After nearly eighty years, It may be time to start up Victory Gardens again!
What is a Victory Garden
In December of 1941, after The United States joined World War II, The “Victory Garden,” or war gardens, were planted nationwide. Citizens started using any available land, both private and public, to plant food for everyone to eat and share as a community.
The gardens were how the people in the community wanted to become self-reliant during difficult times when the nation was under tremendous stress. Every garden was a sign of unity, community, and sustainability.
These gardens changed the nation’s minds from simply surviving to thriving together. Lawns became gardens, and communities changed the landscape of the entire nation to grow together. It sounds too good to be true, right? We can’t change history, but we can repeat it.
Roughly half of all the produce was grown by local communities. Regular people like us grow food together as a community. This sounds dreamy to me.
Victory Gardens PSA Posters
We are getting beyond COVID-19 and the aftermath on the economy. Now is the optimal time to turn our front yards into yardens, localscapes or foodscapes, and public lands into gardens. It’s time to start growing a “Kitchen Garden” it doesn’t matter what we call the gardens, but growing our food will increase our self-reliance and decrease our dependence on corporate food methods!
A garden is a collective goal and something we can all work on together. Sowing seeds in a garden would relieve the pressure on the national food supply, provide work, and provide a means for us to remain united locally and globally.
If we work together as a community, we can bring back the “Victory Garden” or “Kitchen Garden.”
Join the m
Maybe even break some of the corporate food systems practices.
If you want to start a home garden, start with these five steps.
To Get Started on Your Victory Garden
Calculate your ideal harvest–How much food you’ll need for your family and extended family?
A reasonable calculation of your family’s consumption is an excellent way to establish a harvest goal. There are plenty of harvest calculators, such as Urban Farmer.
Things to remember
- If you are relying only on your harvest, variety becomes very important. Plant less of one type of plant unless you plan on preserving or trading.
- Plant herbs to spice up your dinner. Plain potatoes will get old quickly, but adding a few herbs as companion plants in your garden will become essential and help your plants thrive.
- Plant crops your family will enjoy, but don’t be afraid to get a little adventurous and gradually add some new crops to try.
- Find partners in your community. Plan your gardens together and trade or sell for extra income. Maybe peppers grow better in your yard, and potatoes grow better in someone else’s yard.
Determine your growing space –
How attached are you to watering yard grass you can not serve for dinner? That may be the perfect place for a yarden, kitchen garden, herbs garden, or foodscape. Even with a small yard, you can do vertical, square foot, container, or straw-bale gardens.
Are you living in an apartment? Ask about rooftop access or find an established community garden. Do you have hallways that are lined with glass? Perfect, you found a place to grow some food. Many businesses have flower beds that allow you to grow food instead of flowers or edible flowers with permission to harvest.
PRO TIP: Growing microgreens, baby greens, or sprouts in your kitchen is an excellent alternative for limited space.
Research your growing zone and know Cool-season versus Warm-season crops-
After deciding what your family likes to eat, find out each plant’s ideal growing season. This ties into knowing your grow zone and understanding what time of year your climate is ideal for your chosen seed.
Are they a cool-season crop or a warm-season crop? For example, tomatoes and peppers are warm-season crops because they prefer consistent temperatures above 65° to thrive and produce. In contrast, broccoli and cabbage need cooler temperatures to produce their fruits.
Understand your grow zone and climate.
Knowing your grow zone helps you know what to expect from your growing season from beginning to end, regarding a map of the growing season and informing you of the best time to lay down seeds. Check online for your local agricultural extension for up-to-date information on your area’s climate. Extension offices are run by university employees who are experts in local crops, pests, etc.
Remember to include pollinators around your crops –
Once you have your plan, look up some pollinators and their ideal growing season. Bringing beneficial insects, especially bees, to the garden is essential for fruit production. If pollinators aren’t drawn to your garden, you may have a weak or less-than-adequate harvest.
Prepare soil
Determine if you are planting in containers or in the ground. If you don’t have any space, find a community plot or do a container garden. Remember, when you do a container garden, you must use high-quality organic potting soil containing all the nutrients your plants need to get started.
If you have land to grow on, identify if you need to remove any preexisting plants, such as grass. Once you’ve done that, adding compost, mulch, or manure to your plot of earth is an excellent way to prepare the garden beds. We can get into the depths of nutrient and Ph balance later.
Start a Garden Journal
Start a garden journal where you can save your seed packets, refer to the seed instructions and types, and write what went well or failed. I refer back to my journals all the time.
Every seed packet has information with directions on how to have a successful crop. Every brand has differing information. Many include troubleshooting information in the event you experience problems.
