There was a time in our not so distant past when Americans planted gardens during wartime to both replenish crops and to show solidarity for troops fighting overseas. Americans can show our solidarity for our brothers and sisters in Ukraine by planting sunflowers this spring in a sunflower victory garden.
During World War I, a severe food crisis emerged in Europe as agricultural workers were recruited into military service and farms were transformed into battlefields. Just weeks before the United States entered the war, Charles Lathrop Pack organized the National War Garden Commission. The commission encouraged Americans to help the war effort by planting, fertilizing, harvesting, and storing their own fruits and vegetables so that more food could be exported to our allies. Americans were told to “sow the seeds of victory.” Victory gardens were soon found popping up everywhere across the country. Victory gardens re-emerged after the U.S. entered World War II.
The victory garden campaign served as a way for those back home to do something, express patriotism and prevent food shortages. According to the Smithsonian website, roughly half of all American families had a victory garden during World War II. There were at least 20 million victory gardens covering more than 20 million acres of American soil by 1943. By 1944, 40% of the nation’s produce was supplied by victory gardens. American families had grown approximately 8 million tons of food by the time the war ended in 1945.
