March 1945 Allotment & Garden Guide
The original March 1945 wartime growing leaflet consisted of 8 pages which I have followed by reproducing the content onto separate pages.
Where an article runs onto two pages these have sometimes been combined into one page for readability or the trailing content moved onto the relevant page.
Where I feel it helpful, I’ve annotated the information. To make annotations obvious, they are coloured green.
The March 1945 Growing Guide covered these main points:
- Easing the pressure by allowing some flower growing
- Preparations for the coming season and sowing
- How to create a seedbed and use it for crops you can transplant
- Direct sowing of crops as listed
- Detailed instructions for lettuce, radish, parsley and onions
- Planting potatoes
- A guide to making compost
- Looking after fruit trees
The March 1945 official growing guide starts by subtly preparing the reader for the fact that wartime shortages would not end immediately on victory in WW2
This section of the wartime growing guide is about preparing to sow when the weather permits and planning for local growing conditions .
In this page of the March 1945 official growing guide it explains how to create a seedbed and how to use it for sowing seeds to transplant later
In this page of the March 1945 official growing guide it explains which seeds are suitable for sowing at this time of year.
Sowing lettuce, radish and parsley along with different methods for cultivating onions in this page of the March 1945 official growing guide
Potatoes were the most important home growing crop in wartime and this page of the official growing guide for March 1945 concentrates on the potato business
What you can use to make compost and how to make it – in pictures. From the official growing guide for March 1945 in the dig for victory campaign
This last page in the March 1945 official growing guide covers pest treatment of fruit trees and blackcurrants. It also suggests further reading
