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Vegan-Organic Information Sheet #9 (60p)

Chipped Branch Wood

Growing with concern for people, ani-mals and the environmentOrganic growing involves treating thesoil, the growing environment and theworld environment as a resource to bepreserved for future generations, ratherthan exploited in the short term. Vegan-organics means doing this without anyanimal products at all, which is not dif-ficult when you know how. All soil fertil-ity ultimately depends on plants and min-erals - these do not have to be passed throughan animal in order to work. Fertility canbe maintained by plant-based composts,green manures, mulches, chipped branchwood, crop rotations and any othermethod that is sustainable, ecologicallybenign and not dependent upon animalexploitation.

The guidelines below do not attemptto be fully comprehensive. The extent towhich you adhere to any system really de-pends on you, your conscience and circum-stances. We can only do our best with ouravailable time and money. The Vegan-Organic Network has now publishedcomprehensive Stockfree Organic Stan-dards, which are available to commer-cial growers and can also be used as areference for home growers. Of course,no one person or organisation knows ev-erything about the subject, so constantco-operation and updating of ideas and

information is needed.Whilst conventional cultivation relies

on synthetic chemicals and animal prod-ucts, traditional organic production alsogenerally relies on animal wastes and by-products. Both involve the exploitationof living creatures, and the inefficient useof land, water and energy resources. Ve-gan-organic methods minimise thesedrawbacks. Many people who are notthemselves vegan or vegetarian are com-ing to appreciate that animal-free grow-ing is the most sustainable system: it isthe future of organics.

Chipped branch wood: introductionChipped branch wood is wood consist-ing of twigs and of branches up to about7 cm in thickness, which has been‘chipped’ or otherwise cut into thin frag-ments about 2-3 cm across. This prod-uct can then be spread on the soil in theform of a mulch or incorporated into thetop layer of the soil. Nothing very revo-lutionary about that, you might think.But it turns out that what might havebeen simply an alternative method ofmulching or fertilising the soil has, infact, very far reaching significance for ourunderstanding of what the soil is andwhat it does.

Before describing this in more detail,I feel that some explanation of the ter-

By Dave of Darlington

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minology is required. The material inquestion is known in the literature un-der several different names. I have cho-sen to use the name that sounds to melike good simple English: chipped branchwood1. It is also known as chipped twigwood2 or, more pretentiously, as chippedramal wood3. But what is really confus-ing is that in the United States it has cometo be known by the misnomer ‘ramialchipped wood’. The un-English wordorder and the mis-spelling of the word‘ramal’ have arisen as a consequence ofthe history of this subject. Most of theearly research on chipped branch woodwas done by French-Canadian forestryscientists at Laval University and at theMinistry of Forestry in Quebec. Theycoined the name ‘le bois raméalfragmenté’ for this material.

The principle researcher into chippedbranch wood at Laval University wasGilles Lemieux (now retired). Hesummarised his work and his ideas in apaper that was published on the internetin 19974. Despite the impenetrable jar-gon of its title this is a wonderful paperthat everyone should read. It is packedwith great ideas about forestry, agricul-ture and the soil. The only drawback isthat the English translation given on theinternet is appallingly bad. It is so full oferrors that some sentences are completelyunintelligible. I have decided to startlearning French again after a gap of nearlysixty years, so that I will be able to readLemieux’s papers in the original andhopefully understand better what thisbrilliant man has written.

Just to give readers a foretaste of whatit is like, here are a few slightly edited

quotations from this paper. ‘... our con-cept and knowledge of agricultural soilsare based solely on references to chemis-try and pathology ... in reality, pedology[i.e. soil science] is much more than justchemistry and physics.’ ‘.... in the bio-logical field, particularly the forestry andagricultural sectors .... the quest for datahas replaced the quest for ideas...’ ‘... so-cieties that depend on and live in tunewith nature and its constraints do nothold the same view as those, such as in-dustrial societies, that live off the fruitsof nature while controlling its con-straints.’ ‘... wood can be seen as the re-sult of overproduction and not of pro-duction itself, since ... 80% of a tree’senergy production is transported directlyto the hypogeous [i.e. underground] eco-system.’ ‘Both agriculture and forestryfoster increasing instability rather thanthe maintenance and enhancement ofmetastability, the goal of all ecosystems.[We can] envisage the eventual use ofchipped branch wood as an agent to im-prove the soil not just by adding chemi-cal nutrients but, more importantly, byincreasing the stability of tellurian [i.e.earth] ecosystems.’

