Victory Garden, Phase 1

During WWII, not only Americans, but people in Great Britain and Canada aided the war effort by growing vegetable gardens in their front yards. These gardens were called Victory Gardens. In some areas of the country, such gardens have been gaining in popularity again. Some folks want to eat as much food grown locally as they possibly can because they're concerned about the amount of resources, such as fuel, that we waste on transporting fruits and vegetables over vast distances. Restaurants in our own area advertise the fact that they use locally-grown food whenever possible. Some folks just hate the waste of time, effort, and money poured into maintaining a perfect front lawn of grass; others just love homegrown tomatoes. Now that the economy is tanking, more people are looking for ways to save money and have turned to growing their own food.

I grew up in the country, in Chambers County, Texas, and my father always had a garden. I hoed weeds, picked peas, and snacked on crisp raw vegetables straight from the plant. When my husband and I were young married students at Texas A&M University, we gardened on land that the university tilled and allotted for married students living in cheap campus apartments. I've had a garden everywhere I've lived, growing flowers, herbs, and vegetables. Now I live in a suburban neighborhood of houses built in the 1940s. For the most part, our yards are small and our backyards are shady. But I've been planning a Victory Garden in our sunny front yard. Last year, we took out the boxwoods next to the house and re-planted with flowers and herbs, built a homemade trellis, and installed a garden bench. This year, we're expanding. Tom is even going to try to grow purple okra on the south side of the house.

Our biggest problem will be watering our garden. The Atlanta area has been in a drought for the past two to three years. We put in one water barrel at a downspout behind the house and plan to put in a couple more at downspouts on the north and south sides of the house. We hope we will be able to collect enough water to keep our plants alive should the drought continue.

This weekend we began phase 1 of our twenty-first century Victory Garden: turning the soil over, pulling out grass, and incorporating compost. I'll post occasionally on our progress. The arugula I planted last fall, by the way, lived through the winter and is now flowering. Soon it will go to seed and create a new batch of arugula. According to some idiots, arugula is the food of elites. I just call it a green--and our poster plant for the Greenes' Victory Garden.