never gardened before - have some questions

[MichelleAnnette]

I just read about the square foot garden today (ran across the website). We really want to try it but I hear it's hard to find vermiculite and we don't have time to compost ourselves so I don't know where to get a substitute for that. We are military and will only be here another 1-1.5 years.

What is good and easily accessible to make the soil with?

I want to start with plants, not seeds, because I really don't know what I am doing and I want to start asap (we are in NW FL). Any problems with starting with plants?

Thanks!

[Jojo F.]

Could you use organic compost from a gardening store/site?

[lmonter]

Depending on how big an area/garden you've got, you could always snag some Black Gold seed starting mix (has perlite or vermiculite, I forget which one), peat moss and other stuff (it's very nice and light and fluffy with no rocks like the crappy potting soil I bought last year) and mix in a bunch of compost and maybe regular soil from somewhere near you to make it stretch a bit. Or if you just have a dirt lot to plant on, do a soil test, maybe work in some compost (here, you can find different kinds of compost for $20-$40/cubic yard which is like half of our pickup bed) and plant your little heart out.

Starting with plants is fabulous.
I only start from seed now because a) I'm cheap and I can get a packet of 25-7000 seeds for the same price as one plant, b) I have the space and equipment to do it, and c) I like the fun varieties I can only find as seeds - like purple tomatoes and green onions and so on. If my seeds don't start how I want them to this year, my backup is making a big visit to my Tomato Lady and snagging tomatoes and peppers (and maybe broccoli and bulbing onions) to get in the ground before my newest munchkin makes it's appearance.