Partying before the seed swap... 1943 style.

“Growing vegetables does not preclude growing of flowers and the continued maintenance of ornamental plantings about your home.

Flowers have their spiritual value and will help the morale of your family, your neighbors and yourself. Add a border of planting of flowers to your Victory Garden and plant several rows of them.

They will appreciably enhance the beauty of the garden…”

This follow-up post is a bit delayed due to (whisper) a hard-drive crash! The problems of modern life… Victory Gardeners of 1943 had a different issue to grapple with… to grow flowers or not to grow flowers? As you can see in the quote above, the gardening gurus of the time suggested that flowers were just as vital as vegetables in the Victory Garden. Why? Because fostering morale was as important as growing vegetables and the “spiritual value” of flowers was drafted into the war effort…

As you know, I’ve been fully engrossed in researching the WW2 Chicago Victory Garden movement for a series of lectures/talks I’m giving this spring called “Chicago Victory Gardens: Yesterday and Tomorrow.” To learn more about the speaking gigs, check the ABOUT page. The “big” presentation will be March 28… click HERE to buy tickets and learn more.

As an added incentive (to me at least), we’re giving all our proceeds from the March 28 lecture to Hyperlocavore.com because when you leave the talk all inspired to grow your own food, you need a place to grow it!

Hyperlocavore.com matches up gardeners and would-be gardeners with space, education and tools. That, to me, is a worthy cause.

So, back to the seeds… as I said in Part 1, being the curious type, I’ve been rooting around to see which of the suggested seeds from 1943 are still available. This second half proved a bit easier than the first… all of the seeds were found, unlike some in Part 1 which have faded into mass-market memory. [Those lost to the mainstream may be in the Seed Savers Exchange Yearbook but I wanted to see if they were available to the general public and not just SSE members - if you're not a member, it is a worthy organization... think about it...]

A few of the seeds were located via companies I had never heard of, so that was kind of a cool find – I thought I knew them all!

Decisions, decisions...

So, without further ado, here are the seeds Victory Gardeners were dreaming of 67 years ago… welcome to a look back to 1943… Part 2

Radishes

• Scarlet Globe: www.seedsavers.org

Swiss Chard

• Lacullus: www.victoryseeds.com

Spinach

• King of Denmark: www.holesonline.com
• New Zealand: www.victoryseeds.com

Squash

• Acorn: www.localharvest.org
• Hubbard: www.yankeegardener.com

Turnips

• Early White Milan: www.italianseedandtool.com

Tomatoes

• Marglobe: www.reimerseeds.com
• Rutgers: www.henryfields.com
• Pritchard: www.tomatofest.com
• Baltimore: www.victoryseeds.com
• John Baer: www.totallytomato.com

Also suggested on the lost list (varieties not specified) were raspberries, blackberries and currants.

If you have any information regarding the varieties I’ve outlined above, I’d love to hear them so please comment!

And here’s a final bit of fun… I think these are Blue Hubbard Squash… the ladies are my mother (right) and a neighbor (forgot to ask mother who). The squash are from my great grandfather’s garden in 1946. He was a chicken farmer and used the manure for the garden… the image speaks to the power of chicken manure as a fertilizer… perhaps the topic for another blog…

They grow them big in Oregon!

Long before we had The Yarden, my husband and I lived in a two-flat with our friend (and landlord), Jim, who lived upstairs. The back yard was a big patch of grass… and, being a lifelong garden junkie, I asked if we could tear up some of that useless lawn to plant a vegetable garden. Neither he nor Peter knew what they were getting themselves into – it makes me sport an evil grin thinking of it all these years later.

Together we installed an awesome raised-bed garden on one side of the yard, a memorial garden to a recently departed friend in one corner, “Mark’s Garden”, and we took over the fence between us and the neighbors to grow nasturtiums and charantais melons.

Mark's Garden

That first early spring when Peter  and Jim were lugging bags of soil, removing invasive morning glory and building raised beds I have to report that there was a little bit of complaining (I had to ply them with bacon). But it quickly subsided and as the weekends rolled by, they became the ones ready surprisingly early on a weekend morning to do whatever garden tasks needed to be done.

