Dig For Victory!

The title of this post has to be one of the most well known phrases associated with 

World War 2; it  was actually coined by a journalist from a London newspaper.

The foot in the poster belonged to Mr W.H. McKie of Acton, London and a photograper was lucky enough to capture this iconic shot; it went on to be used on almost every one of the 25 leaflets provided by the goverment to help the public with everything from making compost to seed saving.

As early as 1936 defence plans were in place for food to be monitored and controlled in the event of war. Therefore by the end of September 3rd, the day war broke out, the Food (Defence Plans) Dept. was up and running to regulate just this.

At the beginning of the war over 20,320,000 tonnes of the food coming into Great Britain included 70% of our cheese and sugar, nearly 80% of the fruit and 70% of cerials and fats. As the German U-boats were later to sink our supply ships, to try and starve us into submission, various initiatives under the Cultivation of Lands Order 1939 set about improving home food production. In order to do this farmers were offered money for their fields to be ploughed for the war effort. Because they were feeding cattle with imported goods food needed to be grown to feed animals as well as the people. Therefore farmers were instructed to sow and grow corn, potatoes and cattle fodder.

This was food production on a commercial scale but then there was the Dig for Victory campaign aimed at the general public. Many people are familiar with the term which was everywhere by 1940. To back this up there were posters such as 

"Let Your Shopping Help Our Shipping."

Lord Woolton, who became Minister of Food on April 4 1940, said 

"This is a food war, every extra row of vegetables in allotments saves shipping. The battle on the kitchen front cannot be won without help from the kitchen garden."

Everyone was encouraged to grow as much fruit and vegetables as they could on whatever land, ground or space they had. It is estimated by 1945 that 1.4 million people had an allotment increasing land for food production by 80%. To assist the public with their sowing and growing efforts the goverment supplied many leaflets, arranged talks and put on events and lectures covering every aspect of how they could help with the war effort in growing their own as part of the campaign. It was important that gardeners could grow their own food all year round so this plan was provided to try and avoid what 'growers of their own' now call the hungry gap.

In addition to the paper propaganda the goverment enlisted the help of Mr Middleton, the wireless gardener. 

You can find a little bit more about him here and how gardening advice from and on the BBC delveloped. On Sunday afternoons people would religiously listen to him to hear advice, hints and tips to get the best out of their garden or space. Many places were turned over, literally, to grow food including public gardens, railway sidings, playing fields, anywhere!

With all the food the public were growing they were also given help and advice about preserving and canning their produce so none of it went to waste...but more of that next time.

I hope you enjoyed this post. Feel free to comment here with any family history, experiences or information as I would love to hear your stories.

That's all for now,

TTFN, Lou.xx