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Planting out seedlings in our recreated wartime zoo keeper's Dig For Victory garden, I've found cardboard loo or kitchen roll plant pots have worked well, degrade well into the soil as does the kitchen roll or toilet paper plug at the base (To stop soil falling out), Would wartime zoo keeper gardeners approve?
It saves us from using peat pots. ‘‘Our Wartime Garden project reflects the Dig for Victory gardens that sprang up in unlikely places all over the country, including zoos. It will also act as a living memorial to the bravery of many ordinary men, women and children. Newquay Zoo already recycles, composts and think about food miles when sourcing food for the café, and now the Victory Garden will demonstrate how keepers would grow food for the animals. Staff at the zoo are hoping for a good crop of vegetables before the weather turns! You can keep up to date with developments on blog at http://worldwarzoogardener1939.wordpress.com/ To bring the period alive for families and schools visiting the zoo, staff members have been collecting wartime memorabilia and evocative items from everyday life of keepers, families, evacuated children and zoo visitors. It is hoped that visitors will contribute their stories and experiences for the archive as they visit the zoo. Our launch weekend for this garden project is this weekend 30th and 31st August 2009 www.newquayzoo.org.uk World War Zoo
World War Zoo is about looking back and looking forward, learning from the past to prepare for our future. The project developed from a chance discovery that zoos were closed in the early weeks of World War Two, and even though they were re-opened and supported as a way to boost moral, they struggled throughout. This was a time when food was short, and animals didn’t get ration books. Staffing was low with keepers being called up to fight, and repairs were difficult. www.newquayzoo.org.uk
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