Very few commercial composts describe exactly what is in them and as a result, I previously found it difficult to know which one to buy. So I’ve done some digging around (sorry) and written this guide to tell you about some of the best peat-free, vegan compost brands available and where you can buy them, and I will continue to add further recommendations if and when I find other suitable products.
In this guide I also explain what makes a compost vegan (or not!) and highlight those brands I know are not vegan-friendly. In the meantime, if you know of a vegan compost brand that you would like to see included, please get in touch through my Contact page.
Vegan Mum’s Top Picks
- Best range: Melcourt SylvaGrow
- Best seed: Fertile Fibre
- Best organic: Natural Grower
- Best compressed: Coco & Coir
- Best houseplant: Focus
What makes a compost vegan?
When it comes to finding out what’s in a bag of compost, it’s not very easy and many contain ingredients that are derived from animals. So, there are certain ‘warning’ words or phrases to look out for that indicate it’s not vegan-friendly including: manure, humus, shells, guano (bird-droppings), fish blood and bonemeal – I guess some of those may seem very obvious! Ingredients like humus may be plant-based, but may also contain excreta from farm animals.
The problem is, labelling regulations regarding exact ingredients in compost are not very rigorous, so as an environmentally-friendly vegan (and those 2 terms don’t always go together!) you have to do a bit of digging…
In my research for this article, some compost companies have been very forthcoming, helpful and responsive (thank you to them) and some others offer relevant information in their product descriptions which is great. As for the others? I’m not one for mud-slinging (last pun, I promise) so instead, they simply don’t get on my list!
Is vegan compost also organic?
No, not necessarily. It is often assumed that if something is vegan, it must also be environmentally-friendly, cruelty-free and organic. But whilst that can be true, it’s not always the case.
When I was looking into this, Melcourt (who make the vegan-friendly SylvaGrow range) were incredibly helpful and honest – their vegan range is not organic because the nutrient pack in the organic product may contain animal-derived ingredients.
That doesn’t necessarily mean that it is less environmentally-friendly, but consequently as a vegan, I buy their non-organic range.
So which vegan compost is best?
When conducting my research, the first 3 criteria below were mandatory, so all the vegan compost in my list meets those. The bottom 4 weren’t consistently met by every product:
- vegan
- peat-free
- good quality
- organic
- vegan society approved
- reasonably priced
- environmentally-friendly packaging
Melcourt SylvaGrow
- Price: £0.35 / litre
- Type: Multipurpose
My personal favourite is SylvaGrow, an RHS endorsed, high-quality multi-purpose compost. And they have a good range of other composts too, all easily identified as vegan-friendly. Not only that, this brand was genuinely very helpful and responsive to my questions and at the time of updating this, only 2 products are not vegan-friendly – SylvaGrow Organic and SylvaGrow Planter for Organic Growing. In fact, even their ‘farmyard‘ formulation no longer contains any animal products, despite the name!
I also love the fact that because compost deteriorates over time, SylvaGrow compost bags have ‘best before’ dates clearly printed. So, with all the positive ‘pros’ listed, it’s just a shame their vegan range isn’t also organic.
With regard to packaging, they use minimum 30% post consumer recycled plastic (and are working to increase that) and the bags are also recyclable.
Pros
- Variety of different composts available
- Use by date on packaging
- Made in the UK
- No green waste
Cons
- Organic range is not vegan
Fertile Fibre
- Price: £0.63 / litre
- Type: Seed
This Vegan Society approved seed compost is another high quality product and is a ‘Which’ Best Buy – praise indeed! There is also an interesting Vegan Society interview with Matthew Dent of Fertile Fibre which you can read on their website.
This compost has the added benefit of being organic, has Soil Association certification and to be honest, Fertile Fibre have been doing the ‘peat-free thing’ for years, before it ever became fashionable!
Their website has ‘vegan’ as a filter which is helpful because not all their products are vegan.
Pros
- Free from green waste and chemicals
- Named ‘Which’ Best Buy 2023
- Vegan Society and Soil Association approved
- Range of different composts available
Cons
- Plastic packaging, but options available
Natural Grower
- Price: £0.41 / litre
- Type: organic multipurpose
Ticking lots of the boxes – vegan society approved, soil association and biodynamic certified – this is a popular compost with some gardeners and I love using it and get some great results with my tomatoes.
The biodynamic tag doesn’t float everyone’s boat, and many can’t see any benefits that are distinct from using other organic, non-biodynamic composts. However, this is a good-quality compost that should work well in any garden – it works well in mine!
Pros
- Chemical free
- Certified as organic and vegan
- Biodynamic
Cons
- Plastic packaging
Coco & Coir
- Price: £0.17 / litre
- Type: multipurpose
Coco & Coir’s budget-friendly compost is organic, eco-friendly and has Soil Association certification. And because the coir is hydrated by you as and when you need it, it is lighter to transport, easily stored and takes up less space. This makes this a good, environmentally friendly option even when you take its far east origins and transportation.
Coco & Coir has an extensive range of coir composts for every gardening need, some with nutrients, and some without so great for everything from seed sowing to planting out. And because you hydrate as you need it, the nutrients don’t start to degrade if you store it.
However, I have not been completely convinced by using it on its own so I always mix it in with one of the more traditional composts from this guide. It just doesn’t seem to have the right texture to me until it has a regular compost added.
Pros
- Extensive range of products
- Soil Association approved
- Eco-friendly packaging
- Can be stored without degradation
Cons
- Need to rehydrate
Focus Houseplant compost
- Price: £1.10 / litre
- Type: houseplant compost
This good quality houseplant potting compost is reasonably-priced and widely available.
And Growth Technology has a wide range of Focus houseplant composts including cacti, bonsai and even one for your carnivorous plants (not sure how vegan they are)?! I also love their Houseplant Myst which is a wonderful, faff-free way of feeding my indoor plants.
Anyway, Growth Technology have confirmed that all these products are vegan-friendly and it is the only houseplant compost that I use.
Pros
- Good quality compost
- Widely available
- Good range of products
Cons
- Not organic
FAQs
Are Miracle Gro, Tomorite and Levingtons vegan?
When I contacted Evergreen who own these brands, they were very open, honest and helpful. Their compost products contain guano (bird droppings), and cannot therefore be certified as vegan.
Miracle Gro’s Performance Organics is the closest Evergreen currently have to a vegan compost. Classified as ‘plant-based’, it may however still contain guano.
Are Westland composts vegan?
Whilst they believe some of their products are plant-based, they cannot guarantee the absence of animal-based products and so will not confirm their vegan status.
Are vegans OK with manure?
It depends on what the manure is made from. Most manure comes from animal faeces combined with other animal products and so an ethical vegan would not use that in their garden.
However, plant-based manure is available, made from things like seaweed, spent grain and leguminous plants.
Wikipedia has an informative page on manure.
Other gardening articles
I hope you have found this Best Vegan Compost guide helpful – I certainly learnt a lot when I was doing my research for it! If you have enjoyed it, here are some more articles that you may find interesting:
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