How to use chipped branch woodThe following recommendations for theuse of chipped branch wood as a soilamendment are taken mainly from thewritings of Gilles Lemieux, the Canadianforestry scientist who has done most ofthe research on the subject.

1. Sources of the material.The wood to be used as a soil amend-ment must be branch wood, which is

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defined as wood from twigs and frombranches up to 7 cm in diameter. Stemwood - the wood from larger branchesand trunks of trees - is unsuitable for thispurpose. Ideally the wood should befrom broad-leaved trees, although a pro-portion of wood from conifers may beadded, as long as it does not exceed 20%of the total. Oak wood has been foundto work best, but many other deciduousspecies have been used successfully.

To give a rough idea of the quantityavailable we are told that the annual yieldfrom a hectare of forest would be about10-20 cubic metres, from a hectare oforchard about 2-15 cubic metres, from100 m of hedge about 2-3 cubic metresand from a single hedgerow tree about0.1 cubic metres of chipped wood. (Seebelow for the quantity required per unitarea of soil.)

2. Chipping the woodThe wood has to be reduced to smallpieces - no larger than a few millimetresthick and a centimetre or two in width -before it can be used. On a very smallscale this could be done by hand with anaxe, but it is more usual to do it mechani-cally. Many garden shredders have achipping attachment, although a heavy-duty machine like one of those fromGlobe Gardening Services would do thejob more quickly. For farm or marketgarden work there are larger machinesthat are usually driven from the powertake-off of a tractor. Where the machinemight only be used a few times a year, itwould be more economic to hire in acontractor to do the chipping. Manyarboriculturalists and landscape garden-

ing contractors have suitable machines.According to Lemieux, the job can alsobe done with a disused maize forage har-vester, if you happen to have one lyingabout!

3. Application of the chipped woodOnce the wood has been chipped, it is bestto use it straight away. If it is stored out-doors in heaps or windrows for any lengthof time, it will start to compost, in whichcase much of the useful energy in it will belost. If it does have to be kept for a whilebefore use, then it is best to keep it dry, inwhich case it will last indefinitely.

4. When to apply itThe chipped wood is best spread on thesoil in the late autumn or early winterbut, since the spreading involves a fairamount of running about on the soil, itneeds to be done before the soil gets too

Small electric shredder(Organic Growers of Durham)

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wet. If the chance is missed to do it atthe beginning of winter, then it will haveto wait till the soil dries out in the spring,but this is a much less favourable time.

5. Frequency of applicationSince the application will need to be re-peated at regular intervals, it should bedone at an appropriate stage in the rota-tion. Especially in the case of the firstapplication, the chipped wood may leadto some short-term loss of fertility, so itis better to apply it before a crop thatdoes not demand very high fertility. Bestof all is to apply it just before a legumi-nous green manure, if there is one in yourrotation. In that case the soil will havefully recovered its fertility before the fol-lowing crop. The application is then re-peated at the same point in every rota-tion - say, every four or five years, de-pending on what kind of rotation youare using.

6. How much to applyThe normal rate of application is between20 and 50 cubic metres to the hectareannually. This means, if it is applied ona four-year rotation, up to a maximumof 200 cubic metres per hectare, whichgives a layer averaging about 2 cm thick.At 50% humidity a cubic metre ofchipped wood weighs about 400 kg, soon a garden scale we are talking about 1-2 kg per square metre per year or 4-8 kgper square metre every four years.

7. How to apply itOn a garden scale it can be done by handwith a wheelbarrow and shovel, but on afield scale it should be applied with a

muck-spreader.

8. Post-application treatmentsIt is most important that the chippedwood be correctly treated after beingspread on the soil. It is not a mulch! Itneeds to be in very close contact withthe soil in order to be decomposedquickly by the soil microorganisms. Onthe other hand, it must not be burieddeeply, because the appropriate organ-isms are aerobic (they need air) and aremost active near the soil surface. So thechipped wood should neither be left onthe surface nor should it be ploughed ordug in. (For the same reason it shouldnot be applied to waterlogged or othernon-aerated soils.)

