Time to start your COVID-19 Victory Garden

By Dennis Archambault

As the frost line gradually moves north, it will soon be safe (if we can use that term for something other than infection control…) to plant. In recent weeks articles have popped up from various sources regarding the prospect of restoring the 20th-century idea of a “victory garden.” Originally intended to encourage average citizens to raise vegetables in their backyards (“vegetables for victory”) during World War I, when more than five million small gardens were planted. The practice was continued during World War II when victory gardens grew 40 percent of the produce in the country. They served as both a practical tool to provide nutrients during a period of rationing, but also to build morale during the war years. As the COVID-19 pandemic drags on, we certainly are feeling as though we are at war.

Writer Tanya Anderson, sleepless at 5 a.m. one morning this spring, found herself doing what many of us are now prone to do, “scrolling the news, Facebook, Twitter, everything. I’m not usually awake this early, but we live in different times. Seemingly overnight, our way of life has changed, and a lot of us are feeling anxious for ourselves, our loved ones, and the future. Then I came across a call for help: ‘…I wish someone would write an article about plants one could sow NOW that could produce food in the next 30, 45, 60 days.’”

With some careful consideration for soil, water, and ample sunlight, she created a plan for a “rapid response victory garden.” (https://lovelygreens.com/grow-a-rapid-response-victory-garden/) Within one month: carrots, some varieties of broccoli and cabbage, lettuces, kale, mustard, radishes, and spinach; and in 60 to 90 days, beets, cauliflower, early potatoes, onions, and tomatoes.

You don’t need more than a porch with sunlight for a few containers. Anderson advises that when growing crops in containers, “get a bag of good quality organic peat-free compost and mix it with a similar-sized bag of potting soil — or in a pinch, topsoil. It’s wise to add vermiculite, greensand, kelp, and perlite to help with water retention and nutrients as well but I understand that they may be difficult to find for some people. Fill the containers but leave space at the top to lay one to two inches of compost. Sow your seeds or plant directly into the compost. The level of the compost should sit an inch below the lip of the pot or container.”

Victory gardening provides psychological healing through a sense of growth and organic nourishment, spiritual enrichment through the transformative power of life, and physicality through bending, lifting, turning, reaching – and, of course, sweating. Savor taste, not quantity. Realize that growing is a craft, an art, and a science. If you haven’t done it – and even if you are an experienced grower – failure comes with the territory. You can’t control weather or the peculiar aspects of some vegetables and plants that “just don’t do well” in your garden, or where you’ve placed them. Become lost in the process. It will contribute to your personal resilience.

Early on, Gov. Whitmer suggested that we should repurpose holiday lights as “hope” lights — symbols of resilience in the face of grim reality. Now, we have warmth, a lot more natural light, and some of us have extra time to start a victory garden. You’ll have no trouble observing physical distancing.

Dennis Archambault is vice president of Public Affairs for Authority Health.