Dig for victory
For wartime Kiwis, growing cabbages and caulifowers was a patriotic act. reports.
When war broke out in 1939, many of New Zealand’s younger gardeners rush to join the armed forces, while older ones signed up for the Home Guard.
The production of fruit and vegetables plummeted as military bases filled up with hungry young men and women. An already challenging situation became much more serious once war began in the Pacific – all those troops, both New Zealand and American, were added to the list of those who needed feeding.
Things didn’t change so much in country areas. The women who were now running family farms (in addition to carrying out traditional housekeeping and child-raising duties) would have been used to growing their own vegetables – with bountiful manure to ensure magnificent crops.
Rationing hit harder in town not only because there was less land, but many had forgotten the basics of gardening. There was much to learn.
Women were often to the fore. In mid-1940 a group of 50 business and professional women (including writer Ngaio Marsh) worked on half an acre (0.2 hectares) in Christchurch’s Abberley Park. The green-fingered taught horticultural novices how to dig, sow and propagate.
By the end of 1941, members of the Women’s War Service Auxiliary (WWSA) – or ‘‘Women Without Sex Appeal’’ as they were sometimes called – were loading up their bikes to deliver vegetables to orphanages, the elderly and soldiers’ wives. Greatly encouraged by the success of this venture, the group bought a dehydrating oven so that they could dry beans for the minesweepers that patrolled the waters off New Zealand.
‘‘Beans for Britain’’ came next – these enterprising women filled recycled cocoa tins, which they sent to women’s organisations in the north of England.
The WWSA didn’t just grow vegetables. In Wellington these khaki-clad women rolled up their sleeves, donned sturdy boots and sought out vacant plots of land.
When working in Sydney St in central Wellington they had to remove nine lorry-loads of old iron and rubble before digging and manuring the ‘‘garden’’. The resulting potatoes were reputed to have been very good indeed!
Down in Dunedin, the ladies of the WWSA took on half an acre of council land at Chingford, while in Auckland they ran gardening classes and ensured that knowledgeable gardeners were available for everyone who needed a little help.
Jam-making & DIY recipes
In 1942, the standard ration of 12 ounces (340g) of sugar a week was increased to six pounds (2.7kg) during the jam-making season. In 1943 and 1944 this was increased further to 12 pounds (5.4kg).
With oranges in short supply, rosehips became an invaluable source of vitamin C. Recipes were published, hips were sold at Plunket Society rooms and bottles of syrup were found on patriotic stalls.
In 1943 a Dunedin firm began paying people to gather the hips from the roses that grew wild in Southland and Otago. Commercially-made rosehip syrup was available by the end of the year.
Vegetable production schemes
By early 1942 it had become clear that vegetables would have to be grown on a massive scale if the American and New Zealand troops serving in the Pacific war were to be properly fed.
When the government’s Services’ Vegetable Production Scheme came into force in July 1942, growers undertook to produce huge quantities of vegetables. State farms were established to meet any shortfall.
By the end of 1942, more than 730 hectares had been ploughed and planted. From now on, 1.4 million kilos of vegetables were produced every month.
An unprecedented amount of gardening labour was needed though. Although still officially classified as ‘‘aliens’’, Chinese market gardeners upped their vegetable production dramatically, large numbers of women were ‘‘man powered’’ to work in the fields, mothers worked while their children were at school, servicemen weeded crops and students picked peas when studies allowed.
Canning became more common and New Zealand’s first major dehydration plants were established so that vegetables and fruit could be preserved and sent overseas.
By November 1944 peas and beans were being quick frozen and sent to the American hospitals in the Pacific.
Dig for victory
As concern grew about food shortages at home, the government launched its Dig for Victory campaign. Begun in the North Island in mid-1943, this was extended to the South Island towards the end of 1944.
Radio programmes, free public lectures and demonstrations were complemented by written advice: how-to gardening books were published and in 1944 an Act of Parliament was passed so that there would be sufficient newsprint for a new monthly magazine … New Zealand Gardener.
Newspapers ran regular advertisements such as this one in Wellington’s Evening Post in July 1943: ‘‘Make every yard of garden yield. Beg, buy or borrow a spade and Dig for Victory. That section of yours must not be idle. You will need a garden. A garden will feed you. Grow vegetables that will keep your family fit. Give them a balanced diet and greens the whole year round. Help yourself and help your country. Listen to any North Island YA and ZB station every Thursday night for practical instruction.’’
As men and women alike took up their spades, backyards were dug up and dahlias and delphiniums replaced by cabbages and cauliflowers. Public gardens such as Auckland’s Potters Park in Mt Eden were planted with rows of tomatoes, beans, potatoes and pumpkins, while hospitals and other public institutions were encouraged to plough up their lawns and plant vegetables.
It wasn’t for long. When the war finished in 1945, the troops demobilised. There was a dramatic drop in the demand for fruit and vegetables, market gardening was scaled down and expansive lawns and glorious flower gardens were back in vogue.
World War I
Although the famous Dig for Victory campaign was part of WWII, growing vegetables was a key concern during the First World War too.
As men packed their kitbags and went off to the Great War in 1914, their womenfolk and older family members were left to tend the vegetable gardens.
In Wellington the Wadestown Cottage Garden and Beautifying Society maintained the lawns and gardens of local men while they were serving overseas. The Canterbury Horticultural Society also did its bit, setting up patriotic stalls at every exhibition. Run by the Ladies’ Committee, these were stocked with donated goods, but especially plants and seeds.
The profits from the 1915 Rose and Sweet Pea Show were used to buy a travelling cooker for the New Zealand Expeditionary Force, while the proceeds from the 1917 Chrysanthemum Show went to the Red Cross.
Members of the society on active service were exempted subscription fees, and received a warm welcome from members of the Royal Horticultural Society when on leave in London.
Sadly, the production of vegetables was almost exclusively for the domestic market. If our soldiers had been sent preserved fruit and vegetables as well as canned corn beef and brick-hard biscuits, they would have suffered less from scurvy, dysentery, typhoid and night blindness.