GREENWICH, N.Y. — Spring is in full swing across the country, and many can now get to work in their gardens. The master gardener and novice alike are setting to tilling the soil and planting this year’s veggies, fruits, and flowers. For Americans, the cultivating of Victory Gardens was an important activity practiced on the home front during World War I and World War II. Victory Gardens provided fresh produce for families, sustained resources amidst rationing, helped feed other countries struggling with scarcity, and boosted morale amongst citizens.
The first usage of victory gardens occurred in World War I. The United States entered the conflict, referred to as “The Great War” at the time, in 1917. The war had been ongoing in other parts of the world since 1914. European nations were facing food shortages due to a decrease in farm production because of damage to farmland and a labor shortage from farm workers called up to fight. European powers looked to the U.S. to supply these food shortages.
As a way for more food to be exported to European allies and to prevent potential food shortages at home the U.S. government encouraged citizens to grow their own produce in gardens. In 1917 Charles Lathrop Pack, a wealthy timberman from Michigan, organized the National War Garden Commission which encouraged the growing, harvesting, and storing of citizens’ own produce in what were at first called “war gardens.”
The idea of a war garden grew out of a gardening movement that had been ongoing in the decades prior. During the Progressive Era gardening came to be seen as a way to promote health and produce model citizens. School gardens were established at many schools, particularly in urban areas, in order to connect children with nature, teach them to be producers as well as consumers, and develop a good work ethic. Through school gardens educators sought to bring more beauty to cities, keep kids out of trouble, improve health & nutrition, and more.
Word of the war garden initiative spread through all kinds of means. Propaganda depicting gardening as a patriotic duty with simple slogans such as “Food will win the war,” appeared in public places and was printed in all kinds of magazines. Civic organizations, women’s clubs, chambers of commerce and more all took up the cause and encouraged its members to plant their own gardens. The U.S. School Garden Army was founded by the federal Bureau of Education getting schoolchildren involved in gardening efforts. Men, women, and children of all kinds became “soldiers of the soil” and contributed to the war effort through the garden.
Americans enthusiastically answered this call and in 1917 3 million new garden plots were planted with the number increasing to 5.2 million in 1918. Gardens were planted across a vast range of open spaces and they produced around 1.45 million quarts of canned fruits and vegetables. As an end to the war became more likely the term “victory garden” became more popular and replaced the “war garden” moniker. When the conflict ended the number of gardens dropped off, but they would be brought back on a larger scale.
The United States entered World War II in 1941 following the bombing of Pearl Harbor naval base. Upon entry the U.S. government soon implement wartime measures to conserve and dictate resources through rationing. Foods such as sugar, dairy products, eggs, coffee, meat, and canned goods were rationed with American families being allotted a certain amount of these items each week or month. The war led to labor and transportation shortages meaning produce from farms could not be moved over as long of distances as before. Also, in general more commercially grown food was being diverted for military needs.
To face these challenges Americans were called upon to plant victory gardens once again. Gardens would prevent food shortages, support families’ own rations, and conserve transportation resources and packing materials such as tin and metal which could be repurposed for war needs. The Victory Garden Program started in 1941 to help organize efforts.
Similar to the first World War, gardens sprang up all over. Larger rural yards, suburban backyards, empty lots, apartment rooftops, and places of business were transformed into gardens growing produce. Flower beds and boxes were replaced with vegetables or had them included in amongst flowers. First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt planted a garden on the White House lawn to demonstrate the program, and other public places became gardening sites such as the Boston Commons and the Golden Gate Park in San Francisco.
Americans grew a wide variety of crops in their gardens such as beans, beets, cabbage, carrots, kale, kohlrabi, lettuce, peas, tomatoes, turnips, squash and Swiss chard. Soybeans were also a crop encouraged to be grown because it took up little room in gardens and could substitute as a protein source if meat was scarce.
Another facet to the victory garden in World War II was an emphasis on preserving the produce that was grown through canning and rationing raw materials like cans, glass jars, rubber, fuel, and more. Propaganda posters of the time feature clever slogans like “Can all you can!” and “Of course I can!” Canning not only helped provisions last longer, but also saved commercially canned food for military needs and preserved the metal needed for canned goods for military needs.
The Victory Garden movement brought together groups of all kinds to accomplish the goal of producing foods. Government agencies and magazines printed pamphlets and stories on gardening to help instruct on the best gardening practices. Seed companies and other corporations provided resources for citizens to grow their own foods. Organizations like 4-H, FFA, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, and The Garden Club of America helped in ways to help in gardening, canning, and seed preserving efforts. The Women’s Land Army was another group that helped in urban gardening efforts and helped fill farm workforce shortages caused by farm workers who were called into the war.
The promotion and institution of victory gardens proved to be effective throughout the war. About half of all American families had a garden during the war. Around 20 million gardens were operating by 1943. By 1944 about 40% of all American produce was grown in victory gardens and by the war’s end in 1945 Americans had grown somewhere between 8-10 million tons of food in their victory gardens.
While the Victory Garden program was successful in producing food, its greater impact may have been in the solidarity it created in times of crisis. Starting one’s own garden or helping someone else with theirs was a tangible way for citizens not in an active military role to show their support for the country. It boosted the morale of Americans by helping them feel that they were showing their patriotism and doing their part to support their soldiers and the war effort. The program also helped ease the burden on American farmers who were working to feed the population and soldiers dispersed around the globe.
Government promotion of victory gardens ended when the war did so many Americans did not plant gardens in 1946. However, the concept of the victory garden has not fully disappeared. The Covid-19 pandemic brought a resurgence in gardening to improve food security. The ideal of sustainability that was promoted by the victory garden movement has also seen a return in recent years although nowadays it is viewed as an environmental duty as opposed to a civic duty to one’s country.
Chandler Hansen grew up and lives in Easton, NY. He is a graduate of Gordon College where he earned a bachelor’s degree in History. He serves as a writer and editor for Morning Ag Clips.
