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1933 - Prince of Wales (Edward) undertakes a little spadework at an allotment garden
The Prince of Wales visits Allotments in 1933 H.R. H. sees Abbey Wood small-holdings, where 350 unemployed are hard at productive work. Shot of car coming. Prince alights from same. Shakes hands with the mayor. Spectators around same. Introduced to various people. Close shot of him talking and shaking hands with woman. Walks along road with others. Inspects allotments. Close shot of him digging with spectators around him. Close shot of him distributing seed potatoes to owners of allotments. Going onto waste land and various people including mayor using silver painted scythe to cut away grass. cityfarmer.info
Cartoon 1944 (Ministry of Agriculture & Fisheries "Dig For Victory Leaflet No 7) Commentary - "Thanks Mr Middleton. Mr Middleton - Good Afternoon, we all expect vegetables to feed us but we've got to see that we feed them properly too. Suppose we get down to the root of the matter. Plants need food just as much as we do, and it must be in a form they can assimilated. This is where humas comes in. Humas is composed mainly of decayed vegetable matter. By putting humas in the soil plus a few handfuls of chemical fertiliser you make sure that the plant has enough to eat. One of the best sources of humas is the compost heap. It really acts as a sort of canteen for the plants. Simple and cheap its mainly garden waste, its easy to make a compost heap and if you want it in time for next seasons crop now is a good time to start. PLANT - That's right, now is a good time to start." www.cityfarmer.info
1940 'Gardening' an instructional sound film. (10 minutes) Produced by Erpi Classroom Films Inc. In collaboration with Ellen Eddy Shaw, MA Brooklyn Botanic Garden Encyclopedia Britannica Films - 'Bring the world to the Classroom"
Perhaps the weirdest Victory Garden video ever. 1943 Dig For Victory Leaflet No 1 The video advocates preparing your garden so that you can have crops to harvest for winter storage. In Vancouver, we plan early to make sure we have crops in the garden for winter picking (kale, Swiss chard), for harvesting out of the cold frame (variety of hardy salad greens) and for early spring harvest (Purple sprouting broccoli). Mike Dialogue from the video. "In spring this gardener sowed away He meant to eat well every day." www.cityfarmer.info
"The Holder family in Maryland lays out a quarter acre Victory Garden during World War II. Most of the gardening work is done by Grandpa Holder and his teenage grandchildren Rick and Amy and from the looks of the film, it is backbreaking work. There is the garden of peppers, tomatoes, pole beans, potatoes, asparagus and sweet corn. Then, there is the late garden with beets, squash, late potatoes, late cabbage, kale, collard greens and three rows of turnips. "A victory garden is like a share in an airplane factory, the film opening tells us. It is also a vitamin factory that will keep Americans strong. The film ends on a patriotic note, 'No Work, No Victory!' Bear that in mind all you Victory Gardeners and Work! For Victory! A no-nonsense, non-idealized look at what it is like to have to really grow your own food."
This is a timelapse, or slide disolve, over one year, from November 2006 to October 2007, at the City Farmer Demonstration Garden in Vancouver, B.C.
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