GETTING STARTED
If you are growing and eating veganically, the best crops to grow are the ones that have lots of calcium, vitamin D, zinc, and protein, which non-vegans get from meat and dairy. If you are meat and dairy-free, you will need a vitamin B12 supplement as B12 isn’t in non-animal foods that are not fortified.
Fruit and vegetables are the mainstays of growing your own and I detail a recommended selection below A-Z. Grains, nuts and seeds are all growable too. An adult needs about 50g of protein a day (known as the recommended daily allowance RDA), and half that or less for children. Grain such as wheat, oat, barley and rye are sources. Realistically, you aren’t going to grow these at home; try quinoa.
Pulses are growable sources of protein – grow peas and beans.
Nuts are full of protein, zinc, calcium, omega-3 fatty acids, and vitamin E. A nut tree is there forever and needs little maintenance.
Seeds are great sources-for instance sunflower, pine nuts and pumpkin.
Potatoes have a bit of protein. Complete proteins contain a sufficient amount of all nine essential amino acids. Non-meat and dairy examples of protein-rich foods include quinoa, buckwheat, hemp, chia and soy.
ROTATION
Rotation is moving plants around the garden because different plants use different minerals. This will also stop the build-up of pests and diseases in the soil. Crop rotation helps stop one weed predominating. Ridged soil can be brought up to smother weeds between plants in the row. You can also hand weed.
The system is about optimising fertility and not using inputs from outside. Ideally, it’s a ring-fenced system and makes most use of the land available to grow food and not depend on livestock inputs that use a lot of land so has biodiversity benefits. It keeps nutrients in.
Ideally, clear the area you want to grow on, leaving wild edges. Plant a cover crop such as trefoil or clover.
IS TYPICALLY a potato year. This breaks up the soil and makes use of the fertility fixed by the cover crop – potatoes need plenty of feeding.
Buy chitted sprouting potatoes a few weeks before planting and plant 10cm deep with the sprouting end upwards in March after frosts have finished, two weeks after raking in your cover crop.
Earth up by raking soil up over the sides of shoots to stop frost damage and harvest 3 weeks after flowering, about 10 weeks after planting.
AFTER A WINTER cover crop, is typically peas and legumes such as beans and peas, and mange tout.
Plant two runner bean seeds per cane under a wigwam of eight canes. Climbing French beans need similar support. Grow in a pot first and place outside to harden off a week before planting in the soil.
PLANT BRASSICAS such as broccoli and kale, which need slightly less nutrition. Brussel sprouts and cabbage are part of this group and grow well into winter.
Net to protect from pigeons and fleece (horticultural, wool fleece) to keep off cabbage white butterflies.
Grow lettuce and radish in between rows. Plant kale seeds outside 1cm deep from March. Plant broccoli seed out from April, 2cm deep, 15cm apart.
PLANT ROOTS like carrots, which can suck up nutrition from deeper underground. Beetroot, chard, onion, leek and celeriac are in this group. Sow onions direct or from sets.
Sow carrot seed outdoors thinly because if you thin out to let the best seedling grow, carrot fly will smell them and eat them. Use mesh or a tall crop around carrots to put off flies.
ROTATION ON LARGER PLOTS
A seven-year rotation is a good idea on field-sized plots when using stock-free techniques. Moving the crop on helps control disease build-up and varies the plants that take nutrients in smaller or lesser amounts from the soil.
Building fertility with green manures is even more important here as large inputs required for soil fertilisation are a bigger and more financially and environmentally costly job. These inputs have to come from somewhere else, depleting that area’s fertility.
Ideally Lucerne and clover as a cover crop for two years. This puts organic material back into the soil. Red clover’s long tap roots of two metres break up the soil and allow earthworms to continue the task and introduce air, while bringing nutrients down into the earth. Millions of microfauna help the process of releasing nutrients.
Seven year rotation:
Two years’ green manure.
Then plant potatoes which need a lot of nutrients, then green manure with another clover cover crop that winter. Don’t leave soil uncovered to degrade and erode.
Plant brassicas in year four’s spring.
You can then plant a winter crop of sprouting broccoli, winter cabbage, Brussel sprouts, or cauliflower.
