Arlington, Virginia. FSA (Farm Security Administration) trailer camp project for Negroes. Project occupant tending his victory garden.

Vegetable Planting Time for Colorado

Cold-Hardy Plants for Early Spring Planting		Cold-Tender or Heat Hardy Plants for Late Spring or Early Summer Planting
Very hardy (plant approximately six (6) weeks prior to last killing spring frost)	Hardy (plant two to four weeks before the average last spring frost)	Not cold-hardy (plant after average last spring frost)	Requiring hot weather (plant at least one week after average last spring frost)	Medium heat- tolerant (good for summer planting; i.e. June in this area)
asparagus broccoli cabbage horseradish lettuce onions leeks peas broad bean spinach turnip Brussel sprouts Cold Hardy crops can also be planted in the late fall for a spring crop!	beet carrot chard mustard parsnip radish cauliflower celery potato	bean (snap) soybean squash sweet corn tomato New Zealand spinach	bean (lima) eggplant pepper sweet potato cucumber melon okra pumpkin	Beans (Lima & snap) chard soybean New Zealand spinach squash

Join us on the Farm Front!

Date: 1944
Creator: Agriculture Department. War Food Administration. Extension Service.

Work on a farm... this Summer

Date: 1943
Creator: Douglass Crockwell,Spencer

See Your Principal

Date: 1943
Creator: Agriculture Department

Companion Guide

Plant	Good Companions	Bad Companions
Basil	Pepper, Tomato, Marigold
Bush Beans	Beets, Cabbage, Carrots, Celery, Corn, Cucumbers, Eggplant, Lettuce, Pea, Radish, Strawberry, Savory, Tansy, Marigold	Onion
Pole Beans	Carrots, Corn Cucumber, Eggplant, Lettuce, Pea, Radish, Savory, Tansy	Beets, Onion
Beets	Bush Beans, Cabbage, Onion, Sage
Cabbage Family	Bush Beans, Beets, Celery, Onions, Tomato, All Strong Herbs, Marigold, Nasturtium	Strawberry
Carrots	Bush Beans, Pole Beans, Lettuce, Onion, Peas, Radish, Tomato, Sage	Dill
Celery	Bush Beans, Cabbage, Onion, Spinach, Tomato
Corn	Bush Beans, Pole Beans, Cucumber, Melons, Peas, Squash	Tomato
Cucumbers	Bush Beans, Pole Beans, Corn, Lettuce, Onions, Peas, Radish, Marigold, Nasturtium, Savory	No Strong Herbs
Eggplant	Bush Beans, Pole Beans, Spinach
Lettuce	Bush Beans, Pole Beans, Carrots, Cucumbers, Onion, Radish, Strawberries
Melons	Corn, Nasturtium, Radish
Onion	Beets, Cabbage, Carrots, Celery, Cucumber, Lettuce, Pepper, Squash, Strawberries, Tomato, Savory	Bush Beans, Pole Beans, Peas
Parsley	Tomato
Peas	Bush Beans, Pole Beans, Carrots, Corn Cucumber, Radish, Turnips	Onion
Pepper	Onion
Radish	Bush Beans, Pole Beans, Carrots, Cucumber, Lettuce, Melons, Peas, Squash	Hyssop
Spinach	Celery, Eggplant, Cauliflower
Squash	Corn, Onion, Radish
Strawberry	Bush Beans, Lettuce, Onion, Spinach	Cabbage
Tomato	Cabbage, Carrots, Celery, Onion, Mint	Corn, Fennel

Going our way? 1945

In this bottom border is the rest of the title. "Be a victory farm volunteer of the U.S. Crop Corps. For information see your county extension agent or local farm employment office." Creator: Bruehl, Anton

Steps to Biointensive Gardening

-- Double-dug, raised beds. Loosening the soil to a depth of 24 inches allows roots to penetrate more deeply and creates a raised bed effect. John Jeavons' video "Dig It" demonstrates an Aikido-style movement that makes double-digging almost effortless.

-- Composting. A healthy compost pile is key to replenishing the soil.

-- Intensive planting. "Ignore the spacing instructions that come with your seeds. Plant seedlings so close that when they are mature, the leaves touch. This keeps soil moist and prevents weeds from sprouting.