What is really required is just to mixit with the top four or five centimetresof soil. In a garden this can be done witha rake, but on a field scale a tractor-mounted machine is required. Lemieuxrecommends a spring-tine harrow. Al-ternatively a disc harrow could be used,but, especially with thicker applicationsof chipped wood, it is less effective be-cause it tends to ‘float’ on top of thechips. A week or two after the chippedwood application the green manure (orother crop) can be sown, followed by aCambridge roll if soil conditions permit.

On soils that have been intensivelycultivated in the past the populations ofthe microorganisms that decomposewood may be very low, so, at the time ofthe first application of chipped branchwood, it is recommended to inoculatethe soil with these organisms. Leafmould can be used for this purpose andshould be applied to the soil at a rate of

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10 - 20 grams per square metre. Thebest is leaf mould that has been freshlycollected from the floor of a deciduousforest at a depth of about 5 cm. Ifchipped branch wood is regularly appliedthereafter, the appropriate microorgan-isms will be permanently present in thesoil.

Why nitrogen robbery is not a problemwhen using chipped branch woodFor many gardeners the idea of puttingwood in the soil raises the spectre of ‘ni-trogen robbery’, known technically asnitrogen immobilisation. But, if chippedbranch wood is correctly used, then ni-trogen robbery will not be a problem.To understand why this is the case, weneed to look in some detail at what hap-pens to nitrogen in the soil.

Almost all the nitrogen in the soil isin the form of nitrogen-containing or-ganic compounds like amino acids.Plants do not normally use that nitro-gen because it requires more energy fortheir roots to absorb it in that form. Theyprefer to absorb nitrogen in simple wa-ter-soluble inorganic forms - principallyas nitrate (NO

3-). Fortunately for the

plants, however, soil organisms are con-tinually feeding on the soil’s organicmatter and breaking some of it down,resulting eventually in the release of smallamounts of nitrate into the soil. Thisprocess of turning an organic soil con-stituent into an inorganic one is knownas mineralisation.

In natural soils this mineralised ni-trogen is immediately absorbed by soilmicroorganisms - mainly fungi, whichare very abundant and widespread in

natural ecosystems. The fungi use thisnitrogen to build the amino acids andproteins that they use for their owngrowth. This turning of inorganic nitro-gen into organic nitrogen by soil micro-organisms is variously known as theimmobilisation or locking-up of nitro-gen or as nitrogen robbery. Once thenitrogen is part of organic compoundsagain, it is no longer immediately avail-able to plants, because, as previouslystated, plants usually only absorb inor-ganic nitrogen compounds. It should benoted, by the way, that the immobilisednitrogen is not lost; it is merely put intotemporary storage, only to be made avail-able again at a later date. The fungi thatconsume the nitrogen normally only livefor a few months and, when they die,their decomposition releases the nitro-gen again into the soil.

In cultivated soils the populations offungi are very much smaller than in natu-ral ones, so not all the mineralised nitro-gen gets swallowed up by them andimmobilised. A small amount of nitrateremains dissolved in the soil water, whereone of three things can happen to it: if ithappens to be near the roots of a cropplant, it can be absorbed by that plant;otherwise it either gets leached (washed)out of the soil by the rain, causing pollu-tion of the ground-water or nearby wa-tercourses; or it gets decomposed by bac-teria into gases like nitrogen (N

2) and

nitrous oxide (N2O), which find their

way into the atmosphere and, in the caseof nitrous oxide, contribute to the green-house effect.

So how can we avoid this harmful lossof nitrate from the soil? The obvious way

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is to get fungi to mop it up for us. So weneed to increase the amount of fungi inthe soil. Generally fungi respond rap-idly to changes in their food supply, sowe can boost the fungal populations byfeeding them more organic matter. Themore organic matter we add to the soil,the more the fungi will grow. But it isnot only the quantity of organic matterthat is important - the quality matterstoo. The fungi would naturally preferfood that has the right composition forthem. In particular, they need food withthe right proportion of carbon to nitro-gen (known as the C/N ratio). The per-fect C/N ratio for fungi would be about255, which means that for every gram ofnitrogen in the food, there would be 25grams of carbon.

