Kitchen Garden Forum

I too watched and enjoyed last nights documentary "How Britain got the Gardening Bug". The question which it posed for me is where did all the seeds come from to start and sustain the "Dig for Victory" campaign.Was there a warehouse full of stored seed at the outbreak of war? Was it rationed?
Questions you wish could be answered by older relatives who are no longer us.
I realise that seed could be harvested from plants set aside for that purpose but to sustain the campaign an awful lot of stock must have been required to plant up the ground given over to vegetable growing.

Chantal wrote:It was the same with Salsify, but it turned out that he didn't usually grow the stuff and had only agreed to do so because the producers of the Jeremy Vine show specifically asked him to grow it. I suspect the same went for the Pak Choi.

Well that makes for a great listening experience. They should get someone on the show who does know. There must be many out there. I think it's outrageous that they should have a regular item from someone who is billed as an expert but is in fact anything but. He's all bluff and bluster and the hapless urbanites at the BBC might buy into it, but I don't.

I too watched and enjoyed last nights documentary "How Britain got the Gardening Bug". The question which it posed for me is where did all the seeds come from to start and sustain the "Dig for Victory" campaign.Was there a warehouse full of stored seed at the outbreak of war? Was it rationed?
Questions you wish could be answered by older relatives who are no longer us.

My grandfather was invalided out of the last war, having served in the first, and was co-ordinator for the Dig for Victory campaign in the East Riding of Yorkshire. Self-sufficiency was key, and gardeners were encouraged to save their own seed, a practice which many of us are now out of the habit of doing. Few, if any, varieties in those days were hybrids and it was (and still is) a simple matter to leave a few plants to run to seed. You don't need to leave many to get a lot of seed: one lettuce, for instance, will yield in excess of 5000 seeds. There were many more seedsmen in the 1940s, too, with plentiful stocks to get things going.

The series Wartime Kitchen Garden was repeated on UKTV the other week. What a great piece of TV and social history it was too. Shame you can't get it on DVD. I emailed the BBC and Imperial War Museum. Got a nice reply from IWM and BBC pointed me towards a company called 2entertain.co.uk who have no plans to release it unless there is more demand.

Didn't know Benny Hill was a gardener.

Toffeeman. Why don't we all email 2entertain.co.uk requesting they make a DVD available of this programme. Who's interested.

I can't find their email address. Went to their website and the only contact is a postal one. Can't seem to get my head round snail mail these days, especially with the price of postage stamps and bother of finding envelopes. If somenbody knows heir e-mail address I'll happily e-mail them.

It's Friday night and I'm debating with myself whether it's worth watching GW again. I can't believe that monstrosity of a pond they built. How on earth is that going to be wildlife friendly for frogs and newts? It would be like asking them to climb Everest! They seem to be becoming so divorced from reality that it's almost embarrassing. I'm cross actually. Watching GW was one of the milestones to starting my week-end, as I suspect it was for many people. It's almost turned from an interesting and informative programme into a Sit Com. (Sorry about the rant. It's raining. I can't get out into the garden and I feel grumpy. )

I thought the same about the pond Primrose. Adding to your list drowned birds trying to get a bath or a drink. One of the best things about having a pond is the wildlife it attracts or watching the fish. Their pond wouldn't even be good for a few fish either. As for the slate - I'm not sure where that came from but if they had to buy it didn't it defeat the object of scrounging the pipe from the motorway.

My other little rant as it is ranting day (raining and cold here too) - How come they built a shed without any doors and windows and then had to cut doors and window holes into it? - It seemed a strange way of going about things to my logical mind but what do I know?

Well, this being Wales, I won't have to watch it tonight, as it's rugby yet again, and I 've ranted enough about that before.

Well you can't slag it off unless you watch it so that's the wine uncorked so ready to slag.

Well, it would have needed more than a whole bottle of wine to wipe away the taste of some of the nonsense from the Malvern Show on tonight's programme. Can anybody tell me what part "fashion" has to play in such an event? The mere sight of watching the Show's presenters ponce around on a catwalk wearing so-called garden designer fashions made me cringe. I can't believe that any self-respecting professional individual would allow themselves to be put through such a facade, let alone making complimentary remarks about the outfits in question. How I wish I could have been in their places and told the world at large what I really thought! How much further do we all have to be insulted by having such drivel forced upon us?

It was grim but I left it on Two to see the half wits from English Heritage wasting my money on a recreation that was 90% imagination. I despair but can't afford another bottle.

I watched half of it and it was so riveting, I fell asleep. I woke up in time to see the "fashion parade". Absolute tosh! I'll bet they get paid an awful lot of money for presenting this tripe.

Good Grief ! It was Gardeners World - I thought I'd tuned in to an episode of Bill and Ben the Flowerpot Men with not one but 2 Weeds! Eh? - What was that whistling sound - was it the wind at the Malvern Show or was it the last shred of GW's credibility whizzing over the hills and far way? Argh! and that was the 'creations' of the fashion designers of tomorrow - I'd better put in an order for a boiler suit now - at least it would be practical - and of course I could sew on some flowers made from remnants of material, a recycled plastic hoodie and some strips of astro turf to make it 'interesting' - Oh! hang on - where have I seen that before? I know - back to Good Grief!

Elaine,
My husband and I BOTH did exactly the same thing so wonder if they popped some sort of hypnotic trance in front of the fashion parade to try and hynotise into thinking we had enjoyed it - it didn't work.

I don't know if it is me but when carol was going on about the beauty of double flowers I just didn't get it. Some of the flowers just look wrong as doubles!! Then to say they don't produce pollen - aren't we supposed to be supporting the bees and who wants a garden devoid of butterflies (the whites near the brassicas being the exception) etc,

It must be going to get better mustn't it?