The VeggieSmith Blog

* which means, if you’re curious, “worm eaten,” which we hope our veggies will not, in fact, be.

I want you to keep in mind that I’m not an expert, in any way, shape, or form!  I wanted to include this entry about Vermiculite since it has the curious tendency to raise eyebrows when one discusses using it in one’s garden.  Just to refresh your memory, here is a most fetching photo of our Vermiculite prior to mixing:

Vermiculite: the "Fluff"

Vermiculite has gotten a bad rap because it has a somewhat checkered past.  Apparently, back in the day  Vermiculite was going be the next big thing in insulation (yes, I said insulation, not horticulture).  It’s great because it’s basically nonflammable and puffy so it was a cinch to blow into gaps in walls and the like.  The Canadian Government even ran a program that encouraged its use: they gave rebates to the happy homeowners for using the stuff .  There was a rather large problem that emerged a few years down the road, however, and I’m going to go straight to the source on this one, and quote Health Canada:

Vermiculite ore produced from the Libby Mine in Montana, USA, from the 1920s to 1990, may contain asbestos. This mine supplied the majority of the world market in vermiculite insulation, mostly sold under the brand name Zonolite. Insulation material made from vermiculite ore produced by the Libby Mine was not widely used after the mid-1980’s and has not been sold on the market in Canada for more than 10 years. Not all vermiculite insulation produced before 1990 contains asbestos. However, it is prudent, in the absence of evidence to the contrary, to assume that vermiculite insulation material produced before 1990 may contain some asbestos.

I’ve added emphasis on the most relevant sections.

What’s important to keep in mind is that not all Vermiculite contained Asbestos, and the stuff that (famously) did contain it (Zonolite Attic Insulation) has been off the market (in Canada, at least) for more than 10 years.  This CBC site explains the entire issue extremely well and in a lot of depth.

It’s a fascinating story and one worth informing  yourself about, as your neighbours, friends, and even parents *cough Dad cough* may wonder why you’d want to grow your food in toxic sludge.  Personally, I found Mr. Bartholomew (of Square Foot Gardening fame) to be somewhat pat in his dismissal of the controversy surrounding this material.

In any case: for gardening, Vermiculite is wonderful.  It keeps your soil light and fluffy, and it absorbs water (like a sponge) so your plants have lots of access to a good drink on a hot day.

And back to my original point.  When I first heard the word “Vermiculite,” the logophile in me wondered whether it was VERMICulite because it performed one of the functions of earthworms (namely: fluffing up soil) or if it was shaped like worms.  I was rather disappointed to discover that it doesn’t look anything like worms to ME.  However, someone somewhere apparently decided that it did, indeed, look rather worm-like when it is heated.  Hence, the suffix vermi-.  Here is an extreme close-up so you can decide for yourself.  I thought my first instinct was much cooler…

These look like nasty worms, not earthworms. Ick

Although we’re still a little more than a week away from official frost-freedom, we’re in the midst of prepping the beds for their new residents.  I’m sure the seedlings are enthralled by our progress, as they can see the beds from their window.

Yesterday Mike procured Vermiculite and Peat Moss (Sphagnum) to mix with the compost.  I do, indeed, plan future blog posts about the virtues of the two aforementioned additions.  This mixture is based on the so-called “Mel’s Mix,” as described by the founder of Square Foot Gardening (Mel Bartholomew).  It is interesting, really, to compare what something seems like when one is reading about it, and what it is actually like when one sees it in real life. Here, for your viewing pleasure, are the 3 components of Mel’s Mix:

Vermiculite: the "Fluff"

Peat Moss: the "sponge"

Compost: the "food," + our assistant

Combining this mixture is a lot of hard work!  Compost and Peat Moss are heavy and mixing the 3 parts together takes time.  It’s a long process, and as of last night, Mike had one completed one box.

Mixing it Up

If you visit the Square Foot Gardening website, you will note that Mel advocates using not more than 6″ of this mixture in one’s box. To quote: “Forget what the experts have been telling us for years,  use only 6 inches of Mel’s Mix to fill your boxes.  You’ll be amazed at the results.” So why did Mike build our garden boxes 16″ deep and fill them to the brim?  Good question!  It’s certainly not to save money…  Perhaps Mike is going to try to compete with Howard Dill’s pumpkins, but in the tuber category?  Maybe he believes that bigger is always better?  I don’t have an answer to this question…but I would advise you to not follow our example!

I put this question to Mike and he agreed with some of what I said, but he also added three things:

1. He was interested in making the boxes a bit taller so as to make it even easier to lean over them.

2. When he was buying lumber he found that doubling up on the two 8″ Spruce boards would be cheaper than getting one 12″ Pine board (which was, apparently, what was available) so he thought he’d save some cash going that route.  Of course, it didn’t really occur to him (at the time) that what he saved on lumber would be more than made up for by the cost of the additional material.

3. It’s just really difficult, conceptually, to visualize planting in only 6″.  It just seems wrong somehow.  I’m sure it’d be fine, but it’d just feel so darn weird!

So how much does all this “fill” cost, and why aren’t we just using our own soil?

Well, the first part of this question is “it depends.”  In my post on Compost, I mentioned that VWRM is giving away bags of compost next weekend.  However, they DO usually charge a modest fee for the black gold.  The amount we got would cost $35. Bags of Peat Moss (the 3.8 cubic foot size) run between $9.50 and $6.  Mike found the best price was at our local Co-Op Atlantic. Vermiculite is, by far, the heavyweight of the lot, running between $30 and $24 per 4 cubic foot bag.  Mike found the best price at Scotian Gold.

The second question (why not just use our soil) is answered in depth on the SFG website, but to briefly enumerate its virtues: it’s lightweight and never needs tilling, turning, hoeing.  It’s free of weed seeds (at least at first).  It holds water like a sponge and will just allow extra water to seep off, so it’s never waterlogged. It is the perfect mix from “go,” so you never need to add fertilizer or any other extras to build up the nutrients in your existing soil (of course, as you harvest your garden, you fill in the holes with little bits of compost).  And for those who live in areas in which they may have concerns about contaminants or other soil issues - this is an easy way to just mix, fill, and grow without worries.

One Box Done

I’m trying something new today with adding a video.  It seems to me that the best way to really show how this mixture ends up is to insert a short video.  Enjoy.  I’m thinking of embarking on a television career.  Do you think I show promise? And I should mention that I did an ad-lib screw-up here: I should say it’ll hold its volume in water, not its weight.  Right?