Seventy years after wartime Britain was told to dig for victory, thousands of plots are once again to be turned into allotments to promote national self-sufficiency.

In a new project, masterminded by the National Trust, some of Britain’s biggest landowners have been enlisted to give up spare land for families to grow their own fruit and veg. This time, however, the enemies are climate change and the credit crunch rather than German U-boats.

The British “grow your own” campaign is being mirrored in Ireland where farmers, landowners and even the Catholic church are turning unused land into allotments to cash in on urban dwellers’ desire to beat the recession.

The British campaign’s website goes live today. It will allow aspiring food growers to be matched with free plots in their area and with volunteers who can help them to get started. Users will be able to register their location immediately and the “matchmaking” service will start within a fortnight.

Tesco, B&Q and Suttons are providing free plants and seeds, as well as advice to growers. “I think we’re catching the mood with this initiative,” said Fiona Reynolds, director-general of the National Trust. “There is a tangible desire for people to reconnect with the soil. What we hope to do with this campaign is motivate people interested in growing their own food by making it really easy to get started.”

More than 15½m people in Britain are already estimated to grow some of their own food and the recession has increased demand for allotments and seeds, as families turn to the soil to cut bills. In Ireland a similar growth in interest has occurred. Landowners from Blarney to Mullingar are charging rent of up to €350 a year to budding gardeners prepared to pay to skip long waiting lists for local-authority allotments.

Castlefarm, an organic dairy farm and shop in Co Kildare, charges €250 a year to rent one of 40 “organic” allotments ploughed out of a pasture. The price includes access to manure, waterpoints, wheelbarrows and a picnic area.

Jenny Young, who runs the farm with her husband Peter, said: “Half of our people come from Dublin and Kildare and they are calling it the ‘green gym’ because they save money and get exercise. Plus they’re showing their kids where food comes from — some of them thought milk came from a carton.”

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