You may have heard the term victory gardens before or have seen posters talking about them. Victory gardens were planted during the world wars to help feed local communities and troops. People were encouraged to plant gardens in any available spaces and share the harvest. This included public gardens, schoolyards, flowerbeds at commercial businesses and even in pots on patios. Everyone was encouraged to help and during the 1940s, these gardens helped produce 40 percent of all produce that was consumed in the United States. They also helped boost morale and patriotism.
This year, Eagle Rock Nursery started a campaign to bring back victory gardens to help feed our local communities, teach gardeners of all ages about food and boost our sense of community.
Cities, local businesses and citizens are encouraged to transform some flowerbeds or available space into gardens. You’ll notice part of the flowerbed in front of Eagle Rock Nursery is now filled with lettuce growing for the Community Food Basket in Idaho Falls.
Here are a few tips to help you transform your space into a victory garden. If you’re new to gardening, start small or grow in pots and make a small garden you can manage. To grow a great garden you’ll need a spot with bright light, good soil, and once you learn and can handle the space, expand to a larger size as you wish.
For more details on planting a garden, ask your local garden center, the community garden or a neighborhood garden guru.
Growing your own garden has been very popular this year. Commit to planting a victory garden to help you family and our community grow.
Local Favorites For a Garden
Canby Thornless Raspberry
Raspberries are easy to grow and delicious picked from the garden in the summer year after year. They are full of antioxidants and nutrients like vitamin C. Plant them in a space where they will have room to grow, add compost and sulphur to the soil, and you can grow a successful raspberry patch.
Rainbow Carrots
Carrots are a favorite for kids and a colorful rainbow blend would be fun for them to grow. Your kids may not know that carrots can be red, purple, white, yellow and orange. You can harvest them in just a couple months or they can be enjoyed sooner as baby carrots.
Honeycrisp Apple
Take one bite of this apple and you'll know why it is a No. 1 favorite. Fall in love with the sweet flavor and delicious crunchy texture of these large apples. Apples are the easiest fruit tree to grow in eastern Idaho.
Mixed Leafy Lettuce
Now is a great time to plant lettuce. Lettuce can be grown in the ground or can be grown in pots. It is a great vegetable for beginning gardeners and kids to grow. Plant the seeds and after several weeks it can be harvested for a fresh salad. You can even cut leaves off and let them regrow again.
Garden Treasure Tempting Tomato
Tomatoes are the most popular produce to grow in a home garden. This new tomato was developed to have the great taste of an heirloom tomato while avoiding some of the disease problems that can affect heirloom varieties. It will produce big tomatoes for an extended period of time. Since it is new, there will be limited availability this year but watch for it in your local garden center.
Click here to read more of Idaho Falls Magazine's May issue.