Vegan Composting and Fertilization

As a vegan, you want a garden full of healthy plants. Healthy plants fight off diseases and pests. And they have more nutrients which help us stay healthy too.

Plant-based compost is easy to make and will benefit your garden. My vegan friends often tell me that established gardeners tell them you can't compost without animal products. And that is simply not true!

For transparency, I lean vegetarian and have vegan family members and friends whom I often give garden advice. In addition, please note this article contains links to Amazon products. Any earned commissions help us to support wildlife rehabilitators and community gardens.

The Problem

Many of the big-name potting soils and composts contain animal products. Some things such as feather meal and blood meal are pretty obvious. But ammonia nitrates, whey, and urea may not be. When you make your own compost you know what's in it.

How To Make Vegan Compost

Making compost is the best way to provide a variety of nutrients to your plants. Your compost is also providing a micro-ecosystem where earthworms, insects, and microfauna can flourish naturally.

First, you need to have an outdoor compost area. If you have the space a three-bin system is ideal. That way you always have one bin to place fresh compost and other bins that are being allowed to decompose.

There are a variety of plastic models like this one made for suburban yards that work well for a small amount of composting.

My favorite! Behrens Composter Steel Trash Can Composter works fabulous. Lots of ventilation and sturdy with a tight fitting lid in case you have neighborhood raccoon friends.

My daughter-in-law who is vegan has started vegetable gardening and she got two of these metal composting bins this year. What I love about them is all the great ventilation holes on every side. They also are animal-proof and easy to secure. We bought hers at a local farm store but they are pretty widely available.

I'm not a fan of the Tumbler varieties. We had one at a school garden I ran and it was not a good fit. This was in part because the children thought it was fun to spin!

Also if you are gardening on a balcony and are really squeezed for space you can add some scraps to a container. However, make sure you cover them thoroughly and give them time to decompose.

Layers

Think of composting as layering. Like a bean salad or lasagna. We have greens such as grass clippings, coffee grounds, and vegetable peelings. Browns are going to be leaves, straw, and wood shavings. Both are needed for the decomposition process.

You will be adding your ingredients as you get them. The micro and macro organisms will come.

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Moisture

You do want to think about moisture. Especially vegans who are using lots of vegetable scraps. Make sure you are adding enough browns like straw and wood shavings to absorb moisture. Otherwise you will have slime.

Especially the smaller plastic bins may not be getting enough airflow. Straw since it is hollow is good for helping to increase air flow in the pile. It does take up space but put in a layer after emptying your kitchen materials.

And of course, always keep your compost bins covered so that wildlife doesn't get in them.

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To Turn or Not To turn

I personally don't turn my compost because it disrupts the microbial life. I did a paper on this in grad school. I prefer to use the layering method and when the bin is full I let it sit for 6 months. Then move on to the next bin. If the weather is hot and dry I may water it but otherwise, I let it do its thing.

I am a big fan of soil tests. A soil test is critical for gardeners. A soil test will tell you if you are above or below in necessary elements or minerals. And gives you a pH value which is important for many plants.

Soils today are often very depleted and if you are in an urban area very disturbed. There are some excellent plant-based fertilizers if your garden is lacking in certain nutrients.

I love listening to books on Audible as I'm working in the garden or puttering around the house! I recently listened to The Permaculture Gardening Bible by David whitehead - it was excellent!

Plant Based Fertilizers

Alfalfa

Alfalfa is a fabulous source of nitrogen and organic alfalfa meal is widely available. In addition, alfalfa makes a good cover crop. Alfalfa meal is great to add to the soil before transplanting brassica crops.

Cotton seed meal is another great vegan-friendly fertilizer. It has nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium. It is acidic and will lower pH values. It's great for things like blueberries and azaleas.

Read my article on Growing Blueberries.

Down To Earth is, in my opinion, an enthusiastic environmentally friendly company. Not all products are vegan but they are very transparent about what the ingredients are so you can make the best choice for you.

Kelp meal is a great plant option as it contains many minor elements or trace minerals. The plant needs less of these but they are still essential.

Down to Earth also features a Vegan Fertilizer which is a mix of Organic Soybean Meal, Neem Seed Meal, Alfalfa Meal, Rock Phosphate, Langbeinite, Greensand, Humates and Kelp Meal. So many of the individual products we have discussed.

I have not used Walts Organic Garden Blend which is also labeled vegan however I have had friends who recommended it to me. I am curious about one thing. The NPK is 6-2-5 which is on the high side for an organic plant-based product.

Vegan-Friendly Garden Minerals

Minerals can be a bit harder to evaluate. Minerals are extracted from the earth and can cause excessive environmental damage. This is an issue I'm currently struggling with myself.

Some such as Rock Phosphate are surface mined which may make them marginally better as far as ecological impact. Rock Phosphate contains calcium which is important for tomatoes and peppers. Especially if you experience blossom-end rot.

Garden lime is an essential mineral for many gardeners because it raises the pH level of acidic soils making nutrients more available to certain plants. Unfortunately, lime is a mined product and is extracted using blasting methods thus destroying ecosystems.

Greensand is another mineral that I guiltily love! If you have heavy clay soil greensand is a great soil amendment and contains many trace elements. However, like most minerals, it is a mined product. Greensand is a sedimentary rock that was formed in ancient oceans and is now underground.

I don’t have all the answers but will continue to look toward being a good steward of the earth!

Author, Ame Vanorio, is the director of Fox Run EEC, an author, and a wildlife rehabilitator.