Over the course of a summer we all found our garden stride – Jim liked watering. Peter liked picking (and watching fireflies – unknown to him in his native Sweden) and I liked it all. Especially cooking for both of them from what we had grown.

We used found objects when possible...

We got a lot of produce out of four raised beds!

Peter admiring his handiwork...

We moved out of that cute building with the bucolic backyard (and fantastic landlord) after we bought a vintage condo in Chicago’s Edgewater neighborhood. It was beautiful with a view of the beach but no garden space. The first year or so this didn’t bother me too much. I tried container gardening on the postage stamp sized back porch but the strong winds off the lake prevented that from succeeding. After the first summer I gave up.

By the third year I started to get edgy and talked Peter into looking for summer houses in nearby states (Michigan, Indiana) so we could have a garden. Every year for five years, around spring, the urge to garden would get so strong we’d go on house hunting sprees to see if we could find something affordable with some gardening space. We never did find anything that made sense…

Eventually, after seven years of gardenless heartbreak, Peter woke up one morning in February and said “Let’s go look at houses.” I was skeptical after all those summers of disappointment but we went anyway and quickly found the “yard with the house attached to it” that would become our home and The Yarden.

Why am I telling you all this? Because if I could have found a place to share a yard while living in that lovely condo I would have. But the resources weren’t available to do so…

Now they are.

As you know, we’re committed to persuading everyone we know to grow some of their own food… seriously! But you can’t do that if you don’t have a place to garden. This great online tool has the solution…

If you want to garden, now you have a resource to find someone who is willing to share space. We believe so strongly in this concept that we’re pledging our support to help Hyperlocavore raise funds for the next version of the software, via Kickstarter, by March 28th. Because we can’t talk you into growing your own fabulous, fresh and healthy produce if you don’t have a place to do it!

Here’s what you can do to help:

• Small amounts make a difference – sacrifice a Starbucks for a day and give the $5 to this great cause
• Tell your friends – especially friends that want to garden but are space-challenged…
• Sign up to share a yard! You can see for yourself how easy it is to start gardening THIS SUMMER. And maybe you’ll be so happy, you’ll pony up a few bucks
• Come to our lecture March 28 on “Chicago Victory Gardens: Yesterday and Tomorrow” – all proceeds are going to Hyperlocavore’s fundraising drive. Click HERE to order tickets.

If my compelling arguments have gotten you interested in contributing to Hyperlocavore, click HERE for details.

In the photo above, “Mark’s Garden,” you see a green gazing ball. The first season we had The Yarden, Jim came over with that same gazing ball and told us he had carried it around, moving it from house to house for the past eight years because he knew SOMEDAY we’d have a garden again and it belonged there…

Our experience together all those years ago made Jim and Peter both lifelong gardeners. Jim comes over even when we’re not there to get his hands dirty in The Yarden and is ready to help, as he did years ago, with whatever gardening chores we need.  And, of course, without Peter aka “The Teutonic Gardener” (chief irrigation specialist and tomato pruner extraordinaire!) The Yarden wouldn’t be possible.

Any gardener will tell you… gardening is a gift and Hyperlocavore can help you share it THIS SEASON. Don’t suffer – get gardening!

Jim's Gazing Ball Installed Season One

“The book of the month is unquestionably the seed catalog, which is to be found in the hands of gardeners, both novice and experienced, wherever a plot of ground is available for gardening.”

No, I haven’t gotten more eloquent in my writing (I wish). The above is an excerpt from a Chicago newspaper article from March 2, 1943!

As you may know, I’ve been head down for the last few months doing research for my lectures “Chicago Victory Gardens: Yesterday and Tomorrow” and, in the process, I’ve uncovered some incredible stories, information and facts.

The most touching (sobering?) thing I’ve realized  is how people are people no matter what era they live in. Much of the gardening advice, ideas, passions I’ve uncovered could be shared by gardeners today. The words are generally more articulate, but the sentiment is the same.

[When I'm feeling creepy about it, I'm reminded of a plaque in the crypt of the Capuchin monastery in Rome that reads - AFTER you walk past gallery after gallery of stacked bones - "As you are now, we once were. As we are now, you will become." But maybe that's a bit depressing for the start of gardening season...]

