1. Sowing the seeds
From ‘Dig for Victory’ to The Good Life, growing our own food is a cherished tradition,
and one we should try to hand on to the next generation, says Andrew Jackson
BEHIND THE SCENES
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–– Andrew Jackson is head of Wakehurst Place
»» To find out more about vegetable growing,
heritage varieties and the origins of many
familiar crops, visit the Global Kitchen
Garden display in Wakehurst’s nursery this
summer. And don’t miss the Wakehurst Seed
Festival on Saturday 28 September (see p71)
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in interest during the 1970s, the
allotments behind our house seemed
to be in relentless decline – abandoned,
weedy or grassed-over plots became
the norm. Indeed, this waxing and
waning of their popularity has continued.
Historically, allotments were first
mentioned around the time that the
Wakehurst Place mansion was completed,
in the latter part of the16th century. During
the reign of Elizabeth I, allotments were
added to tenant cottages to compensate
for the enclosure of common lands that had
previously been used for food production
by the landless poor. In 1845, the General
Enclosure Act started the modern
statutory obligations for allotments and
sought to provide ‘field gardens’ for the
poor. However, this intention largely
failed – around 2,000 acres of allotments
were created, while 600,000 acres were
lost through enclosures.
Subsequent Acts relating to
allotments and smallholdings (in1887,
1908 and1950) provided statutory
obligations for local authorities to provide
allotments where there was a demand.
The First and Second World Wars
increased demand, with up to1.4 million
allotments in existence during the war
years and a decline only between the
wars. By the mid-1990s, this had dropped
to around 275,000. The conversion of
my own front garden has coincided
with a resurgence in ‘growing your own’.
In 2008, a feature in The Guardian
‘I haven’t seen a front garden like that
since the Second World War.’ Oh dear,
I thought, a bomb site! Thankfully it turned
out to be a compliment. An 80-year-old
resident of Priceholme almshouses, near
where I live, was enthusing about the
new vegetable beds and living fence of
espalier apples and pears I had created
in my front garden.
In 1963, Sir Henry Price, Baronet
of Wakehurst, made a gift of the
Priceholme almshouses as a residence
for retired gardeners and agricultural
workers. In addition to a small private
garden for each resident, a large
communal area for growing vegetables
and cut flowers was part of the original
design. It was a natural thing to do –
indeed, there would probably have been
an outcry if allotments were not an
integral part of the concept. For most
retirees, the domestic production of
food would have been a necessity as
well as a pleasure throughout their lives.
It was 2006 when I converted my
unproductive front lawn into a vegetable
garden. After my neighbours got over
their initial shock, it soon became a
talking point and many new conversations
and friendships began while pottering
in the front garden. It’s amazing what
collective pleasure can be gained from
two large trailerloads of manure
delivered from our local school farm.
My sons were nine and eleven at
the time, and being different was a little
embarrassing for them at first. When
the polytunnel was erected to the side
of our house, I think it made a major
dent in their street cred. However,
it has given me great pleasure to see
my sons picking and eating raw peas
on their way to school, and Matthew,
our eldest, has gone on to use
vegetable gardening and propagation
as his skills for his Duke of Edinburgh’s
Silver and Gold Awards.
As a ten year old, I plagued my
dad to let me have one of the allotments
that adjoined our small back garden.
He resolutely refused for four years, by
which time I had found other attractions.
In later life I discovered the source of his
reluctance. The son of a gardener, he
was born in the 1940s and had three
brothers, so his memory of the family
veg plot and chicken houses was one
of endless chores. These were
comparatively tough times to raise
a young family and ‘Dig for Victory’
continued to be relevant almost ten
years after the war ended, with food
rationing continuing until 1954.
Domestic food production was a
necessity for many. The vegetable
garden was a stressor to my father
and not the source of relaxation and
satisfaction it is to many people today.
On reflection, like thousands of
others, my desire to grow my own
food was influenced by the TV series
The Good Life. After a short-lived surge
indicated that there were approximately
330,000 allotments nationally and almost
100,000 people on waiting lists.
My hope is that those on waiting
lists are finding other ways to grow
vegetables. If you have a ten year old
pestering you to grow your own, please
encourage their interest and give them
the chance, even if it’s just in a few patio
pots or a windowbox – or perhaps a
hitherto sacred piece of lawn.
Nurture children’s interest in
gardening by letting them
experience the excitement of
germinating seeds, the hands-on
fun of digging and watering, and
the thrill of picking and eating
food they have grown themselves