In practice, of course, the organicmatter entering the soil would be unlikelyto have precisely this C/N ratio. In thecase of a lush young green manure, forexample, the C/N ratio might be as lowas 15. In other words, it is too rich innitrogen for the requirements of thefungi. They still feast on it and growvery rapidly, but there is always somenitrogen there that they cannot use andthey just release that into the soil as ni-trate, which may feed the crops but alsoincreases the risk of leaching.

Suppose, on the other hand, that theC/N ratio of the added organic matter ismuch higher than 25. For example, ce-real straw can have a C/N ratio as highas 70. It contains lots of succulent car-bohydrates that the fungi can feed on but,as the fungi grow, they soon run out ofnitrogen because of the low proportionof nitrogen in the straw. They then mop

up and immobilise any stray nitrate dis-solved in the soil water until that has allgone too. So the result of adding a lot ofexcess carbon to the soil may be that thereis no nitrogen available for the crops,which means that their development willbe checked. This is the nitrogen rob-bery that some gardeners fear.

When all the available nitrogen isused up, the fungi cannot grow any moreeither, because, like plants and animals,they need nitrogen to build their tissues.So the fungal population of the soil islimited by the lack of available nitrogenand reaches a steady state. But even thenthe fungi don’t waste their time! Theystart to burn off the excess carbon in thesoil organic matter, using it for their ownrespiration to give themselves energy andreleasing it as carbon dioxide. In this waythey gradually reduce the C/N ratio ofthe soil organic matter. (Left alone, theywould eventually bring it down to theC/N ratio of their own tissues, which isabout 10.)

But, besides respiration, the fungi alsodo something that is a lot more useful tous: instead of burning up all the excesscarbon, they also build a lot of it intopolysaccharides (complex carbohy-drates), which are stored in the soil andmake a vital contribution to soil’s humuscontent and to the soil structure.

On the one hand, some of thesepolysaccharides get incorporated into thevery stable pool of organic matter thatremains in the soil for hundreds or eventhousands of years. On the other hand,their viscous character in contact withsoil water enables them to literally gluefine soil particles together and form the

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small aggregates (crumbs) that providethe stable and friable structure necessaryto a good soil. So the production ofpolysaccharides by the soil fungi is oflong-term importance to the conserva-tion of arable soils and it requires plentyof carbon for them to eat.

The ratio of carbon to nitrogen is notthe only aspect of organic matter qualitythat is important to the fungi whenchoosing their food. The form in whichthe carbon and nitrogen occur in the or-ganic matter is also significant. The twoelements need to be readily available tothe fungi. If either of them is physicallyor chemically bound up in such a waythat the fungi cannot get access to them,then the fungi cannot feed and grow.Wood is a good example of this. It con-tains large quantities of luscious cellu-lose, which fungi would love to eat, but,unfortunately for them, the cellulose isclosely associated with another substance:lignin. The next article in this series willdescribe lignin in more detail. For nowit is enough to say that lignin is extraor-dinarily resistant to microbial attack;there are only a few species of fungi thatcan decompose it at all and then onlyslowly. The lignin actually protects thecellulose and prevents the microorgan-isms from getting to it. So, althoughwood has a very high C/N ratio, it doesnot promote rapid fungal growth andhence nitrogen immobilisation is notnearly as much as might be expected.

In any case, it should be noted thatthe chipped branch wood that is used asa soil amendment is not like wood in gen-eral. Coming as it does from twigs andyoung branches, it contains a much

higher proportion of living tissue, andhence of proteins and other nitrogen-containing compounds, than do thickerbranches and tree trunks. The C/N ra-tio of branch wood may be as low as 30and is usually in the range of 50-100,which means that there is quite a bit ofnitrogen available for the fungi to usebefore they start to immobilise nitrogenin the soil.

