ok so all my cucumbers died due to CMV [cucumber mosaic virus]. Today I pulled them out and planted new seeds. I know it is a little too late. I guess if we get a warm fall, I may be able to get some harvest.

At first I found out that vermiculite is almost impossible to find here in northern Virginia. After searching for a day or so I eventually found a few suppliers of it: Meadow view farms in Woodbridge has the fine variety…the kind they tell us to stay away from  4 cu ft bag for $25 Home Depot has 2 cu ft bags of the medium variety for $21 Merrifield Gardens in Fair Oaks has the 4 cu ft bags of coarse vermiculite for $40 Roxbury Farms in Fredericksburg has 4 cu ft bags of coarse vermiculite for $27 Southern States in Manassas has 4 cu ft bags of coarse vermiculite for…

Tilling the soil ever year was a pretty tiresome process. So I was looking for an easier way to grow vegetables and came across this book describing another way called Square Foot Gardening. The ideas in this book seem to be pretty good. Use no soil, just use a mix of compost, peat moss and vermiculite. At first I found out that vermiculite is almost impossible to find here in northern Virginia. After searching for a day or so I eventually found it locally.