Although most of us think of WWII-era Victory Gardening or the popular PBS series, the concept's roots go much further back. According to scholar Amy Bentley, the term can be traced back to England in the 1600s when Richard Gardner produced a book called Victory Garden, encouraging cities to provide for its citizenry through gardens in anticipation of possible invasion by Spain.
It would be well over 300 years...at the end of WWI...that the term "Victory Garden" became widely used stateside.
During WWI, "liberty garden" and "war garden" were the common phrases, both denoting the primarily urban and suburban vegetable beds created to provide sustenance during the conflict. Having seen the nation's Allies suffer with food shortages, civic and political leaders wanted to prepare the country for hard times. They also wanted to keep both troop and citizen morale high by cultivating a sense of patriotic self-sufficiency. Efforts were understandably concentrated in larger cities since more rural areas regularly relied on gardening for sustenance.
Through posters, pamphlets, and other propaganda, the federal government and private entities (including businesses, civic groups and schools) promoted gardening as a civic virtue. It was often noted that none other than Thomas Jefferson had seen a direct relationship between gardening and good citizenship. This was true. As he commented once to John Jay, ""Cultivators of the earth are the most valuable citizens. They are the most vigorous, the most independant, the most virtuous, and they are tied to their country and wedded to it's liberty and interests by the most lasting bands" (23 August 1785).
Over a year prior to and throughout America's engagement in the First World War--and with the aid of the National War Garden Committee comprised of civic and business leaders, vegetable gardens were established in a variety of places--from front yards to vacant lots to The White House. Gardeners were encouraged to store and preserve food using canning and drying techniques.
Between the wars, school gardens (part of a separate gardening movement which had begun in the late 1890s) kept the concept of gardening as a form of patriotic self-sufficiency top of mind. There was also a fair amount of urban gardening during the Depression as well, with many people seeking to relearn homesteading skills in order to survive.
During the Second World War, the government and a private group promoted Victory Gardening anew as a means of addressing potential food scarcity problems at home and abroad. There was also the matter of conserving fuel for the war effort. People were encouraged to drive less. Of course, food produced close to home didn't require transport, either.
Hoping to spark widespread participation, once more the government relied upon posters and other propaganda to garner support and interest. The private sector's National Victory Garden Institute helped to spread the notion. too. Likewise Eleanor Roosevelt's White House Victory Garden generated positive press. Also, as was done in WWI, local and regional committees created a network of support for neophyte gardeners. The combination of civic activism coupled with propaganda was successful. It's widely reported that near the end of the Second World War, the nation's 20 million gardeners produced some 40% of the nation's total food production. While there is some evidence to suggest that the oft-quoted figure was inflated, those mid-century gardeners certainly accomplished much in ensuring easy access to food during bleak times.
After WWII, improvements in agriculture and a prevailing sense that fuel would never diminish led gardening to move off of the nation's agenda in favor of other concerns. In the 1960s and '70s there were periodic movements to return to self-sufficiency through gardening (Gerald Ford supported "Whip Inflation Now (WIN) Gardens), but none of those movements reached the scale or garnered the wide-spread support of the nation's public and private sector leadership as WWI & WWII efforts did.
In recent years, with renewed interest in local produce, organic and sustainable agriculture, and concerns about food and fuel security attracting new interest, authors, bloggers and journalists have begun to push forward a Victory Garden revival. An increasing number of pro-Victory Garden videos are also accessible via You Tube. In fact, it may be argued that new media has empowered citizens to seed the notion in a way that mirrors the government's earlier propaganda efforts.
Will the nascent revival succeed? That remains to be seen. Optimistically speaking, the creation of a new Victory Garden on the grounds of San Francisco's Civic Center (Summer 2008) paired with a troubled economy, climate change worries, and newfound interest in fuel conservation suggest that a full-scale revival is plausible AND potentially essential to our long-term survival.
Similarities & Differences Between Earlier Movements & The Current Revival
To date, the driving force behind the current revival has been gardeners, bloggers and journalists--the federal government has yet to formally engage with the effort. A few county extension agents, however, have written columns or op-ed pieces in support of gardening as a means of reducing food costs in tough economic times. And, as mentioned elsewhere on this lens, the city of San Francisco, in collaboration with Slow Food Nation, recently created a Victory Garden on the grounds of their Civic Center. This comes on the heels of a two-year, city-wide project to promote sustainable urban gardening across that community. Other cities are reportedly planning to follow suit.
In WWI & WWII, emphasis was placed on growing new gardens in suburban and urban areas. The modern movement encourages growing food in all areas, though there is an understandable emphasis on communities with limited access to land. Thus, community and container garden options are often heavily encouraged today for urbanites and suburbanites interested in taking part in the revival.
For many people, the long-standing connotations of war in relation to the phrase "Victory Gardens" are problematic. This has lead to many people to use other monikers (freedom gardens, peace gardens, liberty gardens, edible landscapes/estates, etc.) for what is essentially the same thing--gardening for self-sufficiency.
Modern proponents heavily promote organic gardening methods and using seeds (as opposed to seedlings) to protect planetary bio-diversity. In contrast, some WWII-era propaganda encouraged the use of new-fangled pesticides and inorganic fertilizers to maximize production. This is interesting in light of the fact that the pesticides were often derivatives of chemical weaponry developed for the war effort.
Fuel scarcity and food safety are promoted alongside environmental stewardship (hence the preference for organics).
The nascent revival has inspired artists ranging from graphic designers to playwrights...just as earlier efforts sparked creative responses from visual artists and even cartoonists.
The trend toward locavorism and the writings of individuals like novelist Barbara Kingsolver, journalist Michael Pollan & chef Alice Waters has led to an emphasis on food quality inherent to growing one's own food.
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