It is worth stressing the importanceof following the correct method for us-ing chipped branch wood. It needs tobe applied in autumn or early winter,when there is no great demand for nitro-gen from crops. On the contrary, at thattime of year there is often a surplus ofmineralised nitrogen in the soil and con-sequently a serious danger of leaching.The immobilisation of nitrogen at sucha time can do nothing but good. Also, aleguminous green manure should begrown in the following season, in whichcase any shortage of available nitrogenin the soil will also do good by stimulat-ing the symbiotic bacteria on the rootsof the legume to fix even more atmo-spheric nitrogen.

In summary, the main arguments forusing chipped branch wood, despite thepossibility of nitrogen immobilisation,are:

1. The rate of immobilisation is less thanmight be expected because:

a. the carbon supply in the wood isprotected by lignin;

b. the C/N ratio of branch wood isrelatively low.2. Nitrogen immobilisation in the au-tumn and winter is beneficial, because it

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mops up excess nitrate that would oth-erwise be lost through leaching.3. Immobilisation of nitrogen will ben-efit a leguminous green manure crop bystimulating it to fix more nitrogen fromthe air.4. By the following season, when the nextcrop is grown, the immobilised nitrogenwill be being released into the soil again.

Finally, even if there is some fall in cropyields in the first season or two after ap-plication of chipped branch wood, it isworth it for the long-term benefit to thesoil. Improving soil and preserving itfrom erosion is more important in thelong run than maximising yields. Howchipped branch wood can contribute toconserving the soil will be the subject ofa future article in this series.

Why chipped branch wood could bevery important in vegan-organic grow-ingNext to sunlight the soil is probably themost important resource we have. With-out it food production, as we now knowit, would be impossible. But despite thevital role that soil plays in our lives, weactually know very little about it - mainlybecause it is an extraordinarily complexmaterial that is changing all the time andtherefore very difficult to pin down.While we know, for example, that theorganic matter content of soil is ex-tremely important, both for the supplyof nutrients to the plants and for thestructure of the soil, we only have quitevague ideas of how the organic matter inthe soil really works.

One thing we do know is that soil

organic matter is under continual attackby the microorganisms (fungi and bac-teria) that feed on it. Whenever they getthe chance, they will eat it up, using someof it for their own growth and turningthe rest into carbon dioxide in the pro-cess of respiration. When feeding, theynaturally tend to go for the food that ismost readily available and to leave therest for later. On this basis we can de-fine two broad categories of organic mat-ter in the soil.

Firstly there is the so-called labile or-ganic matter. This is organic matter thatis very easily reached and digested by themicroorganisms and is therefore con-sumed by them very quickly - in a mat-ter of weeks or months. It is quite richin nutrients - particularly nitrogen andphosphorus - and some of these are sur-plus to the requirement of the microor-ganisms and are released into the soil,from where the roots of the plants canabsorb them. So this labile organic mat-ter plays a major role in feeding the cropsin an organic farming system. But itscapacity to be rapidly decomposed by mi-croorganisms also has some drawbacks:1. it means that the labile organic matterquickly disappears from the soil andneeds to be frequently replenished;2. on average about half of the labile or-ganic matter is decomp-osed by micro-bial respiration into carbon dioxide,which goes back into the air and con-tributes to the greenhouse effect; and3. the labile organic matter does not staylong enough in the soil to make a con-tribution to the soil structure.

That brings us to the second categoryof soil organic matter that I wanted to

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define. It is known as recalcitrant or-ganic matter and, unlike the labile or-ganic matter, it can stay in the soil a verylong time - up to hundreds or even thou-sand of years. It can only do this becauseit is very much less likely than the labileorganic matter to get eaten by microor-ganisms. Some of it could be describedas unpalatable to the fungi and bacteria.As a result of its chemical properties it issimply resistant to microbiological at-tack. Besides this, there is also recalci-trant organic matter that is quite palat-able but which gets protected in someway that makes it difficult or impossiblefor the micro-organisms to eat it. Thisprotection can take various physical orchemical forms. Some of the organicmatter is just very tight-ly surroundedby small soil particles. Some is physicallyadsorb-ed onto the surface of small soilparticles. Some is chemically bondedwith certain minerals to form so-calledcomplexes. Which form of protectionpredominates at any one place dependson the particular composition and tex-ture of the soil there.