Many people today are inspired by the notion of Victory Gardens. I am too… that’s what got me started researching the topic. As I dug into the specifics of Chicago’s participation in the Victory Garden effort most of my preconceived notions were quickly altered… mostly I was bowled over by how involved the citizens of Chicago were. And by the level of organization and planning required and the resulting civic pride. I’m really excited to tell people about it on Sunday, March 14 at the Chicago Flower and Garden Show at Navy Pier and Sunday, March 28 at the Dank-Haus German Cultural Center in Lincoln Square. If you want to buy tickets, click the logo on the right!

But this isn’t an elaborate plug for the lectures – I promise – although I would love for you to be there because I’m so excited about this story.

In today’s post, I wanted to share what I’m calling “The Lost Victory Garden Seed List from 1943″. While digging through reams and reams of research materials, I found a suggested list of seeds for Chicago (Zone 5) Victory Gardens. The list was from Vaughan’s Seed Store, a Chicago-based seed company that started in the late 1800’s and also had an office in New York. I have not (yet) been able to find when Vaughan’s went out of business.

Being the curious type, I set about discovering which seeds are still in circulation for modern gardeners. Happily I was surprised to find that of the 36 varieties suggested, 73% are still available. Generally speaking, they are all available via small, specialty seed stores so I would still consider them rare. I did a basic Google search to find them and was pleased to find many new seed companies I had never seen before in the process. A deeper dive into the Seed Saver’s Exchange Yearbook might find availability for the 27% I couldn’t find via Google search or, perhaps, other sources for the ones I was able to find.

So, without further ado, here are the seeds Victory Gardeners were dreaming of 67 years ago… welcome to a look back to 1943… 

Muskmellon

• Benders Surprise: Couldn’t find but www.southernexposure.com claims Delicious 51 is descended from this melon.
• Hearts of Gold: www.botanicalinterest.com
• Pride of Wisconsin: www.heirloomseeds.com

Parsley

• Champion Moss Curley: www.gurneys.com

Pepper

• Early California Wonder: www.penyaseeds.com
• Harris Early Giant: Found historical reference, no seed
• Magnum Dulce: Found historical reference, no seed
• Sweet Banana: www.sustainableseedco.com
• Oshkosh: Found historical reference, no seed

Parsnip

• Marrofat: Found historical reference, no seed
• Short Thick: www.seeds.ca

Onions

• Golden Globe, Ideal White, Valencia Sweet Spanish: Found historical reference, no seed
• White Portugal: www.yankeegardener.com

Peas

• Little Marvel: www.westwindseeds.com
• Laxton’s Progress: www.yankeegardener.com

Pumpkins

• Cushaw; www.localharvest.org (NOTE: the green striped Cushaw is in Slow Food’s Arc of Taste. The list didn’t indicate what color… www.localharvest.org has a white version available).

For Part 2, I’ll share my findings regarding the following:

• Radishes
• Swiss Chard
• Spinach
• Squash
• Turnips 
• Tomatoes

If you have any information regarding the varieties I’ve outlined above, I’d love to hear them so please comment!

VANCOUVER, BC — Yes, I know… how could the largest sporting event in the world have anything to do with gardening… Maybe in a city other than Vancouver it might not and maybe if I didn’t see everything through a gardening filter it might not… but hang with me for a paragraph or two. I have my reasons…

This is the official Olympic logo this year.

The logo represents INUKSUK – “thing that can act in the place of a human”. These indigenous totems, built with balancing rocks, are traditionally erected for multiple reasons:

• Hunting and navigational aids
• Message centers
• To show where food is stored
• To mark an entrance to a spiritual landscape
• To act as helpers in hunting caribou

Now, I know you’re most likely not going to be hunting caribou in your garden. But take a moment to ponder the other reasons… starting to make sense? If not, read on…

My friend Andrew and I got invited to attend the opening ceremonies dress rehearsal. We disembarked from our early (EARLY!) train from Seattle feeling very much like college students on our 48-hour trip to Vancouver to see the spectacle. (I can’t remember the last time I used a backpack.) As we were wandering around prior to the event, we encountered a 200 yard stretch of rocky beach next to the walking path. Something wasn’t right about the rocks… and we realized that a local artist had taken these rocks and this stretch of beach to express the INUKSUK…

Andrew and I walked back and forth many times marveling at these improbable sculptures. And I took many pictures (which he mocked me about). But it dawned on me that this type of artistic expression would  be wonderful in a garden. Gardens and tradition go hand in hand.