Year five is for onions/leeks – alliums. Brassicas inhibit diseases that the onion family might get. Grow alliums from seed and transplant into the field, or onions from sets planted in biomulch made from corn starch. Grow clover between the onions.
Year six, root veg – carrot, parsnip, celeriac, beetroot, which can grow at lower fertility levels. They have long roots and open up the ground to bring nutrients and water up.
Year seven, squash and sweet corn. Squash and pumpkins store well over winter. Under the squash, grow a green manure of red clover, or lucerne. They also give weed control and get an early start on adding fertility back to the soil. Then sow more, because you are back to year one and two.
What to grow often depends on how much space you’ve got. Grow fruit trees if you have a big plot and microgreens if you have a windowsill. Sprouting seeds work well in the windowsill. Remember growing cress at school on cotton wool? This is growing 101. Sprout mung beans, chickpeas, alfalfa and fenugreek on the windowsill.
NUTRITION
It pays to know what nutrients are in what you are going to grow. This helps balance your diet.
We all know bad fat, salt, sugar, idleness and processed foods are bad. Generally, a super organic vegan diet and lifestyle is good. Not supporting environmentally wasteful (and cruel) animal farming is good for the planet.
Pretty much everything that has to do with livestock puts humans and our environment at risk: animal waste; hormones; antibiotics; pesticides and fertilisers; chemicals from tanneries and other by-products that pollute water.
A vegan diet consists of bright fruit and vegetable perfect for showing off on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Celebrities have warmed to the diet and lifestyle. Some 16 per cent of people say they have followed celeb vegans to change their diet, say surveys. There are 54 per cent who change for ethical reasons though, after watching films like Cowspiracy and Forks over Knives. Cost is a driver too. In recession, people buy less meat. In 2008 in the UK 11.5 per cent less meat sold as UK GDP fell by one percentage point.
Veg, fruit, legumes, and grains offer plenty of antioxidants too, so health-wise, plant-based diets get a tick. Then there’s the improvement in heart health, the phytochemicals, extra fibre, low saturated fat, healthy fats, hypertension dodging, weight-gain avoiding, anti-cancer, anti-diabetes nature of this diet.
There was little understanding of nutrition compared to today before the Second World War and its dig for victory ethos, which made many people think more deeply about diet. Veganism and organic farming developed at this time. In very recent years, an explosion in vegan cook books, eating out, supermarket options, and understanding, makes change easy.
Modern factory farming abuses of animals makes the need for change more pressing. Hair shirt vegans can be pretty boring, proselytising about their superior eating habits. Or to most people, difficult eating habits. As a teen veggie, pub restaurants used to offer me egg and chips or elderly crusty veg lasagne. Vegans were into wholefood ‘ethnic’.
The pioneering health food Cranks restaurant in Soho, London, opened my eyes to a better way of eating – fresher, in more exotic Mediterranean and Moroccan styles, healthier. The trouble with vegan food, is it’s so worthy. Dirty potatoes, brown food for green people. The humble carrot, the unassuming soy bean- the vegan’s best friend. The amazing array of fruit and veg choices available today. Vegan food is now developing into convenience, after the rationing of the staples, then the exotic overseas influences. I just like normal food, like chips. Veganism, as it is known today, originated in the Second World War. Rationing and growing your own meant people once again went back to a basic diet of British produce, with a lack of meat, dairy, eggs and sugar.
Advances in science and less time to cook meant junk food and convenience recipes came in during the 1950s. You could argue it has been downhill ever since. However, advances in nutritional science mean people understand much more about their diet now. Grow your own boomed in the 1970s and 2000s, led by an oil crisis and recession respectively, and resulted in a greater understanding of how a return to a more natural way of life could combat modern health crises such as diabetes and obesity.
After many years of doubt, nutritionists now realise a home-grown diet can almost completely meet nutrient needs ...
Back in the eighteenth century, sailors got scurvy from lack of vitamin C, prompting the start of study into nutritional science. After many years of doubt, nutritionists now realise a home-grown diet can almost completely meet nutrient needs. Vegans and vegetarians should eat 8-10 servings of fruit and veg a day. This includes a tennis ball sized bit of fruit, golf ball sized amount of dried fruit, half a tennis ball of green or root veg and a cereal bowl full of salad veg. Salad veg evidently can’t be measured in sports ball sizes. But they can be grown in beach ball sizes.
