Vegans kick up a stink over manure

VEGAN gardeners are shunning ‘cruel’ manure and traditional fertilisers in favour of supplies that are animal-free.

the royal Horticultural society said firms will have to produce new products to meet rising demand for green composts, plant-based fertilisers and manure pellets from free-range animals.

RHS chief horticulturist Guy Barter said: ‘Vegan gardening is similar to organic in that it avoids synthetic pesticides and fertilisers. But it goes further, eliminating anything of animal origin which includes popular feeds with animal materials such as fish, bones and blood, and manures from intensive animal farming.’

According to the Vegan society there are an estimated 542,000 vegans in Britain.

Landscape designer Jack Wallington told the sunday telegraph he had been trying to make his allotment more environmentally-friendly using ‘homemade compost and fertilisers made from nettles and comfrey, plus shop-bought seaweed fertiliser’.