How would you take another dig for victory campaign?

[Digforvictories]

There are lots of worries involving the food industry these days-
•loss of biodiversity due to mono crops
•worries about climate change and how that could lead to famine
•loss of nutritional value in our food compared to 50 years ago
•fertiliser shortages (as we are seeing now)
•even fruit rotting due to lack of fruit pickers

How would you respond to posters and adverts, incentives or propaganda basically, asking you to dig a little veg patch, plant a fruit tree, harvest/ forrage berries or leaves? What about mushrooms?

I think myself I would feel a bit annoyed if the tories came out of their mansions and private jets asking me to dig for a victory against climate change. However if the green party put out a campaign I'd be all over it. (I would be happy but annoyed if the tories did it because it seems hypocritical, however I would still be pleased if they took any step toward not destroying the world)

This is purely hypothetical, I'm not some tory scout looking for young voters but I would be interested to know how people on here would take it and I'd also be interested to know what ot would take to make the average mumsnetter think about starting a garden or engaging in a community garden (I've lived in a flat and I know how pissed off I used to get at the eco warriors asking me to start a vegetable garden)

I know allotment holders aren't allowed to sell produce (annoying when it comes to gluts and you can't give enough away or freeze/ preserve/ eat) but would you consider buying fruit and vegetables from local allotments and community gardens? Would you pick fruit from a free orchard where you don't have to talk to anyone or pay? Would you set up a vegetable patch if you get get the resources (compost/ seeds/ pots/ information) freely and easily (and locally?)
Would you be interested in forraging for something more than blackberries if you knew what was safe and edible?

i always look in the eco groups and other groups on other websites and everyones tip posts just get bombarded with 'it's not that easy to grow your own' and I'm just interested in opinions on what would make it easier and how it would be taken if we were asked to dig for victory?
I imagine it would have been taken up less if there weren't rations to deal with back in ww2 and perhaps dig for victory was only as successful as it was because people were scared and hungry?

(can you tell I've been talking to my grandad?)

I think that getting people together to grow their own food is a great idea I think there are already quite a few such initiatives around the country, in communities and in schools, urban and rural locations, all it takes is one or two people with the initiative to get it started. The next village to ours won an award from the RHS for the community veg garden.

Its good to encourage people but any campaign would have to link Ito real practical help and advice, not just tell people they should be doing it.

I think it would be a great idea if it meant more land was made available for allotments.

Waiting list over 10 years where I am...

Is this a right wing fantasy dreamed up by someone who's garden is just a couple of acres?

Is it someone who has grown food for themself, and do they realise the work, the cost that goes into it? The time it takes to become any good at it? The risk?

I honestly think if the government suggested this as an answer to the cost of living crisis, we might finally have full scale civil disobedience and a general strike. Would go down like the ton of manure we would need.

There are a lot more flat-dwellers now than during WW2 and many allotments have been sold off. Also more householders where all adults work full-time.

There'd be no harm in a campaign and I can see it really catching on as a social media phenomenon - influencers in designer wellies waving trowels type thing - but due to practical limitations, I don't think it would have a huge national impact.

Wow that's a long waiting list. I know there is an allotment site (not sure if it's council or private) in Nottingham with about 600 plots. it's the largest site in the UK (I think. I'm not checking facts sorry)

We have lots of small community gardens and stuff around here too but everyone knows everyone, it's volunteer based which is tricky for someone like me (I'm very chatty on here but i struggle in real life and that's put me off joining any which is a real shame) and also there are no advertisements for these groups and gardens. I only found out about them from actively looking for them and watching my local mps video blogs. So a lot of searching. They are invisible mostly.

I have however been to the free 'take what you want' orchards that the council trim and there is no volunteers or owners, it feels less pressure and the trees are always stripped bare.

Allotments are pretty full round here too but there are still a few plots opening up here and there. after covid alot of youn families with c hildren took on plots so the ratio of old men and families is even (and falling into the young families side) which is only encouraging more people. They are asking people to half their plot size to let more people in (which is great for the people who are getting older and struggling with a massive plot, they can keep it but also let it go. this in turn is ensuring newcomers aren't overwhelmed with a massive space).

there are play slides and swings being put up and the sound of children running around is attracting children to the gate and more people are calling. I've had so many conversations with people who didn't even know there were allotments, and they assumed the area was gated because it was private land or something.

When we were at war and at real risk of not having enough food. Fine.
Now? Absolutely no way.

I wouldn't get involved with anything like this, I'm happy to grow my own stuff but I have so little free time - like many many families where both parents work - that I've withdrawn from all volunteer roles as it's too much. Also people are fucking rude to volunteers and I haven't got time for that shit.

I’d laugh and ignore it. I have no interest in growing my own food.

I think myself I would feel a bit annoyed if the tories came out of their mansions and private jets

Just how many "tories" actually live in mansions and own private jets? Just out of interest.

Well it's not a real thing the government have said but I'm hoping it catches on as an ex council flat (the big blocks like grenfell tower, not the nice blocks in housing associations or private) because I spent years with no garden, depressed as anything but as soon as i got a few plants on my balcony, progressed to community orchard, then progressed to allotment plot and I can't even begin to explain how incredibly difficult it was to 'get started' as someone with a very low income and nowhere to put things.