Put together this gives you beta carotene (to make vitamin A), vitamins B2, B3, B5, B6, B9 (folate), vitamin C, vitamin E and vitamin K. Then there are minerals and trace elements such as calcium, iodine, iron, magnesium, manganese, phosphorus and potassium. Fruit juice counts as one portion, even if you drink a gallon.
You also need 2-3 servings of pulses such as peas, beans and lentils, nuts or seeds (a serving is a small handful). Or two tablespoons of nut butters (a bit messy as a handful). This provides vitamins B1, B2, B3, B5, B6 and B9 and trace elements/ minerals calcium, copper, iron, magnesium, manganese, phosphorus, potassium, selenium and zinc.
Added to that are 3-4 servings of pastas, bread, rice, oats, rye, buckwheat, etc (all as brown as possible). These are harder to grow in the garden. As are the vegetable oils such as flax, hemp, rape, vegetable and olive that give vitamin E and omega 3 and 6. And B12, which you can only get from fortified plant milk, yeast extract or breakfast cereal. And a litre of water a day, which you can get from the tap.
This diet will lower your fat. Three-quarters of calories from cheddar cheese comes from fat and two-fifths from salmon and roast chicken. Beat acne, heart disease, diabetes, obesity, cancer, osteoporosis and feeling bad about being mean to animals by switching to veg only.
American dietician Jack Norris says vegans should concentrate on nine nutrients: protein, zinc, calcium, iodine, iron, vitamins B12, A and D, and alpha-linolenic acid. The rest of the 40 essential nutrients are taken for granted. Most will be in what you eat, whatever you eat, without having to worry about them. However, vegans have to be aware of several potential deficiencies.
Avoid calcium deficiency by consuming calcium-rich foods such as legumes, nuts and seeds, squash, kale, sweet potato, broccoli (plus tofu made with calcium sulphate) mean you can have a super organic vegan home grown diet. Legumes such as beans, peas, lentils and soya are protein-rich. If you can, grow and eat these.
B12 is essential for brain, nerve, and blood cell functioning and development. Vegans have to take B12 supplements, and to be more aware of their nutrient intake than omnivores. Most commercially-available soya milk is fortified with B12. Vitamin B12 is found naturally, in meat, fish, and dairy products. If you don’t have enough iron, your body can’t make enough healthy oxygen-carrying red blood cells.
Good plant sources of iron include:
Lentils, chickpeas, beans, tofu, cashew nuts, chia seeds, ground linseed, hemp seeds, pumpkin seeds, kale, dried apricots and figs, raisins, quinoa, dried seaweed, spirulina, potatoes, spinach, Jerusalem artichokes, and fortified breakfast cereal and fermented foods such as tempeh.
Add vitamin C to help absorb the iron. Don’t drink tea when eating iron sources because it stops uptake.
A zinc deficiency can weaken the immune system and slow wound healing. It may also cause tiredness. Sources of zinc include:
Beans, chickpeas, lentils, tofu, walnuts, cashew nuts, chia seeds, ground linseed, hemp seeds, pumpkin seeds, wholemeal bread, sea veg and quinoa.
Women need 7mg a day and men 9.5mg.
Iodine is an essential nutrient. To boost iodine, sea veg is a good source. Green seaweeds, such as sea lettuce, mainly contain chlorophyll. Red or purple seaweeds include dulse, laver, nori, agar, and Irish moss. Brown seaweeds are kelp, kombu, alaria, arame, wakame, sea palm, and hijiki. As well as being an iodine rich food, seaweed is great as a fertiliser.
Cows and gorillas and vegan bodybuilders grow big and strong from eating plants ...
Calcium intake is about how much you absorb rather than how much you eat. Soaking, sprouting, and fermenting helps. Beans, pulses and dry figs are all good sources.
Protein levels should be satisfactory in a vegan diet including foods such as beans, lentils, tempeh, natto, spirulina, amaranth, quinoa, sauerkraut, kimchi, coconut milk yoghurt, kombucha, miso, pickles and kefir.
