Amateur Gardening – 29 June 2019

26 AMATEUR GARDENING 29 JUNE 2019

Matthew Appleby explains the aims behind growing plants without animal

inputs, which includes improving your health and protecting animal welfare

I

’VE been saying for years that

vegan gardening is the next big

thing in horticulture. No one

believed me, but after the dietary

phenomenon of cutting out not only

meat but also dairy and eggs from your

diet exploded a couple of years ago, the

idea of animal-free growing has been

gaining impetus.

But what does animal-free gardening

involve? Well, basically, it’s growing

plants without animal inputs. In the same

way as being a vegan involves not eating

meat or using anything derived from an

animal, being a vegan gardener means

using alternatives to blood, fish and

bone fertilisers and horse manure.

The fertiliser ingredients are the by-

products of the slaughterhouse, while

horse manure is the result of animal

farming, which, fundamentally, vegans

want to avoid supporting. There is also

a slight risk of zoonotic diseases such as

E. coli and salmonella being passed on

through manure. The motivations behind

all this are to improve your health, to

defend the environment and to protect

animal welfare, wellbeing, green and

moral reasons.

My aim when my book Super Organic

Gardener: Everything You Need to Know

About a Vegan Garden was published

this year was to spread the word and

start a debate about vegan gardening

and to get vegan gardening products on

the garden centre shelf. Oh, and to sell a

few books too!

Go and hug a slug

Well, the first one worked. I was on ITV’s

Good Morning Britain, where Richard

Madeley demanded to know why I

wanted to ban birdfeeders (I don’t, but I

think you have to be careful as feeding

birds can lead to wildlife you don’t want

coming into your garden). John

Humphrys on Radio 4’s Today

programme questioned my view

that the only time most

people kill anything is in the

garden. I told him to go

and hug a slug. Social

media feedback

suggested I deserved a

shotgun slug for coming

up with such a stupid

idea, but at least it got

people talking.

Second, there are now

more vegan products in garden

centres. Natural Grower fertiliser has

Vegan Society accreditation, as has

Seeds of Italy, while animal-free Fertile

Fibre compost has raised its profile

since the book was published. The

garden products supplier Westland now

has a vegan section on its website. The

products, like vegan gardening itself, are

likely to be a small niche in the wider

world of gardening, but it’s something to

think about if you want to make the

natural progression from organics to

what I call ‘super-organic’ gardening.

Practical steps to vegan gardening

begin with no digging. Digging can

upset the soil structure and the habitats

of microfauna, as well as causing

compaction and erosion. Mulch the soil

with compost to add organic matter and

nutrients, and to suppress weeds. You

can still dig up persistent weeds, and,

yes, as someone once asked

me, you are allowed to dig

up your potatoes!

Make your own

compost from layers of

nitrogen-rich green

material (grass cuttings,

peelings, leafy

prunings) and carbon-

rich brown material

(dry leaves, straw, card,

shredded woody prunings)

sourced from kitchen,

household and garden waste. The

pile needs to be moist and warm to

decompose through microbial action.

Turn with a garden fork every month

or two, and in six months you should

have enough black, crumbly compost

in which to grow your plants. Many

gardeners do this already. Humanure

Vegan gardening, which involves

animal-free growing, has been

gaining impetus in recent years

All photographs Alamy unless otherwise credited

What is

vegan gardening?

Use a scarecrow to

deter birds

Today

programme questioned my view

people kill anything is in the

Second, there are now

more vegan products in garden

centres. Natural Grower fertiliser has

can still dig up persistent weeds, and,

yes, as someone once asked

me, you are allowed to dig

up your potatoes!

compost from layers of

nitrogen-rich green

material (grass cuttings,

peelings, leafy

prunings) and carbon-

rich brown material

(dry leaves, straw, card,

shredded woody prunings)

sourced from kitchen,

household and garden waste. The

Steep comfrey leaves in

a bucket of water for a

great fertiliser