Vegans are typically able to get all the food that they need from local grocery stores. Despite this, there is a lot to be said for starting up your own vegan garden. Most importantly, you can ensure that no animals or critters are harmed during any stage of your food production.
Starting your own garden may also help to keep your food costs lower in the long run. After all, if you are someone who prefers to buy organic produce, you probably end up spending quite a bit. However, if you simply grow your own vegetables, you won’t need to buy as much.
Last but certainly not least, having a garden in your own backyard can help you lower your carbon footprint. Since your food will not have to travel to get to you, you will be easing your impact on the environment.
Of course, if you don’t have much of a green thumb, a vegan garden can seem like a rather daunting prospect. If you are concerned about how to get started, though, you shouldn’t be. This post will contain all of the tips, tricks, and guidelines that you need to be successful. So, let’s get started.
Gardens are Possible for All Vegans
Now, if you live in a city or a cramped apartment, you may think that gardening is out of the question for you. Well, guess what? It isn’t! You can set up a garden in an apartment, with just pots at your disposal!
It is possible for you to grow everything from lemons and tomatoes all the way up to salad leaves and micro-greens. Sure, your yield may not be as much as with a traditional garden, but this doesn’t really matter. What’s more, inviting all that greenery into your home can make it seem so much more cheerful as well.
Engage in A No-Digging Vegan Garden
Even if you don’t know anything about gardening, you are probably aware that digging is a rather key component of this practice. Unfortunately, digging isn’t very vegan. See, when you plunge tools into the dirt and turn over the soil, you run the risk of killing a number of critters living under the surface.
Digging can cause other problems as well. It can cause erosion and compaction while also compromising the quality of the soil. Thus, in this way, it makes sense to begin with a no-digging vegan garden. Of course, since this may be a new concept to you, here are some of the things that you need to know:
Although you will not be digging up the soil, you still need to create the perfect environment for growth. Due to this, you will have to place a layer of mulch over the soil before you plan on planting any fruits or veggies in the dirt.
Now, at some point or another, you may need to get to the bottommost layer of your vegetable patch. This may be during the planting stage or when you need to unearth vegetables from the soil. Here, simply using your hands to dislodge the earth may not work.
So, in such situations, you can use a gardening fork to loosen the soil. As there is space between the tines, you will be less likely to hit any kind of insects or critters. Nonetheless, you should be careful when plunging the fork into the earth.
Find Your Own Mulch
If you are going to follow the no-dig method then it is a good idea to find your own mulch. This way, you will be able to ensure that everything going into your garden is completely vegan, natural, and cruelty-free. What’s more, making your own mulch saves you money as well.
The good news is that it is really easy to find and make mulch. You can use a combination of the following:
- Tree bark
- Grass clippings
- Wood chips
- Shredded leaves
- Pine needles
The actual mulching process is pretty easy. You simply have to spread your chosen components in an even layer over the top of the soil. When it is time for you to plant your seeds or plants, gently scrape back this mulch layer. This will expose a freshly nourished topsoil layer.
Vegan Compost and Fertilizers
Most soils need to be enriched in one way or another. This ensures that they are able to provide embedded plants with enough nutrients to grow. Gardeners have two options when it comes to this – compost and fertilizer.
Now, as with mulch, you should be able to pick up a bag of compost or fertilizer at a local store. Unfortunately, a number of these products contain animal by-products. This includes blood meal, bone meal, and manure. There are even some fertilizers that are fish-based.
Making your own vegan compost, however, is incredibly simple. For the ideal mix, you are going to need a good ratio of “brown” and “green” components. The green part of the mulch is what adds nitrogen to the soil. The brown adds carbon.
Some of your “green” ingredients include:
- Flowers and cuttings
- Fresh grass clippings
- Green plant cuttings
- Vegetable and fruit peels
- Seaweed and kelp
- Coffee grinds
The “brown” components to add are:
- Dried grass
- Dried leaves
- Hay and straw
- Wood bits
- Plant stems
To make sure that your soil is getting the right balance of nutrients, follow this rule of thumb – 30:1 carbon to nitrogen. While you don’t need to measure each component exactly, just keep an eye on how much of each ingredient you are putting into the pile.
In case you are looking for fertilizer to nourish your plants directly, you will be happy to know that there are several commercial options available. Nevertheless, if the fertilizer isn’t certified vegan, make sure to always check the label. This way, you can be completely certain that there aren’t any animal-derived products being snuck into your garden.
If you don’t mind the DIY route, then there is a recipe that you can follow. It goes like this:
- 2 parts cottonseed meal
- 2 parts colloidal phosphate
- 3 parts wood ash, greensand or granite dust
- 1 part kelp meal
Keeping Pests at Bay the Vegan Way
Now, you don’t need to be told that commercial pesticides are a complete no-no. Not only are they bad for the soil, plants, and you, they are harmful to surrounding critters as well. While various woodland creatures and insects can destroy your garden, there is no need to take harmful action against them. After all, they have just as much right to be there as you do.
That being said, you really can’t afford to have your hard work nibbled at by hungry critters. Fortunately, there are plenty of natural ways to ward off all kinds of insects and animals. These will keep pests away, but won’t do any harm to them or the environment.
One option is to plant crops that common pests don’t like. These include mint, catnip, basil, lavender, and rosemary. If you plant these around your fruit and vegetable plants, you will be able to keep away a multitude of critters such as mice, aphids, slugs, mites, and more.
If you have deer crossing over into your garden, try sprinkling some cat litter on the boundary. In case you prefer to distract them instead, a saltlick should do the trick. As for rabbits, a little bit of netting around the plants will work. Or, you can sprinkle some chili powder around the boundary.
Create a Vegetable and Fruit Calendar
Rotating crops has a number of benefits. It maintains soil health and can cut down on the risk of soil deficiency. What’s more, planting diverse crops can actually help to keep the pests at bay. Furthermore, crop rotation ensures that you have a wide variety of foods on your table at various points of the year.
Figure out which vegetables can be grown during each season. Then mark these on your calendar so that you know when the planting and harvesting times begin for each crop. This way, you can have fresh veggies and fruit all year long.
If you need some inspiration, consider the kind of nutrients that your vegan diet requires. Thus, you may want to focus on vegetables and fruits that can boost your intake of protein, iron, vitamin C, calcium, and more.
A Final Note…
You shouldn’t be discouraged if your vegan garden doesn’t turn out just the way you wanted it to in the beginning. This is a process that does require a bit of trial and error, particularly when you are trying to maintain a vegan garden. So, you shouldn’t be too hard on yourself – you will get the hang of it soon enough.
Instead, learn from your gardening experience and look for ways to improve. You should experiment and constantly find new ways to be innovative and cruelty-free at the same time. Eventually, you will become a pro at maintaining an abundant garden that is a boon to both your household and nature.