gardening

What I’m Planting in My Victory Garden

April 7, 2020 by Sylvia Rose 3 Comments

It’s finally happening. Victory Gardens are making a resurgence. Here’s a peek at what I’ll be growing in my second year of victory gardening. Will you be digging for victory, too?

what I'm planting Swiss chard for victory garden

MY LITTLE VICTORY GARDEN

In February 2020, I wrote about why victory gardens should make a comeback.

While I view self-sufficiency as a virtue, when you grow your own food, you’re connecting with your food, getting exercise, and declining to support industrial farming practices.

I had a feeling a victory garden resurgence was coming, but I didn’t know that it would be so soon or that it would be sparked by an illness.

2019 was my real first year of gardening, so naturally, I made a bunch of mistakes.

Still, I wanted to expand the garden, which is precisely what I did. My patch is more than double the size for the growing season ahead.

In true victory garden style, the goal is to make my land as productive as I possibly can.

To augment garden yields, I’ll also be growing with containers and converting one of my flower beds into a lettuce bed.

Ready to see what I’m planting?

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12 Garden Lessons from the First Growing Year

March 3, 2020 by Sylvia Rose 3 Comments

There are so many gardening lessons to be learned. Here are twelve of the biggest takeaways from my first year of outdoor gardening.

12 GARDEN LESSONS I LEARNED THE HARD WAY

Before we begin, I want to say that I spent a decade dreaming about having a big garden. My mother liked keeping a sizable garden and I loved working in it as a teenager.

For as long as I daydreamed about working the earth, I kept a container garden on just about every apartment balcony I had. I mostly grew herbs.

My basil would always die and squirrels would rob me blind whenever an heirloom tomato started to ripen.

When I finally had the opportunity to have a real vegetable patch and herb bed, this is what I learned.

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Victory Garden Revivalism

February 11, 2020 by Sylvia Rose 10 Comments

As food prices continue to soar and industrial farming practices continue to impoverish the soil and its produce, more and more folks are going back in time. The 1940’s victory garden is making a comeback, only this time, we’re facing a different war: the war on our health and food supply.

If you’re unfamiliar with what a victory garden is, we’re going to rewind to the 1940s.

The world was at war and every household had to deal with strict rationing.

While I’m sure many grumbled about this, many were eager to do their part to contribute to the war effort, doing everything they could to help on the homefront.

To supplement rations, and to also help reduce the cost of the produce that had to be purchased to feed the troops, the victory garden was born.

“Digging for victory” was the name of the game, and governments encouraged citizens to participate. There were educational handbooks, pamphlets and videos sharing tips on what to plant and how to grow and preserve food.

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