Page 9 - ALG Issue 4 2020

Whilst it was important for every allotment holder and house gardener to grow sufficient for their own needs, they were also rendering a dual service to their country.
The NAS, at the request of the Ministry of Food, undertook to organise the collection and disposal of grown produce seasonal surplus in towns and cities.
The National Federation of Women’s Institutes undertook a similar role in rural areas. The sole aim of this scheme was to prevent waste and not for the amateur to enter into competition with commercial growers. The surplus
of summer crops was distributed to hospitals, infirmaries and communal feeding centres. Many allotment gardens had been doing this for years; however, many more had joined the cause.
With regard to crops needed by markets to replace foreign imports, these
varied depending on the season. It
was decided for the following growing period that commercial growers
would concentrate on carrots and that allotment holders would render the best service by growing surplus tomatoes, onions, potatoes and other root crops along with peas for drying, which were grown for household use.
UTILISATION OF WASTE
A subject very closely linked to surplus is the utilisation of waste vegetable matter from allotments and private gardens. Much of this material was suitable for animal feeding and it was important that none was wasted. One of the best ways to use up chat potatoes, the outside leaves of green vegetables and malformed roots, was to feed them to pigs. During 1939/40 there were some 500 pig clubs formed and this was at the recommendation of the NAS. Another way to dispose of waste vegetable matter from allotments and gardens was to use it for food for rabbits and at this time there was hardly any animal used for food which could be kept so cheaply. Valuable information was produced on the keeping of rabbits and there was also a Rabbit Committee of the Domestic Food Producers Council.
MANURE SHORTAGE
Any waste vegetable matter, which could not be used for animal food, could then be ‘composted’ to help with the manure shortage. One problem reported to become more acute as the war continued was the serious shortage
of potash in artificial fertilisers. This situation was slightly eased by a large fertiliser company which created, for allotment holders, a special compound fertiliser. The Ministry of Supply
also helped to solve the issues by recommending timber merchants to provide large quantities of wood ash. The percentage of potash contained in the substance was not high but extremely useful to the gardener.
THE ORGANISATION
Whilst proper cultivation and fertilisation of the land was essential to success, good seeds were equally important. Most of the seeds needed to crop allotments and gardens had come from the continental countries and further afield but the war had cut off most of these supplies. The seed trade had never experienced such difficulties. The National Horticultural Supplies Ltd in Huddersfield was a large horticultural wholesale and retail trade organisation founded by allotment holders affiliated to the NAS. During war-time it was uneconomic and unpatriotic to put strain on organisations by ordering individually, so all orders were large collective amounts where attractive terms were given.
By 1940...
DIG FOR VICTORY
The previous year had been the busiest in the history of the Society. The membership, the number of allotment plotholders increased from 900,000 to nearly one and a half million. Since the war broke out, the NAS had enrolled over 780 new allotment associations. Local authorities took the initiative of forming new associations and called NAS in to assist. Also, the largest of industrial companies in the country recognised the value of allotments
for their workforce. Large regional conferences were held initiated by the Ministry of Agriculture and these were held in principal centres.
OCULAR DEMONSTRATION
An ocular demonstration, seeing allotments and the food they are capable of producing, was the most convincing form of propaganda; many interesting experiments were tried out with considerable success:
Hyde Park – had an allotment laid out with lectures and demonstrators in attendance, to show what could be achieved by the average family.
The Minister of Agriculture launched the ‘Dig for Victory” campaign at a meeting of Civic heads of Local Authorities
The London Zoo – the NAS created a model allotment and small house garden, which was visited by a vast amount of people.
Harrods – made a contribution to
the ‘Grow More Food Campaign” and also staged an exhibition of allotment produce grown on London allotments organised by NAS. This attracted so much public attention that a ‘Back to the Land Exhibition’ was arranged by NAS depicting a small-scale garden with open trenches to illustrate methods of cultivation and seed sowing.
Allotment and Leisure Gardener 9