The vegan lifestyle means eliminating all animal products. But sometimes, despite the fight against animal exploitation, vegans indirectly support animal husbandry through conventional gardening. The purpose of this article is to raise awareness among readers and help hobby gardeners avoid using animal products and grow their crops ethically.
, and this is an indicator of how widespread animal exploitation is in the modern world. It is hard to imagine what a huge amount of animal products ends up in the soil. It is not enough to remove meat from the dinner plate, it must also be removed from the vegetable growing chain. Most often in the practice of gardeners there are such elements as the blood and bones of animals, manure and feces. By some estimates, 11,4% of the meat industry’s gross income comes from by-products such as bone and blood meal. Lesser known but widely used fertilizers include feathers, egg shells, and fish offal. They are used to fertilize the soil. Part of your contribution to a world without violence to animals is switching to herbal fertilizers for your garden.
Some farms are already using plant-based agronomy practices. Their products are usually labeled “vegan”. But unfortunately, the trend towards vegan farming is in its infancy. Buying such products whenever possible is the best contribution to the expansion of this market. After all, the most powerful tool to support vegan agriculture is your money. Ask sellers in the market for such products: demand creates supply. Private traders can respond to customer requests faster than large companies. Either way, asking about vegan products will raise awareness and bring results over time.
It’s great if you grow your own fruits and vegetables. In stores, you can buy vegetable fertilizers that replace bone and blood meal and manure. The purpose of using fertilizers is to enrich the soil with a certain mineral. Bone meal and manure are used to add phosphorus, which plants need for root development and fruit formation. Use phosphate or soft phosphate. It is more laborious, but the result will not last for one year. Blood meal provides nitrogen, which promotes plant growth. It can be replaced with alfalfa flour. Potassium influences the synthesis of plant proteins and helps to regulate the flow of water in the plant. Generally, sources of potassium are non-animal sources such as wood ash, potash, or citrus peels.
Trace elements are an important addition to improve the yield and its quality. Seaweed fertilizer has a higher concentration of micronutrients than any land plant and is a great find for a vegan garden. The soil is a living being. Healthy soil is rich in nutrients, microorganisms, insects and bacteria. Excess fertilizers, herbicides or pesticides can kill living organisms. An imbalance of any one mineral can lead to a change in soil acidity and disrupt the absorption of other minerals by plants. Test the soil in your garden to identify any imperfections. Many problems can be solved by properly balancing soil minerals. For example, adding too much compost can increase nitrogen levels, which can lead to overgrowth of foliage at the expense of fruit!
Plant fertilizers typically consist of compost, seaweed, hay, and compost tea. Ethical fertilizer can be made from a variety of crops that are grown specifically to enrich the soil. Take the trouble to double-check the ingredients to make sure the compost doesn’t contain manure or eggshells. Looking at the composition, it is better to use high concentrations of each of the minerals at different stages of the growing season. In the spring, focus on phosphorus, which develops root systems. When young plants go into growth, it is the turn of nitrogen. Finally, fruit ripening requires a high concentration of potassium. The trio N/P/K works great in any garden.
Finally, a bonus recipe
- 6 glasses of sugar
- ½ cup dried lavender flowers
- 1 cup unscented liquid soap
- 1 glass of olive oil
- 12 Lavender Essential Oil Drops
- 12 essential orange oil droplets
- 6 drops of tea tree essential oil
In a large bowl, mix sugar and lavender flowers. Add liquid soap, olive oil and all essential oils. Mix properly. The resulting scrub will be thick like dough. You can add some orange zest for flavor. Store in a jar with a tightly closed lid.