Design a wartime vegetable garden

Learning will use of the theme of World War 2 and design their own garden, considering the types of fruit and vegetables that could be grown within it.

This activity could be used as a main lesson activity to teach about sustainable ingredients and how these can be grown at home. It could also be used as part of wider scheme of learning focussed on food preparation and nutrition, or as part of a wider theme-based project on World War 2. Learners could subsequently choose one of their class designs and plant the garden.

Activity: Design a ‘Dig for Victory’ garden to feed your family

This is one of a series of resources that are designed to allow learners to use the theme of the second world war to develop their knowledge and understanding in Design & Technology and Engineering. This resource focusses on learners designing a ‘Dig for Victory’ garden.

Tools/supplies needed:

Resources required:

• Squared paper
• Rulers
• Pencil/pens
• Coloured pencils

Follow our step-by-step guide to make a wartime vegetable garden

The task

• Design a ‘Dig for Victory’ garden to feed your family
• What vegetables and fruit will you grow?
• Will you share food with the neighbours?

Design criteria

• Your garden must be 5 metres by 3 metres
• It must include at least 5 different vegetables
• There must be a 25 cm gap between each type of plant

Extended task

• Design a Dig for Victory garden to feed your family
• What vegetables and fruit will you grow?
• Will you share food with the neighbours?
• What crops will you rotate?

Design criteria

• Your garden must be 5 metres by 3 metres
• It must include at least 5 different vegetables
• There must be a
  • 25 cm gap between each type of plant
  • 25 cm between each row of plants/seeds
  • 25 cm between each plant/seed

Things to think about for your garden

• What fruits and vegetables can be grown on an allotment or in a vegetable garden?
• What can be grown in the United Kingdom in both winter and summer?
• What can’t be grown easily in the UK climate?
• What other things could you add to your garden?

Further extension

• Create a table showing which fruits and vegetables will be seeds and which will be seedlings
• Design a poster to encourage your neighbours to ‘Dig for Victory’

The Engineering Context

Food scientists need to understand how different items of food are grown to meet different nutritional needs. For example, growing on a small scale to provide food for a family.

Suggested learning outcomes

This resource combines Design and Technology with Cooking and Nutrition, with the aim that the learners will be able to be able to understand what the ‘Dig for Victory’ campaign was and why it was used during WW2 and be able to design a ‘Dig for Victory’ garden where a household can grow its own food.

Download our activity sheet and other teaching resources

All activity sheets and supporting resources are free to download, and all the documents are fully editable, so you can tailor them to your students’ and your schools’ needs.

The activity sheet includes teachers’ notes, useful web links, and links (where appropriate) to the national curriculum in each of the four devolved nations; England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.

You can download our step-by-step instructions below as a classroom lesson plan and PowerPoint presentation.

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