That evening, we were staying with friends (I can’t remember the last time I slept on a hide-a-bed!) and one of our hosts who specializes in First Nation (indigenous) cultures was telling me that the Olympic games have really helped the country celebrate indigenous roots. He used to live with in a community strong with First Nation individuals and learned that building INUKSUK is a way to teach children patience, balance and tradition. Kind of like teaching children gardening…

So, maybe I’m loopy from lack of sleep, too much caffeine, a flash-back to college travel norms (Yes, I will be sleeping on the train tonight!) but I think this lovely, simple art form might not only beautify the places we love to garden but also remind us that simple is good. Local materials can be great mediums for art and that in Vancouver, and everywhere else, traditions are worth celebrating.

PS… we wandered over to Vancouver’s Chinatown (amazing) for lunch before the rehearsal… and discussed the sculptures. When I came back from the restroom, Andrew presented me with this:

This might be the smartest gardening/cooking book I have ever read. Yes, I know that is a bold statement and I have my reasons… But first, a disclaimer… I don’t know the ladies that wrote this book. Yes, I do follow their witty comments on Twitter/Facebook and check out their blogs. I didn’t receive a free copy of the book obliging me to say nice things, I actually went on two different lunchtime bookstore runs searching for it (Barnes and Noble!)

I bought this book for two reasons:

1. Because I’m excited about how social media is providing new ways for gardeners to communicate. I think of Twitter and Facebook as a “digital small town” where everyone knows everyone else – or at least the people we choose to know. I also firmly believe that collective wisdom is greater than any individual contributor of which this book is a great example. And I believe that social media is allowing a new generation of gardeners access to intelligence that was previously only found from neighbors and in books. According to the Garden Writers Association, for the first time in history, “technology” is ranked as the second source for gardening information after friends and neighbors…

Social media is the only instrument I can think of that will allow a full-scale gardening revolution to help Americans confront the food-related challenges of our generation: safety, nutrition related illness, hunger and sustainability. By making information, advice and encouragement available without borders the explosion of people learning to grow their own food is limited only by growing space – and, coincidentally, another smart, smart lady has come up for a solution for THAT issue at www.hyperlocavore.ning.com

But, off the soapbox…

2. You can tell this book is written by veteran garden chefs who know that a book that includes gardening and cooking requires a special approach. When you are a non-gardening cook you find your recipe, make your list and go to the store for your groceries. When you’re a gardener, you sometimes stand in the garden thinking (maybe panicking), “Oh” [insert acceptable expletive of your choice] “I have a lot of tomatoes” (or peas, or carrots, or beets, or…) This book is written with that reality in mind and will be a helpful companion to new gardeners who are cooking what they grow. And, let’s face it, what’s the point of gardening if you don’t learn to cook what you grow?

A case study: Shortly after we met, I saw my then-future-husband, Peter, boiling macaroni. I watched him drain it. And then I watched him go to the refrigerator and take out a bottle of ketchup. “What are you going to do with that?” I asked. He, in all seriousness, said “I’m going to put it on the macaroni.” And I said, “and eat it?” Blank stare. I unequivocally stated at that moment that he was NOT going to eat that nor was he ever going to “cook” for himself again. This turned out to be quite a good deal for him for a decade or so until my work travel meant he was home alone during the week with a full, big, bountiful garden. Guess what happened? He learned how to cook. It started with weird kitchen questions. Then he began liking the role of sous chef. He really started liking grilling. My point, we have a bountiful garden and even my unlikely (and spoiled) dear heart was inspired to take advantage of it. Despite what, ten years ago, seemed like overwhelming odds…

Back to the book – the formula for each vegetable/herb/fruit-centric chapter makes great sense: a concise growing intro, helpful did-you-know features, harvesting tips, nutritional info, fun/cheeky comments by the contributors, lovely photos and, most importantly, great recipes.

The authors have managed to condense into one book everything a new gardener/chef could want. And for those of us that have been at it for longer than we care to admit, it’s nice to see what the collective power of gardening/cooking intelligence can do. Kudos!

