Victory Gardens
We are planning on expanding the garden this year. We’d like to eventually build up to growing most of our own veg again, like we did pre-child, that golden era where the laundry was all clean at once and I never found purple smudges all over the toilet seat.
Anycase, I have been doing some reading on the old Victory Gardens from WWII. The most practical Site I have found is called “Revive the Vistory Garden for victory over Global Warming“. I love the idea, plus they give a bit more structure on how to start planning. According to their info we can start Swiss Chard March 15th…I am hooked on the stuff after eating at Edo Squid’s this fall…total digression, I know.
The Earthly Pursuits site has several of the old books uploaded, plus lots of British garden guides from the same era. A really nice collection. The graphic above is from the book Food Saving and Sharing from 1917. The tagline states “Telling How the Older Children of America May Help Save from Famine Their Comrades in Allied Lands Across the Sea.”
This cracks me up for some reason. I really cannot picture a campaign today to try to get children to help with some problem, much less eating less. Not such a bad thought…but can you imagine it?
This article fromt the Sierra Club is also pretty interesting. It has a broader scope than just the victory gardens, but also some interesting facts. Did you know that by 1943 VG’s were producing 30-40% of our nation’s vegetables?? I find that rather incredible.
So where to start? With our last frost date….whch is reported for Richmond as anywhere from April 7th to May 4th. According to the horticulture teacher at my school tax day is a safe bet.
Oh, and don’t forget:
January 20th, 2008 at 7:33 am
I love all the old posters. When I taught botany, we did a gardening unit and I included victory gardens. Here’s a book I used in class that you might like reading to your girls: http://www.amazon.com/Victory-Garden-Lee-Kochenderfer/dp/0440417031/ref=pd_bbs_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1200842903&sr=8-2. My library had a copy so maybe yours will, too.
January 22nd, 2008 at 6:00 pm
Love it! This is so cool. Now if only I had balcony space for a mini VG…
January 23rd, 2008 at 4:42 am
Hi! I clicked on over here from…. can’t remember now - anyway, great post, thank you for sharing these links and information. My husband & I started our backyard garden last year and have a lot to learn - we learned a lot that first year and plan to expand to grow more of our own food this summer, all this info is very helpful. My folks had a HUGE garden when I was a kid and I have the best memories of that - your kids will too
January 31st, 2008 at 4:40 am
I love those ads. The Hitler one is great. And I always thought car-pooling was a more modern concept. I guess we really can’t reinvent the wheel - not even a shared one.
February 4th, 2008 at 7:08 am
Wow, some of those ads are crazy, but the message is still good today (beside the hitler one that is) I really want to have my own garden this spring, but the fact that I live on the third floor of an apartment building sort of puts that vision to rest. I suppose I’ll just have to hit up the farmer’s market a lot!
February 13th, 2008 at 5:04 am
Oh my goodness, so many links to click! I wonder if any of those gardening sites have any advice about deer. I would so love to grow more of our own food, but sometimes it seems hopeless. I bet there were fewer deer then as they were probably also on the dinner table along with the homegrown veggies.