Victory Gardens for the 21st Century

During the difficult days of World War II, Americans rallied to support the nation’s war effort. One of the many ways they were encouraged to help out was to plant and utilize produce grown from their own efforts.  While it was a way to increase food production, it also enabled people to save money and to become more self-sufficient.  Additionally, it improved and increased the American diet with nutritious foods picked at their peak.

It is out of this effort, that the notion of a Victory Garden was introduced. Now, more than three-quarters of a century beyond the second world war, there is a resurgence in the desire to grow one’s own food. It is no surprise that, with the many impacts of the COVID pandemic, it has become quite popular to stretch the family food budget as far as possible. Many also seek to grow their own food to help the environment; to use fewer undesirable chemicals, to limit shipping produce from state to state and country to country, as well as to improve their own soil.

Victory Gardens can fit any landscape. The size of the garden can vary with the size of the lot where a person lives.  Vegetables can be tucked into a flower bed around the house. A collection of containers on a balcony or patio offers urban gardeners the chance to grow their favorite vegetables without a yard. Small garden plots can be taken out of grass. Community gardens give urban families a chance to garden with others to learn how to raise vegetables.  Many different settings and needs can be incorporated into the Victory Garden landscape.  

What do you need to start your own Victory Garden

1. Assess your property: Fruits and vegetables will need sunlight, water, soil and fertilizer. 

2. Poll your family on their likes and dislikes.  Plant what your family will eat.

3. Commit to the time needed to care for your plants.  

Supplies you may want to have for your garden.

1. Shovel
2. Hoe
3. Trowel
4. Bucket
5. Seeds
6. Compost
7. Fertilizer

To get started, check out this video from Maine County Extension.

To prepare your garden site, see these tips or check out more options here.  Advice on getting started can also be obtained from your local County Extension Office.

Plants that are easy to grow include: 

1. Beans- 50-80 days to maturity

2. Beets- 50-70 days to maturity

3. Cabbage- 45-65 days to maturity

4. Cucumbers- 45-70 days to maturity

5. Lettuce- 30-70 days to maturity

6. Peas- 65-80 days to maturity

7. Potatoes- 50-100 days to maturity

8. Squash-Summer squash 40-75 days to maturity, Winter squash 70-120 days to maturity

9. Tomatoes- 50-80 days to maturity 

Victory Gardens can fit anywhere and promote a healthy lifestyle that benefits all walks of life.

Get your kids in the garden with you!

Share your love and passion for gardening with your kids by bringing them into the garden to discover the pleasure of growing food. Gardening may be the solution for parents struggling to find ways to encourage their kids to eat a healthy and balanced diet. Allowing your child to pick fresh produce from your garden will increase their desire to eat fresh vegetables.  Tomatoes warm from the sun are delicious.  My son loved green onions and once harvested and ate an entire row! Fresh peas are so delicious.  Help your child build a snack using 5 foods from my plate harvested from the garden or purchased from a local farmer’s market.  Think of all the brain-building vitamins, minerals and phytonutrients your kids will be eating and how that will improve their nutrition.

Give them a small piece of ground that is their own, along with gardening tools and gloves. Provide instruction on how to plant seeds and plants. For more information see the U of I Together Class offered August 10 to prepare a garden template using a paper towel, seeds, and glue. (More information and registration here.)  Show them the flowers, bugs, worms, and growing plants.  Let them dig a hole and plant something. It is about time to plant your fall garden. 

·       Allow the kids to emulate your garden activities in their own plot. Show them the difference between weeds and plants, pull and cultivate weeds, water, fertilize and care for their plants.  Don’t forget to show them the importance of bugs in the ecology of gardening.

·       Take your kids to an orchard and allow them to help you pick fresh fruit.  Build a snack around that. Observe the bees and teach them about making honey and pollination of plants. 

Spend time in the outdoors with your child and applaud their discoveries and experience. Provide ample opportunities for sensory experiences, such as varieties of colors, water features, insects, water skippers, frogs, polliwogs, fun textures and treasures.  Remember the mud pies you used to make as a child, those provide excellent sensory experiences. 

·       Kids who participated in gardening projects scored higher in science achievement than those who did not. Seeing a garden grow may spark your kids to ask questions like: Why do the plants need sun? How does the plant “drink” water? Why are worms good for the plants? Why are spiders needed in the garden? The questions your kids will ask will provide plenty of subjects for discussion.