Tuesday 8 July 2008

Gardeners’ Brains Trust


VP’s photos of her wartime book reminded me of this little hardback I have on my shelves.

I bought Wild Flowers and Weeds by G.H. Copley N.D.H., Gardeners’ Brains Trust, etc, largely because of the cover, but also because inside the dust jacket it states “War Time Productions and Costs 8/6” - which seems a bit steep to me.

All of which reminds me - I must look up what the Gardeners’ Brains Trust was.
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4 comments:

VP said...

Love the cover!

I think prices went up considerably during the war because there were shortages - if you look at the allotment gear price list from my book you'll see it says they've used pre-war prices and allowed for wartime inflation.

Alex Johnson said...

I've never heard of it. Are you sure it wasn't just Professor Joad pointing out that it all depends what you mean by 'gardening'?

The Garden Monkey said...

No it's genuine. That said I have been able to find out a single thing about it.

Anonymous said...

Ok, this is hush-hush, you haven't heard it from me.

During the war we set up the Gardeners Brains Trust which was a plan, in the event of invasion, to kill our top gardeners and store their brains in a facility near Biggleswade. When we won the war the brains would then be implanted in POW's to re-populate the nation's gardens.

As far as I know the plan is still active so watch out horticulturalists. Peter Gibb's brain will be retained in case the department's football bursts.