Vitamin A in its complete form, retinol, is only found in animal products. However, the precursors to vitamin A are found in a plethora of fruits and vegetables including carrots, mango, spinach and sweet potatoes. When we eat foods containing these precursors, such as beta-carotene, our body converts them to vitamin A.
Omega-3 and 6 fatty acids (alpha-linoleic and linoleic acids) are mostly found in fatty fish, which may have the added ‘bonus’ of having poisonous mercury in them. But they are also in seeds and nut and soya oils and are necessary for proper brain function, health, and development.
You also need vitamin D from the sun and to be active and to be at a healthy weight. These you can get from gardening. Humans also need to feel a sense of well-being. This comes from believing you are doing your bit for the environment, and the satisfaction of making a difference.
Nutritionist Christine Bailey says you can have a healthy or unhealthy vegan diet, depending on your processed food intake. She says the biggest reason people go to the doctor is about gut health. Eating fresh and pickled/fermented fruit and veg is good for your guts. Dairy and meat generally isn’t.
Canadian Dr Tushar Mehta, who has a strong interest in the medical evidence regarding plant-based diet and health, says it is ‘very easy to get everything you need from a vegan diet’. Mehta’s advice is to include all food groups: protein, wholegrains, fruit, veg, nuts and seeds, healthy fats; to supplement B12; and to be aware of iodine levels (iodised salt is an option), iron, calcium and protein. Plants are complete sources of protein, not incomplete as once thought. Cows and gorillas and vegan bodybuilders grow big and strong from eating plants.
Dr Mehta says soya is a ‘superfood’, which reduces the risk of diabetes, cuts cholesterol, and boosts brain blood vessels. He says fat vegans eat too many carbohydrates and need to replace them with beans and wholegrains. Skinny vegans need to drink vegan smoothies made from hemp seed or peanut butter.
VITAMINS AND EASILY GROWABLE CROPS YOU MIGHT GET THEM FROM:
• A-carrots, green leafy plants, broccoli, spinach, apricots, peppers, tomatoes, green herbs.
• B1-3 and B6-green leafy veg, nuts, seeds, bean sprouts, beans.
• C-fresh fruit and veg such as leafy greens, broccoli, tomatoes, peas, citrus, bell peppers, kiwis.
UK GOVERNMENT GUIDELINES: 19-64 year old M/F
Vitamin A (μg/day) 600/700
Thiamin (mg/day) 0.8/1.0
Riboflavin (mg/day) 1.1/1.3
Niacin equivalent (mg/day) 31.2-16.5
Vitamin B (mg/day) 1.2-1.4
Vitamin B12 (μg/day) 1.5
Folate (μg/day) 200
Vitamin C (mg/day) 40
Vitamin D (μg/day) 10
Government recommendations for energy, macronutrients, salt and dietary fibre 19-64 years
Energy (MJ/day) 8.4/10.5
Energy (kcal/day) 2000/2500
Macronutrients
Protein (g/day) 45/55.5
Fat (g/day) [Less than] 78/97
Saturated fat (g/day) [Less than] 24/31
Polyunsaturated fat (g/day) 14/18
Monounsaturated fat (g/day) 29/36
Carbohydrate (g/day) [At least] 267/333
Free sugars (g/day) [Less than] 27/33
Salt (g/day) [Less than] 6.0
Dietary fibre (g/day) 30
Government recommendations for minerals for males and females aged 19-64 years
Iron (mg/d) 8.7-14.8
Calcium (mg/day) 700
Magnesium (mg/day) 270/300
Potassium (mg/day) 3500
Zinc (mg/day) 7-9.5
Copper (mg/day) 1.2
Iodine (μg/day) 140
Selenium (μg/day) 60-75
Phosphorus (mg/day) 550
Chloride (mg/day) 2500
Sodium (g/day) 2.4
• D- sunshine.
• E- nuts, seeds and pulses.
• K-dark green veg, sprouts, cauliflower, tomatoes, seaweed.
• Calcium- kale, broccoli, spinach, almonds, hazelnuts, beans.
• Iodine- green leafy veg, seaweed.
• Iron-from dark green veg, beans, pulses, almonds, herbs, figs, apricots, seeds, parsley.