-- Companion planting.

-- Carbon farming. Corn, millet and oats, along with other seed and grain crops, make up an important part of the diet and provide plenty of high-carbon additions to the compost pile.

-- Calorie farming. Growing a year's food supply means focusing on high- calorie, space-efficient foods like potatoes and parsnips.

...May Prevent His Wounds from Healing There!

...May Prevent His Wounds from Healing There! Vitamin "C" (Ascorbic Acid) found in citrus fruits is an aid to healing wounds and building tissue.

Source: National Archives at College Park, 8601 Adelphi Road, College Park, MD (NWDNS-44-PA-847)

"...to speed our boys home...

Produce and conserve, share and play square with FOOD!" Don't waste a crumb or drop of it!" Charles D. Jarrell, Artist for the Office of War Information, 1942 -1945.

Source: National Archives at College Park, 8601 Adelphi Road, College Park, MD (NWDNS-44-PA-225)

"Get the Good...From Fruit"

"Make Food Fight for Freedom by Eating Wisely" was the title of a booklet prepared by the War Ad Council around 1944. Citizens were encouraged to cooperate with rationing efforts ("Rationing Safeguards Your Share") and to grow Victory Gardens. The bounty produced from a plot of land was too valuable to waste. Not to grow a garden or care for fruiting shrubs and trees was considered unpatriotic. To fail to preserve its bounty was downright un-American. One 1946, Department of Agriculture poster carried the message, "Am I Proud -- I'm fighting famine . . . by canning food at home."

"Get the Good...From Fruit" was the title of a World War II Era Poster prepared by the Bureau of Home Economics - U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Office of Government Reports, United States Information Service. It's message was: Use fruit juice fresh....if it has to stand, keep covered and cold. Cook in the peel if you can....if you must peel, make it thin.

A Little Cultivation Now! Means a Big Harvest Later On!

A Little Cultivation Now! Means a Big Harvest Later On! This poster produced by the War Production Board during 1942 or 1943, urges citizens to "Take Care of Your Victory Garden." Source: National Archives at College Park, 8601 Adelphi Road, College Park, MD (NWDNS-179-WP-269)

Summer in a Garden

You may have heard the saying "Everyone talks about the weather, but no ones does anything about it." This quote is usually attributed to Mark Twain. It is however, the words of Mark Twains neighbor, Charles Dudley Warner. Who wrote Summer in a Garden, a humerus week by week play, whose main characters are the lovable fruits and charismatic vegetables ruled by the soft and treacherous face of nature. Charles Dudley Warner is an intoxicating read with lovable anecdotes that will make you fall back in love with your garden, all over again.

The onion in its satin wrappings is among the most beautiful of vegetables; and it is the only one that represents the essence of things. It can almost be said to have a soul. You take off coat after coat, and the onion is still there; and, when the last one is removed, who dare say that the onion itself is destroyed, though you can weep over its departed spirit? If there is any one thing on this fallen earth that the angels in heaven weep over--more than another, it is the onion.

~Charles Dudley Warner, Summer in a Garden

I suggest: Read this book so that the chapters coincide with the weeks spent in your garden, hopefully you can wait a week to read the next chapter.

For a other works by Charles Dudley Warner visit here. Check out the Gilded Age wherein Charles Dudley Warner collaborates with Mark Twain.

Victory Garden Plots Free For Employees

Some businesses provided garden plots and soil preparation services as a way of helping their employees get started growing their own produce. "Best Garden" Prizes of War Bonds and War Stamps were even offered as an added incentive.

ARC Identifier: 534116 Victory Garden Plots Free For Employees , ca. 1942 - ca. 1943 Still Picture Records LICON, Special Media Archives Services Division (NWCS-S), National Archives at College Park, 8601Adelphi Road, College Park, MD.

Victory garden, Fort Stevens, Oregon, 1944

The kind of season we have would change the date of planting. In raising vegetables, as in everything else, one should use one's common (or garden variety of) sense. A good rule is to wait until the ground has warmed up a bit. Never try to work in soil wet enough to be sticky, or muddy; wait until it dries enough to crumble readily. Gardening is not a rule of thumb business. Each gardener must bring his plants up in his own way in the light of his own experience and in accordance with the conditions of his own garden. A garden lover who has a bit of land will speedily learn if his eyes and his mind, as well as his hands, are always busy, no matter how meager his knowledge at the beginning.

