During WWII, people dutifully funded the war by purchasing bonds, conserving raw materials, recycling, helping their neighbors, rallying behind the troops, and planting "Gardens for Victory."
Governments and corporations alike promoted the call for self-reliance. Planting gardens was encouraged to alleviate food shortages and allow more supplies to be shipped to troops around the world.
"By 1943, Victory Gardens were flourishing in many backyards, empty lots, parks, baseball fields, schoolyards, even parking lots," wrote Master Gardener Jeanne Rose in the Visalia Times-Delta. "Gardens appeared in every shape and size. People in all areas, rural and urban alike, tilled the soil to raise food for their families, friends, and neighbors. Although canned foods were rationed items, there were relatively few food shortages in WWII-era America. The call to plant a Victory Garden was answered by nearly 20 million Americans."
These gardens produced up to 40 percent of all that was consumed, according to victoryseed.com. Victory Seed Company has made seed and gardening history available online. The history of Victory Gardens parallels this company's history, a business that sells heirloom vegetable seeds to the public.
"Public service booklets available during the war taught the basics of gardening," to Web site states. "These were published by Hearst (Good Housekeeping), International Harvester, Beech-nut Packing Company, Simon & Schuster (House & Garden Magazine), seed companies, and the government, among others."
Topics according to Victory Seed included soil health, how to plant, when to plant, how to tend plants, pest identification, and even suggestions on what to plant such as beans, beets, carrots, peas, radishes, lettuce, spinach, chard, onions, cucumbers, kohlrabi, summer squash, corn, parsnips, leeks, turnips, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, broccoli, peppers, cauliflower, tomatoes, eggplant, endive and rutabagas.
"I remember getting ration coupons [during WWII] that allowed you to purchase various items," former Madera resident Coral Lee Feaga said. "It was sort of like food stamps, except it didn't pay for anything, it only allowed you to make the purchase. There was a shortage of everything. That is why they encouraged everyone to have a Victory Garden - to help relieve the shortage. It didn't feel so bad when you were growing your own stuff."
Master Gardener Lee Fanucchi said he was only 10 or 11 years old during the war and has no memory of the government pressuring people to grow gardens - growing produce was just something his Italian immigrant family did.
"I remember being in competition with my brother to see who could grow the best garden," Fanucchi said. "We watched our mother - she was awesome."
Fanucchi said his family had a small produce enterprise - they grew produce on four acres.
"We grew 20,000 tomato plants, and 4 or 5,000 peppers that we took to buyers that came from San Francisco and Los Angeles and met us in Fresno," he said. "My family did well during the war years."
Using a design from a 1943 pamphlet, the Horticulture Services Division of the Smithsonian Institution recreated a Victory Garden outside the museum's cafeteria. The 130-foot long garden contained more than 50 varieties of heirloom vegetables available in the 1940s. Each plant has a different growing season, so a visitor can see different species maturing at different times.
The Fenway Victory Garden in Boston, Mass., is the nation's last remaining of the original victory gardens from WWII. The City of Boston established areas, including the Boston Common and the Public Gardens, as Victory Gardens where citizens could grow vegetables and herbs. These gardens are preserved as an official Boston Historic Landmark open to the public.
"The popularity of community gardens as we know them today, is rooted in those earlier efforts to help in the war effort," Master Gardener Jeanne Rose wrote. "Today's emphasis on supplying healthy produce to the urban poor owes much to the Victory Gardens of yesterday."
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Ramona Frances of Madera is a University of California Master Gardener. She can be contacted by e-mail at garden@psnw.com. This column is provided by the University Cooperative Extension Master Gardener program in Madera County. The Master Gardener program extends research-based information in home horticulture and pest management, verified by University of California experts to the citizens of our state. Call the U.C. Cooperative Extension office in Madera with your gardening questions at 675-7879 ext. 204 to leave a message or stop by the office on Mondays from 1 to 3 p.m. to speak to a Master Gardener in person. See www.cemadera.ucdavis.edu.
Ramona Frances Ramona Frances is a staff columnist, writer and photographer for the Madera Tribune. You may contact Ramona at 674.8134 ext. 222 or by e-mail ramona (at) maderatribune.net
