It's springtime, and I have
a close friend who loves to garden. And she's very good at it. She
grows vegetables and fruit and often has plenty to share. A recent
conversation with her brought to mind the Victory Gardens of WWII.
During the war, families planted “Victory Gardens” to stretch
their ration coupons and ensure there was enough food to send to
troops overseas. More than twenty million gardens were planted across
the United States, and by 1944 they were responsible for producing
over 40% of all vegetables grown. People with no yards used window
boxes, and some city dwellers created roof top gardens. Even First
Lady Eleanor Roosevelt got involved when she put a Victory Garden on
the White House grounds.
Because vegetable gardening
was new to many people, the government issued pamphlets with
instructions on how to prepare home grown vegetables, proper canning
techniques and recipes. These pamphlets were specific to the various
geographic areas of the country. Keep in mind that creating and
maintaining these gardens added to an already overwhelming workload
for the folks left at home, many of whom were women whose husbands
were off at war.
My husband and I tried
vegetable gardening when we were living in Virginia many years ago.
We had an acre of land, and it seemed like a fun project. After all –
how hard could it be? Well, considering that the year we did this we
experienced a drought, it was very hard!
The soil where we lived was
heavy clay, so before we did anything we had to till it and add peat
moss to loosen it up. Once that was done, we added fertilizer and
built mounded rows in which to put our seeds. Never ones do anything
halfway, we planted a huge garden - bush beans, pole beans, carrots,
several varieties of tomatoes, green peppers, hot peppers, corn,
potatoes, and lettuce. We watered as we could (the town had rationed
water usage due to the drought), weeded and watched. Finally! Sprouts
began to push their way through the dirt then a few days later the
leaves began to come on. It was working!
One morning I went out to
check on the plants to see if there was anything to harvest. I
trotted across the yard to the garden and noticed a pair of cute
bunnies watching me from near by. I should have noticed their fat
bellies and the satisfied gleam in their eyes. They had eaten the
bean plants – every last one of them! There was a row of identical
two inch stalks where the night before there had been beautiful
little seedlings. Later we found out that most people fence their
gardens for this very reason. Live and learn!
We had the garden for
several years, and as time went by we got more knowledgeable and it
got a little easier. But that first year's experience gave me a great
appreciation for what folks did to get by during the war. And my hat
is off to the many farmers who produce today's food for the public.
Have you ever planted a
vegetable garden? How did it go?
