Our gardens are only the beginning. Just our gardens alone in the UK cover more land area than all the nation's formal nature reserves combined, but this is just the start. In this way, each and every one of us has a role to play. Each garden, each tree, each planting space becomes part of something larger. Together, we can contribute to the collective redefinition and reshaping of our urban and rural geography, and to the restoration of our world.

Reigniting the Great Task. Plant for Victory.

In October 1939, just one month after the start of World War II, the Ministry of Agriculture launched a campaign asking the British public to grow their own food. This campaign was Dig for Victory. It had no precedent, no guarantee it would work, and no time to waste finding out. By 1942, just three years later, half of the population of England, just over 20 million people, were growing vegetables. Allotments rose from 819,000 to 1.5 million. An American professor visiting Britain during this time was astonished by the health of the people. A nation under siege fed itself by hand. Millions of “ordinary” people got up and made it happen. If it was done once, then it can be done again. Except this time, it won't be a temporary way of life. It will be a permanent one.