I have Mel's book and practice some of what he preaches. I don't amend the soil with vermiculite and I don't always mark out my beds in grids/frames, but I do use the spacing suggestions and divide the beds into squares. I have a very small yard and a very large list of things I want to grow. SFG has taught me that I need to look at the output of my whole yard as opposed to the output of a plant. I found it was a hard lesson to learn, but a valuable one. So, I use some of the ideas and plan to use more, but some things like the vermiculite that Mel loves aren't making their way into my garden.