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?)

In the nicest possible way op, you are romanticising it a lot.

I used to be very similar, allotments, community groups, foraging etc when I was a sahm too. Our groups were awful, the politics, the infighting, the tension between the parish council and the allotment committee, the complaints about children, dandelions, carrots in wonky lines etc. You've been lucky to find a group of people who work well together, it won't necessarily cookie cutter to other locations.

Being back at work now the kids are older is far less stressful in comparison! Growing food is very time consuming too, I tried to keep my allotment on while I was working but it was just too much.

Too many people have paved over front gardens because of laziness or because they have a large car. So any repeat of what took place in world wars would be limited.

In any case until government plays a part, especially in energy security, most people would dismiss any plan.

For those of you who have mentioned you would like to grow but are disabled, i would definitely recommend looking into The Square Foot Gardening Method (Sfg) by Mel Bartholomew, it's highly recommended and has given so many disabled people the option to manage their own gardens.

For those working with poor soil, slug issues or a lack of time I would absolutely recommend checking out Charles Dowding and many others for advice on the NO-DIG method.

There are so many videos free on YouTube about no dig and sfg, please take a look before you give up gardening or exclude yourself due to disability if it's something you would really like to do.

I do not have capacity to do any more than work and look after myself.

I don't want any more obligations out on me.

I pay a man to cut my grass because I can't do it myself. I don't even have house plants.

Most people are only going to be able to grow small amounts as a nice additional extra to their usual supply of food. It might be good for the environment and wildlife, but it would be absurd to suggest it's a way of helping people with food supply issues. That needs a proper well thought out plan to support UK fruit and veg farmers/growers.

Stop wasting potentally food or oxigene giving land on individual little houses.
You need about 70 m2 of garden space to grow enough food to feed 1 person for a year.

Our local allotment had a stand selling excess vegetables cheaply for a few years. A nearby Tesco Express started to contribute too. The money went to the local hospice. Sadly the man running it had a falling out with the people running the allotment. They decided his face didn't fit or something.

I'd like a French style system where supermarkets include country of origin on the label on shelves in big writing. It was so much easier to choose french products without checking for tiny writing on the label. If I had the choice between an imported product or a U.K. product for a little bit more, I'd happily buy the U.K. one. A couple of years ago I picked up some microwave sticky toffee pudding and was stunned it came from New Zealand.

@deliverooyoutoo @Garysmum

I have an allotment, it was very overgrown when I first had it 6 years ago I dug over a small section to put raspberries canes in. That was the first and only time I’ve done anything approaching digging.
I have raised beds and grow everything from potatoes to blueberries, strawberries, tomatoes, cucumbers, carrots, parsnips in containers.
On our site we have two commuity plots which are gardened mostly by people with disabilities. There are lots of long handled tools available for weeding.

Disability is no reason not to garden - whether you want to is another matter, and its fine if you don’t want to.

For me the allotment is a hobby, we do very well with some things, but we are light years away from self sufficiency and I don’t think it saves me significant amounts of money.
One benefit is that we do eat a lot more seasonally. I never buy strawberries or raspberries any more - we have what we grow, freeze a lot and when its gone we wait till next year. My son loves bluberries and eats them everyday, I havent bought bluberries since July, and we have enough in the freezer to last until January.
For some reason I’ve never been successful with onions though

I have an allotment (and work full time). DD has always loved it and helps out which is helpful. It produces a lot for us - rhubarb, broad beans, sweetcorn, aubergines, runner beans, kale, lettuce and now chard, sprouts, cabbage and broccoli as we get into Winter. However it is a lot of work and can take up hours every day (in the Summer) and it demands a level of physical fitness and mobility so it isn't suitable for everyone.

I started growing veg in my garden and used to get a lot of courgettes and rhubarb but again not everyone has a garden.

I think if you can and you have the interest and time go for it but definitely not an option for all.

Having more, cheaper, 'wonky' fruit and veg available in shops would be a great idea as so much gets dumped if it's not perfect. Also fruit and veg vans selling wonky veg (cities) and farmers' markets (more rural areas) might be helpful.

It's not about whether I want to or not.

The fact is that I do not have capacity. There's a difference.

No one is forcing you if you can't!

Also, people should look at these threads from different angle as well.
Most things are met with "I have no time because long hours/kids/etc"

Look how shite the quality of life here is! These threads always show it.

One big difference is the 'dig for victory' campaign was at a time before commercial pesticides and herbicides had been invented.
There are many chemicals that have been sprayed on to private gardens and public spaces over the past few decades that are soil persistent and toxic. If you want to grow things on any site that isn't an allotment or farmland, I recommend you use containers and bought compost.

I’m growing veg, first time in the ground instead of pots. Huge amount of potatoes, huge beetroots because I didn’t get round to pulling them up. Cauliflower and parsnips never grew. It’s a bit hit and miss.

I already grow some veg and fruit in the garden and couldn't manage any more, unless I can work part time.

www.gardeningwithdisabilitiestrust.org.uk/

www.gardeningknowhow.com/special/accessible/gardening-with-disabilities.htm

A lot of councils have spare land and brown field sites, sat there doing little. they should have incentives for communities, where by they utilize the land for growing, allotments or vertical green growing spaces.

They could offer the maintenance to those that are claiming benefits and able to work, to skill up and possibly offer small bonuses including extra payments and fresh food that goes towards the food they collect from foodbanks and saving them money. Give them chance to be productive healthy and a purpose whilst searching for jobs.

I don't think anyone is forcing you to are they?

We have a community garden that feeds into a community kitchen

I think it’s a great idea, and would gladly join in as part of a team. I’m not big on gardening, but could complete tasks supervised by someone who knew what to do. Work with a group of neighbours, get physical exercise doing something useful, grow some food — all good.

I think the best way to encourage this would be to produce informative campaigns instead of "Dig for Victory" posters because when that campaign was produced, the majority of people knew how to grow a plant, choice of seeds was more limited and most people with gardens already had the equipment, and now, the majority of people wouldn't know where to begin.

The calories required to rip up all the concrete/AstroTurf, dig and enrich the soil would negate any calories they are likely to gain from Victory Digging. That's before you get to supplies, tools ect. I know this because I'm digging and enriching a neglected clay heavy patch, which is nowhere big enough to feed me, I just want to plant for privacy. Hard work, expensive, I've been costing up organic material, gyspum ect.

Community gardening is a different matter. Once you scale things up it becomes more affordable, and the work can be shared... But it's a bit optimistic, take a lot to get it going. Probably a demographic with extra time on their hands can make this work.

Council planting of fruit trees on public land would be good. Then we could help ourselves to apples :)

Totally unrelated but this has reminded me of an interview with two elderly Brexit enthusiasts before the referendum. When asked whether they would be concerned about food shortages post-Brexit, they said they weren’t because there were plenty of rabbits in the fields and reverting to a semi-hunter/gatherer existence was a small price to pay for “taking back control”.