By
Sue
William
Victory
gardens
were
vegetable
gardens
planted
during
the
world
wars to
ensure
an
adequate
supply
of
food
for
people
at
home
and
those fighting
in
the
war.
The
goal
was
to
produce
enough
fresh
vegetables through
the
summer
for
the
immediate
family
and
neighbors.
Government agencies,
4-H
groups,
private
foundations,
businesses,
schools,
and seed
companies
all
worked
together
to
provide
instruction,
and
seeds for
people
and
communities
to
grow
food.
Americans
plowed
backyards,
vacant
lots,
parks,
and
baseball
fields to
grow
gardens
to
offset
expected
wartime
food
shortages
during
World War
II.
Almost
everyone
was
doing
it--even
big
city
apartment
dwellers were
urged
to
plant
vegetables
in
window
boxes.
Children
worked
with adults
to
raise
an
abundance
of
vegetables.
Saving
money
for
the
home front
war
effort
and
a
sense
of
patriotic
duty
were
the
primary motivations
for
many
families.
It
became
almost
unpatriotic
for
people living
in
the
Midwest
not
to
have
a
victory
plot
beside
the
family home.
The
requirements
of
the
Nebraska
Victory
Home
and
Garden
Program
were to
pledge
“to
put
forth
our
best
efforts;
to
plan,
grow,
and
store enough
garden
products
for
home
use;
to
eat
the
right
foods--meat, milk,
eggs,
cereals,
vegetables,
fruits;
home
produced,
if
possible;
to eliminate
waste
of
foods
and
materials;
to
keep
our
home
and
its surroundings
attractive,
to
work
and
play
together,
and
to
keep
our chins
up--for
our
family,
our
neighbors,
and
America.”
Victory
garden
information
could
be
obtained
from
the
U.S.
Department of
Agriculture.
Booklets
on
how
to
grow
Victory
garden
were
printed
by the
government
and
distributed
free;
some
were
sold
for
10
cents
by companies
like
International
Harvester
and
the
Beechnut
Packing Company.
Many
books
on
wartime
gardening
were
available
from commercial
publishers
with
titles
like
Gardening
for
Victory,
Food Gardens
for
Defense,
Grow
Your
Own
Food
to
Feed
Your
Family,
or
25 Vegetables
Anyone
Can
Grow.
Special
sprays
were
created
to
scare
off
rabbits
without
harming
them and
scarecrows
were
put
up
to
chase
away
blackbirds
and
aggressive
jay birds.
Some
of
the
Victory
garden
scarecrows
were
fashioned
to resemble
Hitler,
Mussolini,
or
Hirohito.
Colorful
posters
and
articles
in
magazines
and
newspapers
encouraged patriotic
Americans
to
plant
that
Victory
garden.
Movie
magazines featured
stars
like
Joan
Crawford
hard
at
work
in
her
Victory
garden, inspiring
others
to
do
the
same
in
their
backyards.
Special
guests invited
to
Joan
Crawford’s
home
were
served
what
she
called
her “Mildred
Pierce
Victory
Salad”
with
all
ingredients
grown
in
her
own garden.
Any
excess
produce
was
canned
and
preserved
for
the
winter
and
early spring
until
next
year’s
victory
garden
produce
was
ripe.
In
the
fall women
would
use
the
deep
cooker-canning
pot
designed
to
hold
a
number of
glass
Mason
jars;
some
women
used
pressure
cookers
to
speed
up
the process
and
conserve
fuel.
The
jars,
filled
with
cooked
produce,
had to
have
sterile
rubber
rings
and
either
metal
or
glass
tops
which
were tightly
sealed.
Fruit
jams
and
jellies
were
topped
with
hot
wax, sealing
them
for
storage.
The
food
was
then
enjoyed
during
the
winter and
spring
until
the
next
crop
was
ready.
Gallup
published
a
two-part
survey
in
January
1943
saying
that
54 percent
of
those
responding
intended
to
plant
a
victory
garden
in
the spring,
while
44
percent
had
no
plans
to
be
a
wartime
gardener. Overall,
the
figures
represented
a
6
percent
increase
over
the
number of
people
who
had
grown
gardens
in
1942.
During
peak
war
years
there
were
an
estimated
twenty
million
Victory gardens
growing
in
the
United
States,
producing
over
8,000,000
tons
of food
.
This
was
enough
food
produced
to
make
a
difference
in
the national
food
supplies.
Their
efforts
growing
and
preserving
their
own food
saved
the
nation’s
war
products
for
the
armed
forces
and
Allies.
Victory
Garden
festivals
were
common
during
the
fall
to
praise
and encourage
patriotic
contributions
of
home
gardeners.
Agriculture
secretary
Claude
Wickard
spoke
before
a
large
rally
at
Chicago’s Soldier
Field
during
September
1943
to
endorse
Washington's
support
of the
program.
While
the
gardens
themselves
are
now
gone,
posters,
seed
packets, catalogs,
booklets,
photos,
films,
newspaper
articles,
diaries,
and people’s
memories
still
remain
to
tell
us
the
story
of
the
victory gardens.
Now
is
the
time,
before
it
is
to
late,
to
ask
your
family
members
and
older
adult
friends,
what
they
remember
about
the
Victory Gardens,
World
War
II
and
the
home
front.
We
need
to
preserve
these memories
for
future
generations.
References:
1
Casdorph,
Paul
D.,
Let
the
Good
Times
Roll,
page
82
2
Heide,
Robert
&
Gilman,
John,
Home
Front
America,
pages
62-64
3
Selim,
Robert,
Smithsonian
Institute,
Within
These
Walls,
2004,
http://americanhistory.si.edu/house/
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