Why This Season Is the Perfect Time to Start Your Victory Garden

Why This Season Is the Perfect Time to Start Your Victory Garden

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Maximize The Gardening Space & Time You Have

Back in World War I, Europe had a huge food shortage, which prompted the creation of the National War Garden Commission. What resulted was American civilians growing fruits and vegetables to feed themselves so commercial agriculture could export to the European allies. They were called “victory gardens”. While we’re not currently in a physical war, it’s certainly a good idea to start victory gardens again. In our war against the novel coronavirus, picking up gardening as a hobby to bring homegrown food to the table can certainly be a fulfilling achievement!

Considering it’s summer, it’s the perfect time to start a victory garden if you don’t already have one. Here’s a quick guide to starting one!

Victory Garden Basics

You want to maximize the gardening space and time you have. Certain fruits and vegetables will grow within a specific timeframe. So you want to do your basic planning and ensure you stagger your plants in the most optimal fashion possible.

Traditionally, people would grow things like carrots, cabbage, lettuce, kale, tomatoes, beans, squashes, turnips, peas, and beets in their victory gardens. So those are great ones to start with.

No matter what you choose to grow, stagger them out so you get a good rhythm going where you can harvest your plants, eat your harvest in a short time, and have another harvest ready by the time you’re done consuming all your fruits and/or veggies. For example, plant 5 heads of lettuce at a time instead of 20 to reduce food waste.

Seasons for Crops

As we mentioned above, there are different seasons for various crops. If you want carrots, peas, lettuce, or kale, then it may be too late to plant them, as those are best planted during early spring.

The best crops to plant for summer include beans, corn, eggplants, peppers, squashes, tomatoes, basils and other herb plants. For the fall and even winter, think about planting lettuce, arugula, carrots, broccoli, beets, spinach, and parsley.

Come up With a List of Your Favored Plants

Not everyone will like every single fruit or vegetable, and that’s ok. Sit down with your family and determine which ones most of you like.

Then, with that list, determine how many of each you want to plant in your victory garden. If you want to try your hand at pickling anything, make sure to grow extra to account for that. For those just starting out or those with limited space; herbs are a great choice to grow. Herbs enhance flavor in all foods, from salads to steaks. Adding fresh herbs make food taste better! Herbs are versatile; each has its own growth habits and environmental needs. Select the herbs you will use; then find a spot where they can thrive and remain hardy when a few clippings are needed. 

Plant a Victory Garden for Fun With Your Family

As you can see, creating a victory garden serves many purposes. Not only can you get the satisfaction of growing your own fruits and veggies, but it can also be a fun pastime to do with your family members.

So get to researching potential crops to grow, order the seeds and any equipment you need, and have a blast for the foreseeable future!

Are you ready to start your victory garden? Then browse our selection of herb plants now!

Shop Victory Garden Plants

Maximize The Gardening Space & Time You Have

White Sage is a Winner With Us! – How to Make a Cleansing Stick

White Sage is a Winner With Us! – How to Make a Cleansing Stick

What is a White Sage Cleansing Stick?

Have you ever seen someone burn a rustic-looking bundle of dried herbs to cleanse their new home or work space? Well, that herb was most likely white sage. Though some people may find this practice a little odd, burning sacred herbs as a safeguard against evil or negative energy actually dates centuries back, to Ancient Babylonian practices. In most recent history, Native Americans continued this ritual throughout North and South America, and burnt this culturally-sacred herb to ward off negative energy and rid their homes and temples of bad spirits. The botanical word for sage, ‘Salvia’, actually comes from the Latin words, meaning “to heal”, and its medicinal properties as well as its natural ability to repel insects (like ladybugs), is probably at the root of its mystical history. (more…)

Potted Herbs Make Great Indoor Accents

Potted Herbs Make Great Indoor Accents

To keep our test garden growing strong through the winter, we’ve moved some of our favorite herbs indoors. Our sun porch has become a haven for potted herbs and one of our favorite places to take a break or eat our lunches. Receiving lots of sunlight, our potted garden has been thriving throughout this mild winter here in zone 7. Watering about once a week, our plants are showing lots of healthy new growth and it’s not even spring!

What started as a project to see what temperature and lighting worked best for these potted herbs, has now developed into a lovely place to relax and find a moment of peace during the day. Having these plants close at hand makes cooking and crafting even more enjoyable. Bring natural beauty and energy to your home with two of our favorite fragrant and functional potted herbs!

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Fall Gardening- My Favorite Time Of The Year

Fall Gardening- My Favorite Time Of The Year

The sadness of summer fading can only be cured by the excitement of fall.

Cooler temperatures and the bountiful harvest draw our attention away from what was, to the beautiful changes before us. It feels good to bundle up in a favorite fleece for a morning jaunt into the garden. I hope you are making that little jaunt each morning; even ten minutes of trimming, weeding and piddling will brace you for the days work. Think of it as a kind of yoga or meditation practice. After a few weeks of practice, you get flowers and veggies. All that squatting down, reaching around, and scratching in the ground does kind of limber you up, and a few quiet moments looking over your plants does clear your mind, and those veggies will nourish your body and soul. Flowers brighten your day!

Fall is our favorite time to garden

Why would we not start the day in the garden? I don’t know because all of the above is true and we all know how busy and complex life is today. I try to visit my little home herb garden each morning, my excuse is to let the chickens out, but I always piddle and pull a few weeds or pick a little something to leave in the kitchen for dinner. This is a nice start for me because I also know that during the day, through some intrusive media source, word of mouth, or just something I see walking down a city street will give me pause. And I will truly wonder how the human race has gotten thus far. Since there is not much to be done about the world at large, one needs some means of maintaining sanity. The only salvation is a sanctuary, and home with a garden has the deepest roots. Whatever goes on elsewhere, it is grounding to know that the garden is there, orderly and bountiful. (more…)