• Magnesium - from green leafy veg, broccoli, almonds.
• Phosphorus, sulphur and potassium from beans, peas, seeds, potatoes, fruit and veg, nuts.
• Zinc from seeds, nuts.
• Plus fluorine, copper, cobalt, chromium, manganese, beta- carotene, sodium chloride, salt, selenium, molybdenum.
KITCHEN ESSENTIALS.
Many of these can be grown at home.
• Breakfast cereals
• Bulk whole grains: Brown rice, millet, quinoa, amaranth, barley, oats, bulgur couscous, quinoa, millet
• Pasta
• Flour
• Cornmeal polenta
• Bread
• Beans: Adzuki, black, black-eyed peas, chickpeas, kidney, butter, split peas, lima, pinto, mung, and soya. And baked, dried and tinned.
• Lentils: Brown, green, red, or yellow
• Tofu
• Tempeh
• Miso paste
• Soya sauce
• Frozen: Spinach, berries, edamame, broccoli, beans, peas, and lentils
• Nuts: Almonds, cashews, walnuts, and pecans
• Seeds: Sesame, sunflower, pumpkin, and flax
• Sea vegetables: Arame, kelp/ kombu, dulse
• vegetable stock, sea salt, and black pepper
• herbs and spices
• margarine, virgin olive oil, veg oils
• vinegar
• condiments
• agar
• vegemite
• peanut butter
• crackers
• tinned veg
• coconut milk
• soya milk
• tahini
• dried fruit
• vegan mayo
• vegan chocolate
• baking powder
• sugar (alternatives include agave, maple syrup, panela, jiggery, fructose, dextrose, turbinado, cane juice). Bone char may be used to whiten cane (but not beet) sugar.
• beverages
• yeast flakes
• vegan cheese
• jam
• iodised salt
• ice cream
• frozen veg and fruit
• peanut butter, yeast extract, jam, oven chips, coconut milk, lots of curry pastes, many breakfast cereals, soy sauce, hummus, fruit juice, fizzy drinks, tea and coffee, many biscuits, crackers, crispbreads and crisps, and of course fruit and vegetables – fresh, dried and frozen.
WHAT TO GROW
It’s quite easy to grow many plants. It’s quite difficult to raise meat to eat. Taking control of your diet and lifestyle begins here.
Growing super organic veganic is just the same as conventional growing in most ways. Start off with seeds, bulbs, tubers, bushes and trees. Sow or plant them in the right place at the right time. Pot on seedlings, then plan out in prepared soil. Water and feed. Harvest. Repeat.
GROWING IN CONTAINERS
Select your pot. Make sure it has drainage holes. Add some bits of crock to help drainage. Place on a stand. Sterile, sieved bark-based or loam-based compost is best. Plant your plant or seed. Mulch the top with bark to retain water. Feed and water as pots dry out and the compost will run out of nutrients.
Grow root crops such as beetroot in shallower compost, and plant potatoes and carrot deeper. Choose compact bush courgettes and tumbling tomatoes. Peppers, chillies, strawberries and herbs are good options.
Indoors, the general rule is to sow, thin, then ‘prick out’ to transplant into bigger pots, then ‘harden off’ by introducing a cooler climate if you are going to plant the crops outside. Many plants staying indoors need lots of heat. This means using a greenhouse or propagator. Aubergines, peppers, cucumbers, melons and tomatoes need 20°C to germinate. When established, plant them in bigger pots at slightly lower temperatures.
KIT
You need less than you think. I rely on a rake, hoe, trowel, fork and spade. You also need pots, which are easy to find kicking about for free. Garden centres often give them away or make pots from empty toilet or paper towel rolls, newspaper, paper coffee cups and cereal boxes. Avoid plastic pots. Use galvanised metal or terracotta.
Make seed trays from low-sided cardboard boxes or disposable plastic food containers. Make a compost bay or use a ‘Dalek’ bin, which councils often supply.
A greenhouse and shed are useful for storage and year-round growing, as are cloches, while fleece protects from frosts. Net to protect from birds. Mesh to protect from insects. Secateurs are very helpful for pruning. A watering can, bucket and hose can help too.
Think about growing in containers, window boxes, patio, vertical space (up walls). 
