5/11/2010:
Today is a spring day — a day in May for gardening and a time to look at how gardens helped win a war. Each spring during World War II, from 1942 through 1945, residents of Bismarck planted Victory Gardens. Everyone was urged to grow garden crops for home use, and to reduce domestic demands for canned vegetables so that more goods could be shipped overseas to American soldiers. Rationing of canned foods meant that families might not be able to find what they needed in grocery stores.
Nationally, "millions of Victory Gardens" wrote the Bismarck Tribune, were "making a real contribution in solving the national food problem." Governor John Moses said North Dakota's Victory Garden program was "one of the best in the nation" in 1942. Sales of garden seeds "were up 39 per cent," and in rural North Dakota, vegetable canning "was up 142 per cent."
But Governor Moses insisted that North Dakotans could do even better, calling for gardens "on each of the state's 74,000 farms" and asking each of the state's 52,000 non-farm families to start a Victory Garden. The governor wanted each gardener to grow "eight to ten different vegetables" to "supply fresh vegetables in season" and to can an additional "100 to 125 quarts of vegetable products . . . for winter" usage.
Canning skills often had to be re-learned, but canning was vital. "Our grandparents got along without commercially tinned foods," said Fargo extension agent Ruth Dawson, "and we will be able to" also.
Among the garden crops recommended were tomatoes, which should be "eaten almost every day" of the summer; lima beans, the richest in vitamin B1; broccoli, which far surpassed cauliflower in nutrition; carrots, the "most nutritious of edible roots;" and, of course, peas, squash, and "stringless green beans."
In Bismarck, city officials provided land for Victory Gardens on the river bottoms south of the city. Mr. Kenneth W. Simons supervised the program, which offered irrigation to ensure a bountiful harvest, rather than depending upon uncertain rains. Each gardener paid a ten-dollar fee for a quarter of an acre (about 1/4th of a football field) and the soil was "plowed, harrowed and ready to plant," and the irrigation water ready to flow.
Each quarter-acre Victory Garden could "produce 90 bushels of potatoes or 130 bushels of onions or 200 bushels of tomatoes or 20 bushels of sweet corn," and "other crops in proportion" to the kinds of seeds planted.
Bismarck's Chamber of Commerce supervised the gardens and was pleased to "see 100 persons at work" on almost any "favorable" summer evening. Girl Scouts earned merit points for Victory Garden work and 4-H members could win awards for their gardens.
Victory Gardens assisted the "overall war effort" and allowed Bismarck residents to "beat rationing legally." Today, we remember Bismarck's gardeners who helped win the war.
Dakota Datebook written by Dr. Steve Hoffbeck, MSUM History Department
Sources:
"Moses Describes Adequate Garden," Bismarck Tribune, May 15, 1943, p. 3.
"Few North Dakota Families Without Victory Gardens," Bismarck Tribune, May 18, 1943, p. 2.
"Victory Garden Harvest," Bismarck Tribune, July 19, 1943, p. 4.
"Girl Scout Summer Plans Feature Camping, Gardening," Bismarck Tribune, May 29, 1943, p. 5.
"Minimum Victory Garden Takes 20 by 30-Foot Plot," Bismarck Tribune, March 11, 1942, p. 5.
"Gardens Must Provide Needed Vegetables," Bismarck Tribune, December 18, 1942, p. 7.
"Victory Gardens To Help Stretch Food Supply," Bismarck Tribune, January 21, 1943, p. 2.
"Victory Garden Committee Holds Discussion Here," Bismarck Tribune, April 2, 1942, p. 1.
"All But Two Acres In Gardens Are Taken," Bismarck Tribune, May 13 1942, p. 2.
"If It Is Dry This Year," advertisement, Bismarck Tribune, March 24, 1942, p. ?.
"Wartime Production of Foods Is N.D.'s Problem," and advertisement, Bismarck Tribune, March 8, 1943, p. 3.
"Rationing Reminders," Bismarck Tribune, May 1, 1944, p. 1.
"4-H Garden Awards Announced by NDAC," Bismarck Tribune, January 4, 1945, p. 2.