To admire them from afar or contact them directly via Twitter: @JeanAnnVK, @kissmyaster, @robinripley, @seasonalwisdom. You can sign up to get info at www.grocerygardeningguide.com, or become a fan of Grocery Gardening on Facebook.

For those of you who want to garden but are space challenged, you may find a happy solution at www.hyperlocavore.ning.com

In honor of Chinese New Year (and the fact that I’m cramming for my Master Gardener test) Water Wednesday is —still— this week… I leave you with an image

And a quote…

Pleasure for one hour, a bottle of wine. Pleasure for one year a marriage; but pleasure for a lifetime, a garden.

Welcome to Part 2 in my series of Swedish Community Gardens “kolonilotter”… in this post I’d like to show you a few of my favorite basic houses from Tantolunden…

As you will remember, many of the houses are “Dalarna Red” which is the traditional country house color of Sweden. The color comes from a byproduct of copper mining. Many of the kolonilotter are this default color.

Another common color in Swedish homes (and KLs) is this sunny yellow. Stockholm gets about four hours of daylight during the summer due to its northerly latitude. It is “the land of the midnight sun” so summers are great but winter not so much. Cheerful colors and light interiors keep everyone from going nuts… or at least try to. It might also explain the voracious appetite for gardening and the need for KLs… the season is short in Sweden and gardeners there take full advantage of all the sun they can get.

Please note in this picture the cityscape just beyond the park where the KLs are located.

Here’s another cheerful color. I also really like the shutters, the trellis by the door and the tiny window box. You will notice their tiny “outbuilding” is the typical red color.

This KL looks a little Cape Cod to me with its grey/green color and white trim… I like the rustic potting bench and the fence in the background. Nice neutral color so the plants can shine. Please note the tiny window with the mullions…

This KL is sort of a negative/reverse view of the typical white/red combo. Here red plays the supporting role in the trim. Notice the pots with geraniums under the window and the heart shaped plaque under the roofline.

I’ll end this post with this celery green KL. I haven’t seen this color in the Stockholm burbs per se but it fits the bill for cheerful. This house is newer as you can see from the gutters, the deck and the modern windows. Also notice the fancy windows under the roofline and the decorative shingles on the roof itself.

Next issue, we’ll talk about the “city infrastructure” of Tantolunden and maybe a few gardens!

Happy winter fantasizing…

Park City, Utah – For the past six years my dear friend Sarah and I have been coming to Sundance and staying with her brother’s family. I’ve never met a healthier bunch of people. Ever. Their lovely house is warm and welcoming. When we bought and remodeled a house in 2006 we “borrowed” a lot of ideas from them.

For the past three summers, when the family makes it to Chicago as a stop-over to the family farm in Wisconsin, they’ve detoured over to The Yarden for dinner and reconnecting. Their son has anointed himself “the tomato picker” and this year he showed his younger sister how it was done. She, however, is the lone “strawberry picker” and will share the honor with nobody else. She likes waiting until after dark (to wear the biker safety head lamp we have for evening gardening) to search for elusive alpine strawberries. We’re not sure which she likes more – the strawberries or wearing the headlamp.

The visit last year was eventful in ways we couldn’t imagine. 2009 was a tough, tough growing season due to cold and wet weather. Like many other people we got aphids (and blight, and…). Eeewww. This was really depressing to us until that night when we took several bags of lady bugs we had purchased and spread them around The Yarden. The kids went nuts. The big kids went nuts too. This is possibly the only time I can imagine when aphids turn out to be a good thing.

Now that I say that, I have to mention that the aphid incident also made us notice the activity of the bird visitors to The Yarden. They helped with the aphid situation too and we very much appreciated it…

But, back to my point!

Our Park City friends want a container garden on this sunny, sunny south facing deck. The railing already has horizontal wire decorative supports that will make for great trellising. The family has conferred and this is what they want to grow: Cherry tomatoes, arugula, snap peas, cucumbers, basil, a little bit of mint (we know how that works!), zucchini, pole beans and carrots. I’m also suggesting Mexican Midget Cucumbers… 

We are also thinking galvanized horse troughs (drilled and set on bricks) for the containers. 

