Publisher's Synopsis
‘Grim times are with us, and we are now called on to reorganise our gardens, and turn them into munitions factories; for potatoes and beans are munitions of war as surely are bullets, and shells; and the gardeners of England can do much to help the nation in its hour of need…’
Aurum’s first two facsimile reissues of Mr Middleton’s wartime gardening advice, Digging for Victory and Dig on for Victory, have been very successful. Now we re-publish a third collection of his wartime radio talks for the BBC – for whom Mr Middleton was effectively the Alan Titchmarsh of his day.
Trenchant, lyrical, a fund of common sense and bulldog spirit, Mr Middleton is a delightful guide to making the most of your garden. While certain advice – grub up your flower-beds to grow vegetables, and use the dust from demolished buildings to bed in your plants – has a particular wartime flavour, the main theme of his wartime talks has a universal relevance.
Back then, it was necessary to make the very most of what you had – get the best out of your soil, grow the most suitable vegetables, and harvest the best produce you could. What better aim for a gardener seventy years later in 2010?
