more compost than the other two ingredients because it is the cheapest. I recalled seeing that Mel said if you couldn't do 1/3 of each to err on the side of more compost.

So far, the garden is growing great and easy to care for.