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This Time, the Victory Garden Must Outlast the War
Coronavirus has caused a resurgence of backyard gardening — but will we keep planting once the pandemic is over?
Stephen Heyman’s new book, “The Planter of Modern Life: Louis Bromfield and the Seeds of a Food Revolution,” will be published on April 14 by W.W. Norton.
Last week, I planted a victory garden.
It’s rather pathetic at the moment, just three large pots on the concrete patio of my one-bedroom apartment in Pittsburgh in which I’ve sown seeds for vegetables like Swiss chard and radishes that can be directly planted this early in the season.
But I’ve got big plans as we approach the last frost. I’ve started composting kitchen scraps. I’ve stocked up on soil. I’ve ordered more seeds and 10-pound grow bags. I’m building a long box planter and beginning to alarm my wife with talk of our “crop plan.” I’m calculating how much food I can grow on my patio with the smallest carbon footprint and asking myself with a good deal of shame why it took an earth-shaking pandemic for me to build a little garden, since it has already given me pleasure, purpose, exercise — and hopefully, someday soon, will also give me food.
It seems I’m not alone in this experiment. The coronavirus pandemic has unearthed something buried deep inside the national psyche. Seeds are selling out. The English garden merchant Suttons has seen a 4,000 percent increase in visits to its website compared to last March. Garden columnists are abuzz. YouTube is featuring how-to videos like “9 Survival Gardening Crops to Grow in a Post Apocalyptic World.” As an overwhelmed organic nursery owner recently told the Los Angeles Times, “It’s the rebirth of the victory garden.”
This isn’t the first time that Americans have tried to recapture the spirit of one of the greatest grassroots efforts of World War II. Yet at no other moment in our recent history have we needed the consolation, stability, and sustenance of a garden more than we do right now. Many of us are suddenly trapped at home, restless, worried about our health and our future. In this climate, the decision to garden feels to me less like a choice and more like an obligation.
At no other moment in…
