Skip to content

Digging for Victory: Stories from wartime gardens

It is 80 years since the Dig for Victory campaign, a war-time Ministry of Agriculture initiative to help to keep the population healthy during rationing following the naval blockade that saw food imports drastically reduce.

By 1943, most households had their own garden plot, with businesses and public parks also giving land to food growing.

The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) has been asking people to share family photos and experiences of their wartime vegetable gardens.

News imageGeoff Stearn Geoff Stearn and his father in an allotment in IlfordGeoff Stearn
Geoff Stearn: "My father and myself on his allotment in Valentines Park, Ilford, [east London,] about 1947, I was 10. The photograph was exhibited in Ilford Town Hall under the heading of Dig For Victory."
News imageCarla Ferri Carla Ferri as a child with chicken penCarla Ferri
Carla Ferri: "My mother's sister had a house with a nice garden, five minutes walk from Holloway Prison[, north London]. A few vegetables were grown but the best achievement was a chicken pen built by my father and of course the eggs were always for me."
News imageJulia Makra Isabel Beech digging an allotment in Kensington GardensJulia Makra
Julia Makra: "Isabel Beech digging an allotment, with the Albert Memorial, Kensington Gardens, [west London,] in the background. Isabel was my great aunt's companion."
News imageBBC Transparent line
News image Jim Wilson Jim Wilson with his father and brother in a garden Jim Wilson
Jim Wilson: "My brother and father in the garden of the old Rectory, Irthlingborough, Northants, about 1944. I think that may be my father's ARP [Air Raid Precautions] badge on the lapel of his three-piece suit."
News imageChristine Regas Christine Regas as a young girl on allotmentChristine Regas
Christine Regas remembers sitting among the cabbages on her father's allotment plot, in Petts Wood, Bromley[, south London].
News imageBBC Transparent line
News imageRoger Staker Clifford Staker and son Roger in an onion patchRoger Staker
Roger Staker: "My father, Clifford Staker, and I in the onion patch at the isolation hospital, Bognor Regis[, Sussex]. My father was head gardener there and grew fruit and vegetables for the patients and also for our own use. We were virtually self-sufficient."
News imageBBC Transparent line
News imageBetty Richards Betty Richard's father shovelling horse manure on a roadBetty Richards
Betty Richards: "My father picking up horse muck for the garden."
News imageCarolyn Bevan Margaret Hodge feeding chickensCarolyn Bevan
Carolyn Bevan: "My mother, Margaret Hodge, feeding chickens in her garden in Cornwall in the summer of 1942. She had been evacuated from London with her husband and two children."
News imageBBC Transparent line
News imageMargaret Holt Eileen Newell in front of a garden shedMargaret Holt
Margaret Holt: "My mother, Eileen Newell, in my grandparents' garden in Croydon, [south London,] in about 1942. My grandfather was an avid gardener and it was a hobby he enjoyed for most of his life."
News imageHillary Haston Alexander Hay, diggingHillary Haston
Hillary Haston: "My father, Alexander Hay, putting the spade in for the first time in a new allotment plot, near Edinburgh Royal Infirmary."
News imageBBC Transparent line
News imageMargot Drury Gerald Selby on his allotmentMargot Drury
Margot Drury: "My father, Gerald Selby, on his allotment, in Doncaster, in the summer of 1940. He wrote a memoir for a local publication in 2005 on war-time Doncaster with Dig for Victory as the slogan."
News imageBBC Transparent line
News imageJane Garner Jean Garner as a child in an allotmentJane Garner
Jane Garner: "My mum, Jean Garner (née Durbin), in Birmingham, 1942 or 1943. You can see cabbages being grown and runner beans in my mum's hand. The allotment belonged to my granddad, who went off to war in May 1941, so my grandmother took it on."
News imageBBC Transparent line
News imageFreda Peach Freda Peach's mother and sister in their council house gardenFreda Peach
Freda Peach: "My mother, Hilda, and sister, Lilian, in our council house garden in Birmingham, 1940. My dad had a garden and an allotment. Our air raid shelter was flooded but the photo shows not an inch of wasted space."
News imageBBC Transparent line

All images copyrighted to the contributors, courtesy RHS. The photos from part of an exhibit at the RHS Lindley Library and are in RHS gardens from 14 October 2019.