They helped to feed Britain in the Second World War, when backyards and gardens were given over to growing carrots, turnips and potatoes. Gardening clubs were at the forefront of the “Dig for Victory” campaign, springing up in their hundreds to ensure that households made the most of whatever scrap of land they had.
But today gardening clubs, bypassed by the allotment boom and a generation of new gardeners with patio heaters and decking, are struggling to find members. Dozens are on the brink of closure.
More than half the 2,800 registered clubs have a recruitment crisis and almost three quarters of members are aged over 65.
This weekend the Royal Horticultural Society begins a campaign to save the clubs. It is hosting a series of “Dig Together” days across Britain to alert the public to their local club and to the gardening expertise in their community.
The society sees no reason why gardening clubs should not be restored to their wartime glory, given the interest in home-grown food and community revival. One in eight of today’s clubs was set up during the war years or shortly afterwards when food rationing was the huge incentive for families to grow whatever they could.
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The meeting of the gardening club was the social event of the week, with locals sharing their expertise and excess produce over tea and biscuits in church halls across the land. Annual produce shows combined prize onions and parsnips with competitions on how to produce nourishing meals for four from a cabbage.
The clubs enjoyed a mini-boom in the 1970s when, inspired by The Good Life television sitcom, hundreds of young suburban families attempted to become more self-sufficient and turned their gardens over to vegetables and soft fruit.
Simon Thornton Wood, the society’s director of science and learning, said it was difficult to understand why clubs had failed to capitalise on today’s gardening craze, the trend for families to grow their own food, and in particularthe popularity of allotments.
“Gardening clubs are usually quite deep-rooted in cultural traditions of gardening and perhaps some are not following new developments in gardening as keenly as they should,” he told The Times. “They are all facing a similar challenge in showing they are relevant to new trends, such as garden makeovers.
“Newcomers can often be intimidated by what they see as a disapproving expert, which is usually not the case at all. In particular the clubs have to let local people know that they exist. Having an online presence is essential, for example.”
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One town which has bucked the trend is Melksham, in Wiltshire. Its gardening club folded in 1999 when members became to old to carry on. It was reborn as the Melksham Gardeners’ Society last Christmas after the mayor asked for volunteers to set it up again.
“The mayor was faced with a huge waiting list for allotments,” Teresa Strange, the society’s secretary, said. “We had 50 or 60 people come along on a terrible rainy night, and the same number came to our second meeting. We now have about 80 members.
“We have plant-swaps and quiz nights, and speakers from the local nursery who tell us how to get the most out of our gardens. I think we had the benefit of starting up from scratch, with no traditions to stick to or people saying, ‘But this is the way we have always done it’. That really helps.”