History of a Victory Garden | When Did Victory Gardens Start?

The concept of how to build a victory garden is not only interesting because of the historical circumstances from which it sprung up, but also because it can be applied in our present situation.

I sincerely believe that victory gardens are the perfect panacea for the uncertain times as well as an ailing global economy. Grocery stores may not always have some of the tastiest tomatoes either.

Resurgence here would boost supplies of vegetables, fruits, and herbs and bolster physical, mental and spiritual well being, wouldn’t you agree?

More…

Contents

Want to Download a Garden Hack Guide for FREE

Enter your email below and we will send you a guide to help you SAVE money in your garden.

During the World Wars I and World Wars II era, the most important thing to everyone at the battlefront and those at the home front was the constant availability of food supplies.

Part of the war effort was to supplement food and victory gardens fit the bill.

Public food supplies were stretched to their limits and front line troops were in dire difficulties.

It was a dilemma because the front line soldiers were bereft of food supplies.

The home front also suffered from similar deprivations.

It became clear that a sustained supply of foodstuff had to flow from other sources.

Governments had reached their limit and it was now the private sector to the rescue. The ordinary people had a major role to play in the rescue of their countries.

During the battles, national governments of both foe and allied armies alike acted independently to address the food shortages as part of the war effort.

It was from all this and of chronic food shortage that the almost miraculous idea of victory gardens also known as food vegetable gardens for defense sprang into existence.

It all began during World War I, when victory gardens sprung into existence in the U.S., U.K., Canada, Germany, and Australia, and was to resurface later again in World War II.

The concept of victory gardens also known as food gardens for defense started in Canada in 1917.

It was here that all residents of every city, town, and village were urged to make space available in their backyard for the planting of vegetables for their own use and during times of conflict. Grocery stores now included your backyard & garden centers.

Similar measures were adopted in the United States which suffered from lack of farm laborers due to enlistments in the army. The national effort focused on training in agriculture & growing food, gardening to help with food shortages.

Food rationing in Australia and the UK plagued the two countries and were forced to adopt similar austerity measures.

Growing a victory garden full of vegetables, fruits and herbs were solidified by world war II. It is estimated that 420 million victory gardens were grow during this period.

No matter what project you may have in mind, proper planning and designing of your venture is one way to ultimate success.

You can plan to accommodate a victory garden using a combination of these types:

Check out our guide on container gardening here.

We will focus on a traditional or raised bed approach for our victory garden, but don’t let that stop you even if you only have window boxes.

Keep in mind that a raised bed will require soil from a garden center or local garden hardware store.

Planning always involves numbers and the magic number this time is a family of 5 and the ideal area that will accommodate the needs of a 5 member family is a 40’x 61’ foot garden.

This is your garden area which needs to be cleaned and made level before tilling or building your raised bed.

Follow these basic steps to get started:

The easiest and most suitable layout for your garden should follow traditional gardening where rows are the norm. They are easy to configure and easier to manage given the variety of veggies, fruits, and herbs you’ll be growing.

Mark out the rows keeping in mind the size of plants. Note that the row method can be varied with the use of other techniques such as using pots and containers positioned at strategic places in your garden have also been successful.

Nevertheless, it is not enough just to have the rows all marked out because it’s also important to know how to space your plants in their rows so that they have sufficient space for inducing comfortable growth.

This can be difficult for a new beginner at gardening so you should use the distances applied between the seedling plants as shown in the gardening plan.

If you need help with when to plant, consult the planting times of the same plan and you’ll know when to plant

Designing your own victory garden can be a very rewarding task. Yet it is vital that you should give considerable thought during the planning stage.

There are limitless possibilities and gardens that can be designed. They are formed with precision, beauty, and charm.

You can build them anywhere such as on the rooftop, backyard, front yard, patio or open ground.

These victory gardens are built not only for a steady supply of vegetables, fruits, and herbs but are also meant to beautify your spatially restricted surroundings.

You will be provided with a garden packed with food-producing plants and an extremely attractive ecological landscape that will mesmerize your friends and neighbors with their productivity and elegance.

You can feast your eyes on the front yard of your home where the landscape has been transformed from a dull, ordinary and unexciting view to a robust, dynamic and absolutely exciting.

Whether you want a facelift to your backyard space, this can also be personalized to suit your taste and to produce abundance.

Your own patio can be turned into a miniature resting and relaxing place that exudes myriad colors around you.

Designing a garden should also include optimizing your soil health. This could mean having structures such as compost piles or worm composting bins close by.

You also need to know what amendments that you may need to procure to build up your soil. Some of the common amendments include:

This list is not exhaustive, but it is what some new gardens patches may need to get started on a smaller scale. Keep in mind the access to water as well when you are designing your victory garden.

This list was put together with finding vegetables that are both easy to grow and have the maximum calories in the space needed to grow them.

These types of vegetables are also easy to store in your food pantries and save seeds for each year.

We included some notes on why these are good picks.

Grab your seed packets to start planting.

Further Resources

This is also a critical time for your success and you need to be tuned in with your surroundings before you can actually dive in a do your planting.

Check out our resource guide below for more help on specific topics.

Download our FREE Garden Hack Guide

Enter your email below and we will send you a guide to help you SAVE money in your garden.

As can be seen, success in gardening depends on a cluster of interacting factors. You can quickly grow a garden should the need arise.

These factors exist in nature itself, in the atmosphere, the soil and in man himself. In order to satisfy his culinary appetite, he searched for and discovered how to grow a victory garden for growing vegetables, fruits and herbs.

This gardening revolution survived two World Wars and became an indelible legacy that will survive well into the future.

About This Site

Hello Gardeners!

We feature tips, tutorials and reviews for your gardening needs. We love to grow an abundance of vegetables, fruits, and flowers.

We are very passionate about gardening and helping others tend their gardens. Please let us know if there is anything we can do to be of service to your gardening needs!

Location: Central North Carolina Zone 7B

History of a Victory Garden | When Did Victory Gardens Start?

Submit a Comment Cancel reply

Recent Posts

Recent Comments

Archives

Categories