Bought more organic alfalfa pellets

 A nice big bag for only $38 all in!

Organic alfalfa pellets bought

From Kinburn Farm Supply.  $34 total (there's no tax) for 55 pounds.  So, I'll use up the last few cups of my non-organic alfalfa pellets, then will be happy to shift to these.  Should last a good long while!

Wild rabbit droppings

Ok, maybe not veganic, but came across some droppings of the local neighbourhood wild rabbits; collected it and tossed it on one of the vegetable beds.  Will keep my eyes open for more!

Decided not to buy soybean meal (for fertilizer) unless can find organic

Saw this blog post recently.

A google search for "Aminopyralids" and "soy" shows they can be used for soy.  So, I won't risk buying non-organic soybean meal for now.  Haven't been able to find an organic source yet, so, will just keep doing without soybean meal.

The article says it's not used for alfalfa, so that's good.  (Besides, the next bag of alfalfa pellets I'll be buying will be organic.)

Home-blended seed starting mix -- First attempt

Mixed up a fairly small batch, which will be used for the onions, begonia, and whatever else things whose starting time is coming soon.

Here's the recipe I used:

20 cups peat moss

10 cups ProMix Premium Potting Mix*

3/4 cup perlite

3/4 cup vermiculite

1/2 cup kelp meal

1/2 cup alfalfa pellets **

zero cup soybean meal because I don't have any yet, but when I do I'll use 1/2 cup

1/4 cup rock phosphate

1/8 cup dolomite lime

1/8 cup myccorhizae

1/8 cup azomite

* It's supposed to be 10 cups of compost, but I don't have my own and haven't found a vegan source yet, so for now using potting mix to replace it.  ProMix told me (when I inquired by email) that their Premium Potting Mix has no animal-based ingredients; its fertilizer is chemical-based.  I wonder if I even need to use ProMix at all, given the other nutrient aspects of this mix...

** This time I just put in the pellets as-is, but for next time and for adding to this batch -- for better / more even distribution I'll pre-soak the pellets to get them to disintegrate, then spread them out to dry.  This will integrate into the mix much better.

I'm wondering about adding some of the shredded leaves stored in my basement... haven't done it yet as I'm not sure if it could introduce disease etc...

Bought most seed-starting materials today

Most of the stuff is from Ritchie's.  So here's what I'll be using, based on JV's recipe:

sphagnum peat moss

perlite

vermiculite

dolomite lime (pelletized)

Promix Premium Potting Mix (since I don't have compost) (the company says it has no animal inputs -- though it isn't organic)

alfalfa meal

soybean meal (TBD -- they're sold out currently)

kelp meal

rock phosphate

mycorrhizae

Looking forward to getting started soon!

~8 bags of leaves shredded and put into yard

To shred them:  Used the big powerful whipper snipper, in basement (since noisy), leaves into green bin then "blendering" them with the whipper snipper.  Would be easier/better with wider bin like garbage can, but it still worked.

Eye goggles, face mask, and gloves.

Most of the leaves went into the beds (dug in); some went onto the grass paths.

Some left over will probably keep in basement (in garbage bag) for the winter.

Reference: Veganic amendments

A handy list of various options for veganic amendments -- 

from https://www.groworganic.com/blogs/articles/vegan-organic-gardening:

Vegan-friendly products and methods

• Down To Earth Vegan Mix fertilizer
• Alfalfa meal
• Cottonseed meal
• Neem seed meal
• Soybean meal
• Corn gluten meal
• Kelp meal
• Arctic humus
• Soil inoculants and mycorrhizae - read the label first, as some products contain animal-derived fertilizers too. Chappy’s and MycoMinerals are both vegan-friendly choices.
• Mulches–like Mega Mulch
• Cover crops, and cover crop inoculants
• Biochar
• Compost made from green waste (not manure)
• Composting at home
• Liquid kelp
• Calphos, gypsum, greensand and other mineral fertilizers. Many vegans avoid mined minerals though because of the effects mining has on local animal life and the earth as a whole.
• Humic Acids, such as Humax (also a mined product)
• Peat moss (vegan, but controversial due to the effects of harvesting it on the environment)
• Coco coir or coco peat
• Homemade potting mix: combine PVFS compost, perlite (or substitute vermiculite), coco peat (coco coir), and your choice of nutrient-rich ingredients such as limestone.
• Any pesticides that are barriers or deterrents (gopher wire, for example).
• Pest prevention techniques such as companion planting, removing fallen leaves and other pest hiding places, crop rotation, etc
• Biological controls (introducing new beneficial insects or pest-specific diseases) is debatably veganic. It is preferred to encourage native species and only introduce new ones as a last resort.
• Mushroom kits (except for the white buttons and portabella kits)

And, here's what looks to be a Canadian source of organic soybean meal:  https://boogie-brew.ca/product/soybean-meal

Reference: Veganic seed-starting mix

Totally doing this next year!