Victory garden, Fort Stevens, Oregon, 1944 (ARC Identifier: 299689 National Archive and Records Administration's Pacific Alaska Region, 6125 Sand Point Way NE, Seattle, WA.)

Frequent watering of the Victory Garden is necessary during the early stages of growth

The planting scheme can be altered to suit your individual taste. For instance, peas and cabbage are included because almost everybody likes to have them fresh from their garden; but they occupy more space in proportion to their value than beets and carrots. Therefore a small garden could be made more profitable by omitting them altogether, or cutting them down in amount and increasing the amount of carrots, beets, and turnips planted; or any of the vegetables mentioned which may not be in favor with the family can be left out.

ARC Identifier: 196478 Frequent watering of the Victory Garden is necessary during the early stages of growth. , ca. 02/1943 Franklin D. Roosevelt Library (NLFDR), 4079 Albany Post Road, Hyde Park, NY

Get the Good...From Fruit!

Source: National Archives at College Park, 8601 Adelphi Road, College Park, MD
(NWDNS-44-PA-867B)

"You can use the land you have to grow the food you need"

After you have marked all of your rows, the next step is opening the furrow. (A furrow is a shallow trench.) That is done with the hoe. (Best and quickest with a wheel hoe. Ed.) After the furrow is opened, it is necessary that the seed be sown and immediately covered before the soil has dried In covering the seeds the soil must be firmly pressed down with the foot. This is important.

In buying seed it is best to go to some well-established seed house, or, if that can't be done, to order by mail rather than to take needless chances. With most kinds of seeds a package is sufficient for a twenty-foot row.

Begin to break up the hard surface of the soil between the plants soon after they appear, using a hand cultivator or hoe, and keep it loose throughout the season. This kills weeds; it lets in air to the plant roots and keeps the moisture in the ground.

By constantly stirring the top soil after your plants appear, the necessity of watering can be largely avoided except in very dry weather. An occasional soaking of the soil is better than frequent sprinkling. Water your garden either very early in the morning or after sundown. It is better not to water when the sun is shining hot.

"You can use the land you have to grow the food you need" is one of the "Make America Strong" Poster Set (Poster number 7, 1941 - 1945). Created by the Office for Emergency Management, War Information Domestic Operations Branch. ARC Identifier: 514945 National Archives at College Park, 8601 Adelphi Road, College Park, MD

Secretary Plowing Boston Commons to promote Victory Gardens Program, April 11, 1944

After your garden has been well dug, it must be fertilized before any planting is done. In order to produce large and well-grown crops it is often necessary to fertilize before each planting. Very good prepared fertilizers can be bought at seed stores, but horse or cow manure is much better, as it lightens the soil in addition to supplying plant food. Use street sweepings if you can get them.

The manure should be well dug into the ground, at least to the full depth of the top soil. The ground should then be thoroughly raked, as seeds must be sown in soil which has been finely powdered.

Lay out the garden, keeping the rows straight with a line. Straight rows are practically a necessity, not only for easier culture but for economy in space.

Secretary Plowing Boston Commons to promote Victory Gardens Program, April 11, 1944 (Image ID 7769(161) Signal Corp, US Army Photo Courtesy of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library Digital Archives)

"Your Vicory Garden Counts More Than Ever!"

As we will likely have to send to Europe in coming years as much or even more food than we did last year, there is only one way to avoid a shortage among our own people, that is by raising a great deal more than usual. To do this we must plant every bit of available land. (Of course, we can't; the owners won't let us. Ed.) If you have a back yard, you can do your part and help the world and yourself by raising some of the food you eat. The more you raise the less you will have to buy, and the more there will be left for some of your fellow countrymen who have not an inch of ground on which to raise anything.

ARC Identifier: 516284 "YOUR VICTORY GARDEN COUNTS MORE THAN EVER!" , 1941 - 1945 Still Picture Records LICON, Special Media Archives Services Division (NWCS-S), National Archives at College Park, 8601 Adelphi Road, College Park, MD