Dig for Victory!
with the Dudley Environment Zone.
Dig for Victory is a school based programme that explores and celebrates the environmental and sustainable methods that people used to survive during the hardships of the Second World War.
This site will help you plan, plant and use a school vegetable garden to
Dig for Victory!
Research, plan and create your own Dig for Victory school garden.
Look at the Planting calendar to see when your seeds should be planted and vegetables cropped.
| General Tips
Protect potatoes from frost till end of May.
Use canes for supporting peas.
Weed and water throughout the growing season, (March to September?)
Tomatoes can be grown in grow bags. Use canes to support them as thet grow.
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January/February
Prepare ground/planters.
Add manure/compost.
Leave for frost to break the soil.
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March
During mid month plant early peas direct into the ground.
Follow the instructions on back of packet !
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April
Plant early potatoes.
Sow salad crops; lettuce, spring onions and radish.
Sow just a couple of rows of each crop depending on the size of your planting area.
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May
Stagger the planting of your salad crop every two to three weeks to extend harvest times.
Protect your potatoes from frost.
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June
Harvest time
Thin out the first salad crop you planted,these can be eaten !
When peas are tall enough they will need supporting.
Carry on planting during early summer.
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| Vegetable Planting Guidance
Carrot: March - end June
Sweetcorn: May - early June
Tomatoes: May - early June
French Bean: April - mid July
Runner Bean: mid May - end June
Broad Beans: mid October - November
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Take photos of your School Dig for Victory garden and send them in to the website.
Hear people who lived during the war. Listen to their stories and things they remember from their childhood.
Read some wartime recipes and try making your own tasty dishes.
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These Recipes and others from WWII have their weights and measures in Pounds and Ounces and temperatures in Farenheight. You may needed these conversion tables to help you work out the modern day equivalents.
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Get Fit and Healthy
Immersed in watching things grow from a tiny seed and enjoying the great outdoors you could easily forget that you are helping your mind and body to get fit!
Gardening is considered a light to moderate form of exercise with activities such as weeding, watering, digging, shovelling and raking all improving and maintaining strength, endurance and flexibility.
Regular physical activity can help lower the risk of high blood pressure, cholesterol levels, heart disease and obesity.
Working out in the fresh air soaking up the scenery, sounds, smells and textures have positive psychological benefits too, their enough to cheer up any gardener.
Dig with friends and your gardening becomes a social event too!
And let us not forget to enjoy the fruits of our labours by eating all the fresh produce you grow. Of course this contributes towards healthy eating.
References
The Health Benefits of Gardening from Go for Green
How gardening can keep you fit and healthy from BUPA
Try a jigsaw
See if you can put the Dig for Victory poster back together.
Merry Hill Exhibition: Their Past Our Future
The exhibition at Merry Hill is a nationwide travelling exhibition called, 'Their past, your future'.
It will be displayed from 9th May-12th June 2005.
Their Past Your Future explores what we can learn about issues such as commemoration, conflict and citizenship while finding out about the events and enduring global impact of the Second World War in this sixtieth anniversary year. Supported by the Big Lottery Fund and led by the Imperial War Museum, Their Past Your Future includes a wide range of activity for all ages throughout the UK.
The touring exhibition explores how the Second World War changed the people and the landscape of the UK forever. At the core of the exhibition are personal stories that look at how people kept their families safe, how wartime experiences changed people’'s lives and how people remember those they lost. A total of nine exhibitions will tour the UK over 70 different locations
More details of all these activities can be found at www.theirpast-yourfuture.org.uk.
Links to other Dig for Victory websites
British Potato Council
BBC - Children of World War 2 - Rationing Challenge
Channel 4 1940s House: Reference: Food: Dig For Victory
Dig For Victory WWII Allotment Garden Plan - Grow Vegetables Year Round
Imperial War Museum
Teachers notes
Club Priorities
Extra Club Ideas
Contacts
Health Promoting Schools; 'school's food advisor' Julie Turner Tel: 01384 366603
Plan and Record your Dig for Victory activities 
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