What is a Victory Garden? During World War II, Victory Gardens were planted by families in the United <br />States (the Home Front) to help prevent a food shortage. Planting Victory Gardens helped make sure that there was enough food for our <br />soldiers fighting around the world. Because canned vegetables were rationed, Victory <br />Gardens also helped people stretch their ration coupons (the amount of certain foods <br />they were allowed to buy at the store). Because trains and trucks had to be used to transport soldiers, vehicles, and <br />weapons, most Americans ate local produce grown in their own communities. Many different types of vegetables were grown-such as tomatoes, carrots, <br />lettuce, beets, and peas. Victory Gardens were responsible for bringing Swiss chard <br />and kohlrabi onto the American dinner table because they were easy to grow. At their peak there were more than 20,000,000 Victory Gardens planted across <br />the United States. By 1944 Victory Gardens were responsible for producing 40% of all vegetables <br />grown in the United States. More than one million tons of vegetables were grown in <br />Victory Gardens during the war. People with no yards planted small Victory Gardens in window boxes and <br />watered them through their windows. Some city dwellers who lived in tall apartment <br />buildings planted rooftop gardens and the whole building pitched in and helped. Many schools across the country planted Victory Gardens on their school <br />grounds and used their produce in their school lunches. The U.S. government printed recipe books describing how to prepare home <br />grown vegetables to make nutritional and tasty meals. Agricultural companies gave tips <br />on how to make seedlings flourish in different climates. Excess food grown in Victory Gardens was canned and used during the winter <br />months to help supplement the amount of food available. Growing Victory Gardens gave Americans on the Home Front a feeling that they <br />were doing something helpful to win the war (and they were)!
