Vegan Organic Gardening

About Vegan Organic Gardening

Organically grown foods are better than non-organically grown foods because they are grown without the use of harmful chemicals like pesticides, herbicides, fungicides and synthetic fertilizers. For someone who is vegan, though, they really think about the fruits and vegetables they are consuming because many of the fertilizers organic gardeners use, while not synthetic and harmful, are made from animal by products like manure, blood and bone.

So, what's a vegan to do? Keep reading to get some tips ways to get your garden flourishing with truly vegan organic fruits and vegetables.

The Soil

Everyone knows one of the most important components of a successful garden is the condition of the soil. Just like people, fruits and vegetables need nourishment to grow. This nourishment usually comes in the form of animal by-product fertilizers and while these fertilizers do work well, they aren't vegan. Here are some things you can add to enrich your soil and feed your garden:

• Wood ash: Adding wood ash to your garden soil helps maintain a healthy acidity level. Adding a small amount of wood ash also helps to prevent heavy metals from seeping into your crops.
• Dolomite: Crushed dolomite enriches the soil with calcium and magnesium.
• Epsom salts: Also an excellent sources of magnesium.

Taking Care of Pests

Harsh chemicals are not used in organic gardening, vegan or otherwise. There are plenty of eco-friendly ways to shoo away garden pests:

• Keep your garden clean. Any debris or dead leaves need to be removed from your garden immediately. Insects and other garden pests often feed and live off dying and dead plants.
• Set up a birdbath. By setting up a birdbath near your garden, you invite in birds that feed off insects.
• Use plants to deter insects naturally. Some plants contain chemicals that naturally deter pests such as:
  • African marigold: Repels nematodes, green flies and aphids. Consider planting a border of African marigolds on one side for your garden to deter these insects.
  • Basil helps to keep away flies and mosquitoes.
  • Sage keeps the carrot flies away.
  • Garlic deters aphids and other leaf-eating insects.

Avoiding Weeds

Weeds can never be completely avoided, but they can be more easily managed through the use of organic mulches made from straw, grass and shredded bark. By putting a thick layer of organic mulch down, you prevent the weeds from getting any sunlight and are thereby prevent them from growing. Of course, some strong weeds will poke through, but usually their roots are so weak that they are easily pulled out with a quick tug.

The Benefits of Vegan Organic Gardening

Aside from the obvious health benefits of the fruits and vegetables that come out of a vegan organic garden, there are also the environmental benefit of not adding harmful chemicals into the soil.

The use of chemicals tends to destroy the soil over time, leaving it void of nutrients and minerals. Also, when these chemicals are used near bodies of water, when it rains the chemicals run off and end up in your local lakes and streams. When large amounts of synthetic fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides run off, they pollute bodies of water.

Starting Off Small

If you're new to organic gardening, it's a good idea to start off with a small plot. Organic gardens tend to take more of a conscious and concerted effort to maintain because you have to put more thought into pest control, weeds and feeding your produce. In the end, you'll never go back to store-bought fruits and vegetables because nothing will ever taste better than the produce you harvest from your own vegan organic garden.