“In this new series of monthly ‘Guides’ we are out to help you to get better results from your vegetable plot and your fruit garden.”
So begins the Allotment and Garden Guide Vol. 1 No. 1, published by the Ministry of Agriculture in January 1945. These pamphlets were published every month throughout 1945 and served to guide people through the gardening year, reminding them in that gently bossy voice of 1940s Britain of the tasks they needed to complete as well as ‘the things that ought to have been done, but may not have been possible because of the weather or for some other reason’.
The advice has held up well, some unpleasant (and now banned!) fertilisers notwithstanding, and the modern gardener would do well to heed the guidance of those who really did have to Dig for Victory. We’ll be taking our lead from the Ministry and passing on this advice for use in your garden today.
Admittedly, January isn’t the most exciting month in terms of actual garden activity, but you shouldn’t let the cold weather deter you from getting things done. A key consideration for the gardener of 1945, a time when most things were in short supply, was the careful maintenance of one’s tools. This extract from the January 1945 pamphlet explains why and gives a few tips on keeping tools in ‘first-class order’:
You can see the full pamphlet here
Once your tools are sparkling, begin your gardening year as you mean to go on. First things first, get your soil ‘in good tilth’. The importance of good tilth is explained here, but essentially it means get digging!
Essential January jobs:
Digging and manuring, whatever the weather!
Buy your seed potatoes and onion sets
Prune fruit trees and bushes, and plant any new ones
Cover rhubarb with a bucket or large pot to encourage an early harvest
Calling all gardeners – what else do you do in January to prepare for the months ahead? Do you have any handy hints or secret good luck rituals? (Wiping down all tools in a clockwise motion while standing on one leg, for instance?) Let us know in the comments section!
Tags: Gardening
The good news is I didn’t put my tools away dirty, the bad news is they’re still stuck in my flower beds. Having read this post, I will endeavor to do better!
I’ve been put off any gardening with all the snow – instead I’ve been leaving crusts out for the birds, which is apparently very important when other food sources are scarce in this weather. Of course, this would have been seen as a most unacceptable waste in wartime!
I spend most of January thinking “I must order my seeds” and then leaving it to the very last minute.
Must say, there is not much digging done on our plot – deep bed system, hoorah!
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