But once we got going, it got easier and we are now managing to save money on fruit mainly and spend lots of time outdoors (parks aren't the same as having your own outdoor space, I dont care what anybody says)

there are lots of school gardens that are mostly empty too except for weeds (no surprise, teachers are stretched enough as it is)

soil erosion is a big worry, I watched a documentary and in my children's lifetime its predicted that most of the working soil today will be dead and no good for us. that scared me into looking at growing my own.

I think it would be great. The old school building in our village is due to be demolished and a community garden put in. I will be asking if raised beds for fruit and veg can be put in so people can enjoy growing some of their own produce. Grants to convert gardens to kitchen gardens would also be very welcome. Our new garden is fully landscaped and the cost to turn it into a kitchen garden (which I would love) is thousands of pounds.

I'd love it. I want to grow food for my young family - my parents grew and still grow loads. I don't know where to start beyond herbs and the yearly pot of cherry tomatoes, so anything about seizing a moment of change would be perfect for us. I'd happily donate to a charity giving away seeds too.

Yet another thing I'd fail at due to being disabled.

I grow my own veg at home and volunteer in a community garden. I know what to forage becuse I grew up in the countryside but I don’t. I can also bait a hook and fish but again choose not to.

Dig for victory was because we were at war and the merchant navy were targeted as they ran supplies.

There Is still enough food but there is awful waste on personal and business levels.

Allotments are actually not playgrounds and that is not a good idea. A forest school is in the community garden I volunteer at and many little children learn about food and how it is grown also has a big insect hotel and bird feeders, I welcome that but not making them in to playgrounds.

If I had my own personal private outdoor space I would love to grow food. But I don't.
Unfortunately I find anything communal in the UK often gets ruined by idiots/selfish people.
Bit depressing...but it's true.

There's a reason I live in a flat aside from the fact that the cheapest house round here is upwards of half a million and that's that I have no time or inclination to tend to a garden! I'm out.

This can go in the same bin as those threads that talked romantically about the joys of poor people gathering berries from roadside bushes.

I think most people have become disengaged with food production (from seed to table) since the end of rationing. I was born in the 1960s when people with gardens still tended to grow at least a few crops - tomatoes, onions, potatoes, carrots, runner beans. Socio-economic changes have meant this productivity has waned (alongside the reduction in British farmed food products. Superficially I see nothing wrong with encouraging individuals or communities to recompense food production on a small, localised scale. However there would need to be massive external input via education and practical help, alongside subsidies or economic incentives to engage with the wider population. This might make it a non/viable proposition, especially if the electorate remain unmotivated and even alienated by the concept.

Exactly. I’d love to be able to do it. I have a good garden all lawn but I can’t dig, weed etc. I can water with a hose but that’s dang all use.

I’m also guessing you live down south. I liven in Aberdeenshire for 6 years, the growing cycle without a greenhouse was very short. The last frost wasn’t until mid May some years.

I enjoyed growing fruit and veg, but it was for fun. I would not make back the cost of the raised beds, greenhouse etc… for the amount of money saved on food.

If you want to do this for eco reasons, then wild flowers and native trees are better, encourage a herb lawn and reduce hard surfaces which increase surface run off.

The allotment waiting list often goes up in times of recession and comes back down in times of plenty - which shows that people do indeed want to grow their own food, sometimes. But anyone who has ever had an allotment will know it is hard work. You can't just show for 2 hours a week and you lose more food than you plant.

One of the key things is variety choice and what you get in Wilkos is often the downfall of many first time growers as these very often aren't suited to or originally grown in our climate. But nobody really teaches that, you have to do your own research and by the time money has been wasted people often give up. There was a time not so long ago that there was only 3 of us at our allotments then down to 2 as one of them left to go to another site, with 10 completely abandoned plots all blowing seeds over mine.

I've now left the UK and gave my immaculate plot to another plot holder and I hope she will keep it up as it was a really easy set up to keep up with. I now garden in France where the main issue is droughts all summer. Nothing is every easy in the world of food growing.

DH hasn't got over the long strip of potatoes ds decided to plant in the middle of the lawn as his bid for digging for victory in April 2020. I did point out he was lucky: ds' first thought was digging an Anderson shelter which would have taken more than a strip.

We did have a good number of potatoes that year though.

We've tried growing our own veg a few times in the seven years since we moved to our current house. What we have discovered, through both the failed veg attempts and all our attempts to get flowers to thrive, is that the soil quality in our garden is awful. We had some success with veg or flowers in pots that we had filled with bought compost/topsoil, but anything we actually planted in the ground (even if we mixed compost etc through it) just wouldn't grow successfully. We either got tiny veg or none at all, and it all took far longer than it ought to have.

The cost of getting that sorted is ridiculous, so my dreams of having a lovely veg plot have withered and died. DS2 is desperate to grow his own veg, but he just ends up disappointed every time. Waiting lists for allotments in our village are really long, and with both DH and I working full-time (shifts for him), it just wouldn't be feasible to keep one.

We have planted several trees, including two apples and a cherry, so we have some of our own fruit. Even my wildflower bed wouldn't grow in our stupid soil!

my other half did dig a veggie patch in our back garden and the slugs got everything that did grow which wasnt much we gave up

Dh and I debated doing this during Covid. But it's a lot of work. You have to be committed to all the regular gardening tasks, and we're just not interested enough. Or maybe not hungry enough.