Park City is 7,000 feet above sea level and is in Zone 5. Their growing season is shorter than Chicago as they sometimes get post-Memorial day frosts. All of these factors need to be taken into account.

So, I’m going to start drawing up a plan but, in the meantime, would love advice from other gardeners out there. Any high altitude tips? Anyone gardened in horse troughs? Do you know of specific tomato varieties that grow well under these conditions? (I was thinking currant tomatoes.)

Thanks in advance for your help for this wonderful family.

As we said when we started this series, “Water is the soul of the garden.” – Chinese proverb. The spitter man we’re going to share with you today has a lot of soul. When we stumbled upon him and his shell on the way to the Pitti Palace in Florence, Italy we had to stop and ponder. Such a serious face! 

From my ramblings on Bacchus/Dionysus/Green Men in Water Wednesday #2, you know that they usually have a mischievous expression. At first I thought this was a comrade of that ilk who was just in a bad mood but after studying his face and the shell-like motif of his hat and basin, I think he’s another category altogether. Check out those eyebrows!

Since it is a busy week, I’ll dive into more research later and leave you with these images for now. But let me take this moment to say – how amazing are the Italians that every day they get to walk by such a beautiful fountain minding his and his shell’s own business on a busy neighborhood street? Civilized!

And the tidbit for this week… while driving around Tuscany we stopped at a pottery store and found this guy.

[The pottery store alone is the topic for another post - when we pulled in Peter got that "uh oh" look on his face.]

After much discussion (pleading, groveling, begging) we decided there was no way to get this guy home safely – but notice the similar expression and rounded, shell-like appearance:

He could also be representing the wind with that pucker and the way the corona around his face has a lot of movement… Obviously, more research is required!

This week has been a beating. That’s the only way to describe it. I wish I could curl up into a shell and be left alone for awhile. This feeling inspired me to share two awesome turtle fountains with you (which cheered me up considerably)…

The first is from Rome, Italy and was built in 1581. And, coincidentally this is THE fountain that started my fountain obsession many years ago! There were supposed to be more dolphin/shell combos but the water pressure would only make four spit in a worthy manner – the originally planned eight would only dribble. By the time we saw it 418 years after it was built the four dolphins were merely dribbling too.

The turtles were added in 1658 by request of the Pope du Jour… seems like an odd thing to add but it makes for a charming fountain. So nice of the nude guys to give them a lift over the edge! 

I like to think of the Pope and the sculptor (Bernini) standing side by side contemplating the addition… sheaves of wheat? orbs representing the world? serpents? Wait! WAIT! How about scrambling little turtles? Ah, bene! Let’s go drink…

Rome is great for fountain lovers. It is a city of monumental and allegorically fantastic water features – none of which would fit in a personal garden unless you too were the Pope du Jour. This one is on the large side, so technically it is disqualified from Water Wednesday but, after all these years,I can’t get those charming turtles off my mind so I made an exception. It is my blog after all. I have called it “The Turtle Fountain” all these years. So do the Romans but it sounds better when they say it “Fontana delle Tartarughe.”

The second fountain for today is from Florence, Italy. It is definitely garden size. I love this turtle as does everyone else as you can see by his head being polished all shiny by caresses over the years. The putti I could do without. And it seems the turtle feels the same because you can see him trying to push him off with his flipper… damn freeloading putti. (The fountain photo collection doesn’t have a lot of chubby angel/children but I made an exception in this case.) Another nice feature of this fountain is the mosaic tile background. It didn’t have the typical “non potable” (do not drink) sign and it is at a convenient height so we assume people still use it as a very fancy drinking fountain.

And the bonus feature for this week is a picture of me at the Vatican. The tie in here is that it is good luck to touch St. Peter’s toe which is also shiny like the turtle’s head (you’ll have to take my word for it.) The reason I include this photo is because we waited for a long time to get a clear shot of me and the famous toe. This was pre-digital camera days. When we got the photos back weeks later there was this dude in the snap like we were buddies or something! And on top of that he’s touching the wrong toe! Peter swears he didn’t see him (my husband Peter that is, not the saint.)

So that’s installment #3… I promise I’ll come out of my shell for the next Water Wednesday…