JV's recipe:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zWU2lyzPbz8

https://www.facebook.com/events/3309684622596372/?active_tab=discussion

20 litre / 5 gallon peat

1/2 cup dolomite lime (to offset the acidity of the peat)

Mix above, water thoroughly.  Then, add in:

3 cups perlite (for aeration)

2 cups vermiculite (for aeration and water retention)

1/4 cup granulated seaweed

1/4 cup colloidal soft rock phosphate

Mix above, water thoroughly.  Then, add in:

10 litre / 2.5 gallon potting mix or well-finished veganic compost

Mix above, water thoroughly.  Then, add in:

1/2 cup alfalfa meal (fertilizer)

1/2 cup soybean meal (fertilizer)

1/2 cup mycorrhizae (to help build the mushroom base for the root systems)

Mix above, water thoroughly.  

Other things to consider:

- "Live mulch" in Gatineau

- Promix mycorrhizae (but need to add fertilizer to it: alfalfa meal, soybean meal, & kelp meal)

Veganic local seed vendors! Ferme de l'Aube. Bought comfrey and dill.

Saw their post on the Edible group.  Very cool!  Too bad I already have most of my seeds, but, I ordered some comfrey and dill from them.  Very excited to try comfrey, it had totally escaped my attention but looks like a fantastic tool for the veganic garden.  Hoping to put the comfrey out front so that I can keep the yard to the edibles.

www.lafermedelaube.com

Buckwheat sowed (first time!)

So excited to try buckwheat as a cover crop!

Sowed it along a stretch of the north half of the north wall, where the puny leftover kales and broccolis had been attempting to grow (I removed them).  Definitely not a prime spot due to the rain and shade, but the peas will soon be out which will allow more sun at least until the cushaw starts climbing all up the pea structure.

Also sowed some in one of the pots I had prepared for zucchini and ended up not using since ground spaces were available.

I plan to pull them at some point to use them on mulch in the main beds.  (Especially since that north wall bed I'm going to convert its east portion back to patio stone because of the window well flooding issue.)

Many articles recommend pulling before it goes to seed.  I'll probably let these plants go well into flowering, for the beneficial insect aspect mentioned in this article which recommends letting it flower for at least 20 days:  "Flowering buckwheat provides a food source for beneficial insects such as hover flies, predatory wasps, minute pirate bugs, insidious flower bugs, tachinid flies, and lady beetles. These insects are predators of common insect pests and can help reduce their populations.  To provide a beneficial insect habitat, allow buckwheat to flower for at least 20 days to allow beneficials such as minute pirate bugs to breed a next generation."

Veganic-ish since 2020

Last year (2020) was the first year I didn't use any store-bought manure.

 Prior to 2020, I had been using "mushroom compost", at first because I had mistaken it to be composted mushrooms, but then once I learned it's left-over manure from mushroom growing, well I continued buying it with the faint hope that maybe it was actually composted mushrooms.

In later summer / early fall 2019, I went and got a bunch of well aged (2-3 years) horse manure from Penny Lane Sanctuary which provides a home for rescued horses and other farm animals.  Not veganic, but I'll call it veganic-ish, and I feel fine about using this manure, given its source.

So in fall 2019 I applied a bunch of horse manure.

In 2020 I used up most of the rest of the horse manure.  And the potting soil I was using it turns out (as I learned this past winter)nwas accidentally vegan (Promix Premium potting mix). 

In 2021, i.e. this year, my soil amendments consist of:

- horse manure:  I have one bag of the horse manure left, which I haven't used yet but will throughout the year.

- alfalfa pellets

- kelp meal

- lawn clippings as mulch (collected from CB school front and other spots)

- ground up leaves as mulch

I'm no longer using cedar mulch in the yard anymore other than a few pots for aesthetics, since it doesn't add much if anything to the soil. 

Unfortunately I decided to stop using my compost bin because I just couldn't control the smell, which I don't mind, but my poor neighbours.  Didn't harvest any compost this year, just going to let it all sit there and finish up.

Vegan-friendly potting soil!

After learning that Pro-mix's MP mix has bird-based fertilizer (due to trade secrets they couldn't tell me if it's from the feathers, eggs, or birds themselves), I emailed them to ask if any of their mixes aren't formulated with animal products.  To my great surprise, yes! their Premium Potting Mix and Premium All Purpose Mix are vegan-friendly.  Of course there can be contamination from the production line, but the formula itself doesn't include any animal-based products, including the fertilizers which are synthetic.

So I picked up three bags, and put my home-made mixing plans on hold.

I'm donating the MP mix to a local community garden, and have re-potted the broccolis and begonia into this new soil.