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Victory Gardens

Victory Gardens, created during W.W.I and W.W.II, became an essential part of life on the home front and a way for civilians to do their patriotic duty. Make your own Victory Garden like the one your parents and grandparents had.

Harvest basket

There are two times in history when Victory Gardens have played a significant role in bringing the United States together allowing everyone to do their part in helping our soldiers, and our country. During both World War I and World War II, due to food shortages and food rationing, American citizens joined together to make fruit and vegetable gardens in their yards and local parks to help feed their own family and their community. These gardens allowed farm grown food to be sent to our soldiers and to our American allies overseas. Victory Gardens were also found in Canada and the United Kingdom.

During the United States involvement (1917-1918) in WWI, these gardens were called ‘War Gardens’ and were renamed ‘Victory Gardens’ after the war. These gardens were an effort initiated by American citizens in response to food shortages and high food prices due to the war. The National War Garden Commission, conceived by businessman Charles Lathrop Pack, was an organization created to promote the need for every American to join in the effort, helped to educate in planting, harvesting, canning and drying of the produce. They estimated that in 1917, $350 million worth of crops were produced in the War Gardens.

A well kept garden

During the United States involvement (1941-1945) in WWII, we again rallied to the call to support our troops. There were an estimated 20 million Victory Gardens created in 1943 that produced 40 % of the vegetable produce consumed. To make the produce last year round, a spring crop and fall crop was planted and canning the excess produce provided family’s with vegetables during the winter and early spring months. An estimated 315,000 pressure cookers used for canning were bought in 1943, compared to 66,000 in 1942. There were posters that encouraged everyone to participate and pamphlets, articles and how-to films that provided the needed instructions on how to make a successful garden.

There were many seed companies that provided seeds for the WWII victory gardens and who still exist today. You can purchase the same heirloom seeds for your garden that were available during the war. Some of the vegetables planted in Victory Gardens included spinach, beans, tomatoes, cabbage, potatoes, corn, and asparagus.

If you are interested in learning more about Victory Gardens there are many resources on the internet. And if you are interested in visiting a Victory Garden, there are several of the original victory gardens from WWII that still exist:

• The Fenway Victory Garden has been preserved and is registered as a Boston Historic Landmark.

• The Miss Perkins’ Victory Garden in York, Maine.

• The Dowling Community Garden in Minneapolis, Minn.

There are also recreated victory gardens:

• National Museum of American History at the Smithsonian Institution in Wash. D.C.

• Victory Garden at Strawbery Banke Museum in Portsmouth, NH

You can research in your own area to see if you can find original or recreated victory gardens that are open to the public. You may find another resource to learn more about Victory Gardens in your own family. If you have family members who lived during the war, ask them to tell you about their memories and experiences. If you are interested in creating your own Victory Garden for educational purposes for you and your children or for nostalgia, read ‘Creating Your Own Victory Garden’.

 

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