Victory Garden

Victory gardens were vegetable gardens planted at private residences and public parks during World War I and World War II to make up for gaps in the public food supply brought on by the war effort. A combination of sending food to the troops and a lack of people to work the farms brought on food rationing in many countries and a victory garden was a good way to make up the shortfall at the family dinner table.

I wrote about victory gardens last spring when I first learned out town had them and posted a few other posts as we worked it over the summer.

The renewal form just came and I am going to sign up again. The two primary lessons learned were to bury the fence deep to keep out the rodents and to visit the site often to make sure the plants are getting enough water.

Although the current war hasn't caused food shortages like those in the past, having a home garden still helps the war effort. By reducing the amount of food trucked from far away, we reduce the amount of oil needed to maintain the food supply which in turn reduces our dependencies on many of the unstable countries of the world.

Call your local parks department or town hall to find out what is offered near you.

Stopping Off After Work

Today we stopped by the victory garden after work and spent 10 minutes planting carrot and radish seeds.

After the seeds were planted and watered, we walked the rows to see what the other gardens were doing. A few of them had some very impressive results already for so early in the season.

Being outside like this was also a very relaxing segue in between the drive home and getting home.

Victory Garden - After

Here is a picture of the victory garden after clearing out the rocks and weeds, putting up the fence and planting the plants.

The fence is made out of plastic "poultry netting". It is the same premise as regular chicken wire without all the scrapes on your hands and arms.

The dirt itself is very nice. The dirt at home has a lot of clay in it and is very dense. This is much more loose and will hopefully be good for carrots and radish.

The home garden is for things which get used every day: tomato, cucumber, etc ... and this space for the slower growing items like melons.

Victory Garden - Before

Here is a picture of how most of the plots at the victory garden look when you first receive them:

Victory Garden - Part II

A few weeks back I mentioned that towns will often set aside space for community gardens.  Our town opened up the application process for first time applicants the first week of March.  We applied for and got two plots.  The cost is $30 per plot for the entire season.  The plots themselves are fairly large and it looks like I've increased my total space by threefold. 

The gardens themselves are not too far from the house and the plan is to ride bikes there during the warm months to maintain them.  The plan is keep the fast growing crops, like cucumbers, in the home garden and the slower crops, like melons, in the town garden.

It is funny to note that there is a caution in the rules regarding anyone caught growing illegal drugs will both lose their garden plot and be prosecuted given that the land is owned by the town and the application form is submitted at the town hall.

Victory Gardens

Many towns offer "Victory Gardens" or "Liberty Gardens" for free or little money ($20 per year in the next town over) to local residents. These are areas of land owened by the town split into medium sized plots which are used by people who don't have their own space to grow a garden. The town provides the land and a water hook up. The resident provides the plants, the time and maybe a small fence. In addition to providing the space, this is also a good opportunity to speak with other gardeners about what they are doing and what is working for them. Check your township web site as spring approaches. The posting on the web site for my town is as subtle as "Victory Garden lot applications are now being offered in the Mayor’s Office. For more information contact Leslie at 973-555-1212. ".