These various forms of close attach-ment between the mineral soil particlesand the organic matter are mutually ben-eficial to both sides. On the one handthey protect the organic matter and stopit being consumed by the bacteria andfungi. On the other hand they facilitatethe clumping together of mineral par-ticles into the crumbs that give soil a goodstructure, make it workable, make it per-meable to air and water and make it re-sistant to erosion. So, like the labile partof the organic matter, the recalcitrant partalso has a very important function in

organic farming and growing. Whereasthe labile part supplies the crops with nu-trients, the recalcitrant part provides agood soil structure. Or, to look at it inanother way, the labile part constitutes atemporary larder of organic matter, whilethe recalcitrant part is a more permanentstore.

That said, it is important to stressthat, although the recalcitrant part of theorganic matter can stay in the soil a longtime, it is still eventually decomposed -just very slowly. Chemical resistance, forexample, will not protect organic matteragainst all microorganisms. There are afew species of fungi that will decomposeeven the most resistant forms of organicmatter in the soil, such as coal and char-coal. And the physical forms of protec-tion may be broken down by any severedisturbance of the soil, such as plough-ing. So, although not to the same degreeas the labile organic matter, the recalci-trant organic matter also needs replen-ishing. This is especially so in the case ofsoils in which, due to a long period ofcultivation, the recalcitrant organic mat-ter content has fallen very low, as in thecase of most of arable soils.

So how do we replenish the organicmatter? Well, in vegan-organic growingwe do it by growing green manures.These are then either ploughed/dug intothe soil or, preferably, mulched on topof the soil. It is standard practice to ap-ply green manures to the soil when theyare still quite young, with usually notmore than a few months of growth inthem. At this stage the green manureplants consist mainly of very labile orfairly labile organic matter and so are

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rapidly consumed by the soil micro-or-ganisms. Most of the green manure willbe decomposed within a few weeks, de-pending on weather and soil conditions.This is very good from one point of view- it releases a lot of nutrients into the soil,which could feed the next crop. But fromanother point of view it is bad news. Itmeans that green manures supply the soilwith very little of the recalcitrant mate-rial needed to boost the soil’s long-termorganic matter reserves and to improveor maintain the soil structure. Ironicallyfrom a vegan-organic point of view, farm-yard manure is much better than freshgreen manures at supplying this impor-tant recalcitrant factor.

So what can vegan-organic growersdo to remedy this deficiency? Well, thisis where chipped branch wood could filla gap. Although, percentage-wise, it ispoorer in nutrients than most green ma-nures, it is rich in recalcitrant organicmaterials that could replenish the soil’slong-term reserves of organic matter. Thenext article in this series will explain inmore detail how this might happen.

Finally, it must be stressed that theabove is a very over-simplified descrip-tion of how soil organic matter works.It is a very complicated subject, which,in spite of decades of intensive study bysoil scientists, is still poorly understood.

1 As, for example, in Swift, M.J. The roleof fungi and animals in the immobilisationand release of nutrient elements from de-composing branch wood. In: Lohm, U, andPersson, T. (eds.). Soil Organisms as com-ponents of Ecosystems. Ecol. Bull. of the

Swedish N.S.R.C2 See, for example, Aman, S., Depatie,S., Furlan, V. and Lemieux, G. 1997.Effects of chopped twig wood (CTW) onmaize growth and yields in the forest-sa-vanna transition zone of Cote d’Ivoire.Tropical Agriculture.3 . The word ramal comes from the Latinword ‘ramus’ meaning ‘branch’, whichis also the basis of the English word ‘rami-fication’.4 . Lemieux, G. 1997. Fundamentals offorest ecosystem pedogenetics: an approachto metastability through tellurian biology.On website www.forestgeomat.for.ulaval.ca5 The tissues of fungi have a C/N ratioof about 10, so, if all their food were usedfor growth and converted into tissues, theideal food for them would also have a C/N ratio of 10. But, besides growth, theyalso need food for maintenance, whichmeans mainly respiration - the release ofusable energy from food by oxidisingcarbon to carbon dioxide. This is trueof all living organisms, including our-selves. In fact, we use almost all our foodfor maintenance and only a very little forgrowth. We are said to have a low-growthefficiency. Fungi, on the other hand,have a high-growth efficiency - on aver-age they use 40% of their food for growthand the rest for respiration. So, for eachunit of nitrogen, they need 10 units ofcarbon for growth and a further 10 x 60/40 = 15 units of carbon for respiration.In other words, they need altogether 25units of carbon for each unit of nitro-gen. So their ideal food would have a C/N ratio of 25 (roughly that of a not-very-mature plant-based compost).

