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Sabine
Dec 9th, 2009, 08:27 PM
Does anybody know if a vegan "Community Garden" - project exists ?

Sabine

Mzee
Jan 31st, 2010, 09:44 PM
Welcome Sabine,
Many of us on this forum are gardeners and grow organically. Being vegans, we don't want to put any animal manure on our gardens. The system is called Vegan Organic in Europe and Veganic in America. I have joined the Vegan Organic Network

http://www.veganorganic.net (http://www.veganorganic,net/)

and have learned a lot. The system can also be used by non-vegans, as it is much better for the environment, so the standard is called Stockfree Organic.

http://www.stockfreeorganic.net (http://www.stockfreeorganic,net/)

I am also involved with Transition Towns

http://www.transitiontowns.org (http://www.transitiontowns.org/)

and our local group have a community allotment (a big garden for growing food), which they agreed to run as Stockfree Organic. So, to answer your question, this is a community garden, run on vegan principals, but with only one vegan member!

harpy
Feb 1st, 2010, 03:27 PM
Well done for talking them into a stockfree allotment Mzee - I assume you did :) How's it going?

Mzee
Feb 1st, 2010, 07:13 PM
Thank you, Harpy.
I showed them the VON DVD "Growing Green" with Karin Ridgers and Ian Tolhurst. I explained that Stockfree would become a necessity - as oil runs out and artificial fertilisers become prohibitively expensive, any farmer with animals will use their manure on his/her own farm rather than sell it to allotment holders.

Our motto is "Burn nothing; compost everything", so we have an enormous heap of composting nettles and cut-up brambles which is covered with a tarpaulin held down by old tyres. Nettle roots were 'drowned' in a water butt before going onto the compost heap.

The allotment is about 10 x 50 metres and had been neglected for a couple of years, so the nettles, brambles and bindweed took over. Unfortunately neglected land also attracts the human equivalent, who used the land as a tip. We cleared the rubbish and started digging one bed at a time. The first few beds were OK, but we have now discovered some patches where people had had bonfires and we have been removing nails, broken glass, melted plastic, fibreglass, plasterboard, wire, exhaust pipes etc., which is a real insight into human nature!

We are repairing the damage to make a sanctuary for non-human nature, which will provide a balance of biological control of those small non-human animals that like eating 'our' vegetables!

I am worried that the soil may be contaminated from the mis-treatment it has endured, but a full soil analysis could be expensive. I have read that heavy metal contamination only becomes soluble in acid soil, so will add lime to keep it on the alkaline side. Any other suggestions would be welcome.

harpy
Feb 1st, 2010, 11:21 PM
Sounds like the original labour of love.

Nettles, brambles and bindweed (in moderation) are quite good for wildlife aren't they. I haven't got any nettles (plenty of the other two though) in my garden but I have bought some nettle seeds, much to the disgust of the friend who's been helping with my pruning :D

However I have read that they are hard to germinate so I might go and nick one that's growing out of the edge of the pavement round the corner - not right I know but there are plenty more there.