Growing food on every inch of land

The friendly Mr Middleton, also known as “The Wireless Gardener” during World War 11, gave Sunday afternoon radio broadcasts which continued throughout the war, playing to enormous audiences. In actual fact, Middleton’s home garden had plenty of pests and the weather was frequently not in his favour for growing vegetables, but it was his advice that helped millions of British home gardeners get the best out of their plot of land, growing their runner beans, beetroot, carrots, parsnips, potatoes, onions etc.

People were encouraged to dig up every available scrap of land and grow food on it. And so, the front and back gardens were dug up, along with the roadside verges, the railway cuttings, the public parks, the school playing fields Many families worked together on their "allotments" - here are some images from that time.
http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=world+war+2+allotments+&qpvt=world+war+2+allotments+&FORM=IGRE

HOW CAN I APPLY THE ABOVE INFO TO MY LIFE?

I am fortunate that I don't need to relinquish every inch of our garden to vegetables! 
I can keep the lawn!
 But in my venture towards a greater level of self-sufficiency, I will certainly be increasing 
the size of the vege garden, along with taking an interest in growing some fruit.