AS THE Independent’s gardening columnist Andrew Oldham embarks as head gardener upon a twelve-month challenge The Wartime Garden, he gives a glimpse of what is in store for him and his team of Jenny Fletcher, journeyman gardener, and Carol Oldham, cook.
The Pig Row Wartime Garden is celebrating the roots of grow your own. We are turning back the clock to 1943 and adopting the growing plans of the Ministry of Agriculture. 
We will be growing some of our own favourite varieties beside heritage ones. There will be Fat Lazy Blondes Lettuces in our beds nestled beside some American Spinach and Egyptian Turnip Beetroots.
We will be following the advice from the Ministry of Agriculture from 1943 and will not be using any chemicals like our wartime forebears. Herbicides and pesticides were not available during the Second World War to the average domestic grower and this could have been the origin of the organic gardener.
The only difference we will be doing is that we will be growing on smaller plots to reflect the spaces that many Saddleworth people live with everyday in their gardens. This too will reflect the small gardens created in my new home constructions. 
What we want to show is that you can turn your garden over from grass to produce, just as we did during the war and as many Englishman, Americans and Europeans are doing today during the economic downturn.
We want to show that growing your own can feed you throughout the year as the Ministry of Agriculture showed us all in the Second World War. Seeds include spinach, swede, cabbage, carrot, broccoli, beetroot, lettuce, rhubarb and leek, which are sown and cropped at different periods.
We will be sharing our ups and downs, recreating the recipes of the period and creating contemporary recipes for all the family. We will be feeding a family of three and the occasional guest.
Will our experiment make us healthier as the whole nation was at the end of World War Two?
Follow the path less travelled at our blog www.lifeonpigrow.co.uk, on twitter @lifeonpigrow and on our Facebook page www.facebook.com/lifeonpigrow.
Meanwhile, a national social allotment project is being supported by First Choice Homes Oldham’s New Innovation Fund after 71% of participants said they would go to their local park to learn about food growing.
The NIF has approved funding of £18,706 for the Digging for Health project to address health and wellbeing through practical horticulture, healthy eating and low level physical activity sessions at the HUB in Alexandra Park, Oldham.
The project, jointly funded by NIF and Oldham’s Health Improvement Service who work on behalf of FCHO’s communities, will provide a range of free events and facilities for all age groups across Oldham.
Participants will learn how to grow their own produce from seed, dealing with pests and crop rotation, benefit from increased in physical activity, learn composting, recycling, sustainability and energy conservation, and discover healthy recipe planning and household budget management.
There will also be community allotment sessions, and health eating talks from guest speakers, and a Digging for Health showcase is planned for autumn 2013.
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