What Is A Victory Garden
Victory gardens are spaces used for planting fruits and vegetables. These fruit and vegetable gardens encourage people to grow their own food. In the past, some victory gardens were planted in deserted empty lots or on rooftops; all open space was made productive.
Community gardens were started because some homes did not have the yard space to grow fruits and vegetables. Local communities began designating open spaces where residents could plant a vegetable garden.
Now, fruit and vegetable seeds and plants come in a wide selection of varieties and cultivars, plants specifically hybridized to grow in small spaces or containers. While large backyard or victory styled gardens are still desirable, these new cultivars make growing fruits and vegetables possible even in the smallest spaces.
Cool Season Crops In Containers
Vegetables such as lettuce, spinach, and radishes grow well during spring and early summer. Choose smaller sized containers for these vegetable plants. Or, use a larger container and replant with other types of vegetables such as tomatoes or green peppers, as the growing season’s temperatures rise.
Loose leaf or cutting type lettuces can be harvested repeatedly, plant spinach and radish seeds in succession for repeated harvest. Plant loose leaf or cutting type lettuces such as ‘Salad Bowl’ or ‘Green Ice.’ Try ‘Cherry Belle,’ ‘French Breakfast’ which is an heirloom radish or Easter Egg II Blend,’ a fast growing radish. At the end of the growing season, as temperatures cool down and after summer vegetables have been harvested, reseed the containers with cool season crops again.
Summer Vegetables in Containers
Growing vegetables such as tomatoes and green peppers require larger containers and 6 – 8 hours of full sun. Choose tomato plants labeled determinate, meaning the plant will stop growing at a specific height, designated for containers or called patio, plum, or cherry. An all-purpose variety, ‘Celebrity’ tomato was named All-America Selections winner for 1984.
Fruit In Small Spaces
Blueberries are the perfect berry fruit for container gardens. Look for plant varieties that are cold hardy to withstand winter and last, year after year. The ‘Dwarf Northblue’ and ‘Dwarf Northsky’ were developed at the University of Minnesota and are hardy to, at least, -35°F. The cultivar ‘Top Hat’ grows to 1 ½ feet high and wide.
Blueberry plants require acid soil and benefit from a mulch of pine needles. Fertilizer should be labeled for acid loving plants and have a pH of 5.0 or less.
Another idea is to grow a fruit tree in a small garden by training an espalier. This technique uses vertical gardening to fit more plants in a small space.
Fenway Victory Gardens
Fenway is an area in Boston, Massachusetts. The Fenway Victory Gardens are the last remaining original, World War II victory gardens in the United States.
Today, food travels an average of 1500 miles from farm to table. It goes from planting and fertilizing to packaging to transporting to grocery stores and finally, finds itself on the kitchen table. Growing vegetables in containers is one way to reduce energy consumption and the food budget, while rediscovering a long-time hobby.
Gardeners interested in victory garden ideas may want to read about school victory garden plots.
Permission received for all photos used in this article.
Chris Eirschele - Chris writes on plants grown and gardens explored; she is a member of the Garden Writers Association.
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