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Readily available handbooks, which are not wholly vegan but provide good vegan alterna-tives are: The Organic Bible by Bob Flowerdew (ISBN 1856265951) and The New OrganicGrower by Elliot Coleman (ISBN 093003175X).

Weeds by John Walker is an earth-friendly guide to tackling weeds and making good use ofthem. Published by Cassel (ISBN 1 84403 061 X).

The following books are available from The Vegan Society, Donald Watson House, 7 BattleRd. St Leonards-on-Sea, East Sussex TN37 7AA. Tel: 01424 427393. www.vegansociety.com/shop:

Abundant Living in the Coming Age of the Tree by Kathleen Jannaway (ISBN 0951732803) –towards a vegan, self-sustaining tree-based culture.

Forest Gardening by Robert A de J Hart (ISBN 1900322021) – turn your garden or allot-ment into a vegan-organic, permaculture-based mini-forest.

Permaculture: A Beginner’s Guide by Graham Burnett – apply the principles of sustainabilityand working with nature to your land, your community and your life.

Plants for a Future by Ken Fern (ISBN 1856230112) – pioneering book that takes garden-ing, conservation and ecology into a new dimension. Information about growing edible andother useful plants.

The Animal Free Shopper (ISBN 0907337252) – The Vegan Society’s guide to all thingsvegan includes a section on garden products.

Seeds and Supplies

The Organic Gardening Catalogue, Riverdene Business Park, Molsey Rd, Hersham, SurreyKT12 4RG, UK. Tel: 01932 25366. www.organiccatalog.com. Seeds and products such asfertilisers and compost listed as organic and animal-free.

Suffolk Herbs, Monks Farm, Coggeshall Rd, Kelvedon, Essex CO5 9PG. Tel: 01376 572456.www.suffolkherbs.com

Chiltern Seeds, Bortree Stile, Ulverston, Cumbria LA12 7PB. Tel: 01229 581137.www.edirectory.co.uk/chilternseeds. Wide range of seeds including uncommon and unusualvegetable varieties.

Tamar Organics, Unit 5A, Westbridge Trading Estate, Tavistock, Devon PL19 8DE. Tel:01822 834887. www.tamarorganics.co.uk. Excellent organic seed supplier.

Books

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The Vegan-Organic NetworkThe Vegan Organic Network is a registered charity (registered charity number1080847), providing education and research in vegan-organic principles and has aninternational network of supporters. VON supporters enjoy a wide variety of con-tacts and can obtain advice on cultivation techniques. The magazine Growing GreenInternational is sent to supporters twice a year. For more information and details ofhow to join, please contact:

VON, 58 High Lane, Chorlton, Manchester M21 9DZEmail: info@veganorganic.net

General enquiries and advice on growing:Phone: 0845 223 5232

Email: advice@veganorganic.netWebsite: www.veganorganic.net

Vegan-Organic information sheetsThis is one of several sheets produced on various topics by the Vegan-Organic Net-work. These are aimed mainly at those with allotments, kitchen gardens or othersmall growing areas, although many of the techniques will also apply to larger-scalesituations. We welcome feedback on this information sheet and any other relatedtopics. The information sheets currently available are: #1 Propagation and Fertilisers;#2 Growing Beans for Drying; #3 Growing on Clay Soils; #4 Vegan-Organic Growing- The Basics; #5 Fungi - FAQ: #6 Gardening for Wildlife; #7 Growers' Guide toBeetles; #8 Green Manures; #9 Chipped Branch-Wood; #10 Composting.

These are available on request. Please send £5.00 per set, or 60p each (£6 and75p respectively if outside the UK). The sheets are also available free on our website.

Issued March 2005. This advice is given as guidance only, with no responsibility forany results, due to the nature of the processes involved!