Victory Gardens

Feeling like Helpful Heloise of the Apocolypse, I'm going to talk about Victory Gardens today.

I was fortunate enough to be raised by my parents and grandparents on both sides. That meant I was exposed to many stories that most people haven't heard first-hand. The most prolific storyteller was my father's mother, who still vividly remembered The Depression and World War 2, and told me many stories about that time.

She remembered being the only child (of a family of eight kids and 2 adults) in New York state that could find work. Every evening she would wash out the only pair of panties and the only bra that she owned. Although they were often damp in the morning, hygiene was more important to her than comfort. She represented the entire family, her father was the Town Drunk, and she was their only way to stay alive. She worked as a telephone operator.

Then she met my grandfather.

The United States was just coming out of the depression, all was looking up, and suddenly WWII was declared.

Grandpa couldn't make it into the military due to a physical problem of some sort (I believe it was flat feet), so he became one of the town's marshals in charge of enforcing citizen compliance. That meant he had to make sure that everyone blacked out their windows during practice air raids, as well as making sure no one was hoarding anything during a time that the soldiers needed it more.

Almost everything was rationed. Meat, salt, sugar, vegetables, butter, pantyhose, extra metal, and other things were hard to find because they were going overseas to our troops. It was during this time that margarine was invented as a butter substitute. People learned creative ways to make baked goods with very little standard ingredients (I still have some of those recipes).

And people planted Victory Gardens.

It now looks as if we'll need to plant them once again. Experts are recommending that we begin them now. Why? Well, we're in a recession. Granted that's not a depression and we hope it won't grow into one, but there's no getting around the fact that our economy is struggling.

In addition to that, we have flooding taking place in the Midwest, which is already boosting food prices.

The time to plant is NOW.

Just as they did in WWII, we can plant our Victory Garden in a variety of places. If you live in an apartment or a condo, you will probably have no access to tillable land. You could locate your garden on the rooftop if you can't find space below (make sure your rooftop is designed to take on the load of foot traffic). Or, you could set aside a porch or possibly a well-lit room (in a pinch) to house your garden. In those cases, your answer is Container Gardening.

If you choose to use a room with carpeting, you can buy plastic sheeting at your local hardware store. Do make sure you put that down under your Container Garden, as you don't want the unexpected surprise of mildew.

Where do you find your plants?

You can certainly go to your local hardware store or nursery to buy seeds or plants. However, most of those plants are not suitable for smaller environments. To do this properly, you need something known as "compact plants".

In my opinion, the best source of compact fruit and vegetable plants/seeds is the Burpee company. Just put in the word "compact" into their search engine, and you'll find a great starter variety. Hurry, though, as stock is always limited.

Another good source can be the Park Seed Company or Ebay, although their Plants, Seeds & Bulbs section varies wildly.

If you have the luxury of owning a home, you can simply stake out a corner of your yard and begin a garden.

That's not as easy as it sounds, since you have to rip out the grass, do the planting, and then fend off any creatures that want to enjoy your garden too. If you have a rabbit or squirrel problem (as I do) and don't wish to kill them off and bring the ASPCA down on your head, I recommend that you build a hardware cloth or chicken wire cage around the garden. Yes, it's work and yes, you'll have to figure out how to install a door, but ultimately it will save you a lot of headaches.

No matter whether you plant your garden in the ground or in containers, make sure it's mulched (to help the plant retain water and discourage weeds) and keep it regularly maintained.

Choose a safe pesticide spray such as Safer's Insecticidal Soap. Remember that some pesticides aren't suitable for edible plants and if you use them, you'll end up poisoning yourself.

Choose plants that won't take up a lot of space, even if they aren't compact. Your goal is to utilize as much space as possible: If you end up with extras, there will always be friends, relatives and neighbors who will happily take them off your hands.

Begin your Victory Garden this weekend. For a small investment now, you will have a large payoff in the fall. While others are settling for canned vegetables, you will be enjoying fresh fruits and vegetables.