Have people noticed the prices of vegetables at the grocery store lately? Is it time to bring back the victory gardens of yesteryear?

Four years ago, I turned half of my lawn and made a garden out of it. I grow enough vegetables to last all winter — a big savings for my family.

During World War II, “victory gardens” were planted by families in the United States to help prevent a food shortage.

Planting victory gardens helped make sure that there was enough food for U.S. soldiers fighting around the world. Because canned vegetables were rationed, victory gardens also helped people stretch their ration coupons (the amount of certain foods they were allowed to buy at the store).

Many different types of vegetables were grown: tomatoes, carrots, lettuce, beets and peas. Victory gardens were responsible for bringing Swiss chard and kohlrabi to the American dinner table because they were easy to grow.

At the peak, there were more than 20 million victory gardens planted across the United States.

By 1944, victory gardens were responsible for producing 40 percent of all vegetables grown in the United States. More than one million tons of vegetables were grown in victory gardens during the war.

People with no yards planted small victory gardens in window boxes and watered them through their windows.

Many schools across the country planted victory gardens on school grounds and used their produce in their school lunches

Why mow it? Plant it and save.

Phillip Webber, Lisbon

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