Vintage Victory Garden Plan

Vintage Victory Garden Plan. Photo – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkAJW5H2K1M

During World Wars I and II, “victory gardens” were set up at private residences and private parks in the U.S., United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and Germany. Also known as war gardens, victory gardens were used along with Rationing Stamps and Cards to feed the public and alleviate dependence on trade, which was limited by the conflict. The deployment of soldiers also led to the decline of agricultural labor and thus of food production.

The victory gardens also empowered the morale of gardeners due to their contribution of labor and food during the wars.

Victory gardens started in Canada in 1917 and were eventually copied in the U.S. with the launch of the war garden campaign by the U.S. National War Garden Commission under Charles Lathrop Pack. Vegetables, fruits, and herbs were grown to aid the war effort. The campaign was so successful that by the end of the First World War, over five million gardens were established while foodstuff production exceeded more than one billion dollars. Victory gardens produced 40 percent of vegetables in the U.S. during World War II.

The image in this article was taken from a document issued by the Illinois State Council of Defense during World War 2. It presents a victory garden plan to help feed a family of five people. This throwback gardening plan was very well thought out and highly successful – and might help you create your own garden to help save money and grow your own produce on a 25 x 50 ft. plot!

The garden plan offers a guide on how to lay out the vegetables in the plot. Some of the vegetables stated in the document include onions, head lettuce, beets, collards, broccoli, New Zealand spinach, carrots, tomatoes, and bush beans. Instructions are also offered on which vegetables could be inter-planted with others.

Victory gardens remain relevant today despite being an old concept. Millions of people around the world lack ready access to nutritious food. This problem is caused by poverty, unemployment, and rising food costs. This is where victory gardens come into the picture.

Food insecurity can be reduced by encouraging more people to plant modern victory gardens. Tending a victory garden means improved access to healthy food. Gardening is a way for parents to teach their kids the value of homegrown fruits and vegetables. Imagine the sense of pride and independence that you can instill in your kids by piling the family table with high food that the whole family has cultivated.