Welcome to Hooked on Fridays, a blog party I host at the end of each week to celebrate the things that make us happy. I’m hooked on our fruit and vegetable garden. Okay, so it’s not technically a “Victory Garden,” but I’ve always loved the idea of them, and calling it that gives me an excuse to post this fun poster from World War II.
In case you don’t know, everyone was urged to grow their own gardens during the wars to reduce the pressure on the public food supply brought on by the war efforts. One poster read, “Our Food is Fighting!” The campaign made gardening a part of everyday life for millions of Americans. This poster was painted by James Montgomery Flagg during WWI:
This year we decided to give gardening a try and built a raised bed along the side of the house. We don’t get a lot of sun on our heavily wooded lot, but things are growing better than we ever imagined. We’ve been eating fresh spinach and romaine salads almost every night for dinner since early May. Our kids like it so much that they eat it without any dressing!
Did you know potato plants grow pale purple and yellow flowers? I didn’t!
Another thing I learned: potato plants are big and bushy and try to take over. We planted too many. I have a feeling we’ll be eating a lot of potatoes this year:
We’re also growing onions, garlic, raspberries, cantaloupe, and an herb garden. Our strawberry plants are producing a few new berries every day. Can you see them down there? We have to keep them covered because we have so many critters around here who love to snack on them:
Hi Julia. What a fun post! I love that interest in Victory Gardens has returned! Thank you for sharing these vintage images and snapshots of your own garden! ~Arleen
Arleen @ Seasons for All at Home’s last blog post..Decorating with Cool Blues and White
Great idea to relate todays gardens to Victory Gardens. Even non-gardeners can at least put a few vegetable plants in the flower beds. Nothing like eating what you have grown. Now that’s fresh!
Porch Days’s last blog post..Hooked on Begonias
Old advertising posters are my all time favorite. I have one that says “Uncle Sam says Garden to Cut Food Costs”
The graphics in those old prints are so wonderful. Jane T.
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Julia, my link appears twice for the same post. Would you please delete one of them? Thank you!
Arleen @ Seasons for All at Home’s last blog post..Decorating with Cool Blues and White
Growing your own veggies is a super idea! When we moved into our houses there were veggie plants everywhere, but they grew out of control, so we pulled them out with a plan to start over with the ones we know we’d enjoy.
After we updated our garden, we even found plants that we didn’t know existed, like a chilli plant.
Sounds like you’re going to have a lot of delicious produce to eat over the coming months, Julia. 🙂
Jasmine @ The Suburban Sentiment’s last blog post..Hooked on: Terrariums Part II
Our neighbors started their own garden this year, and given how many times my kids rush over there to check on the progress of the garden, I am realizing that we need to have a garden next year!
thingsthatinspire’s last blog post..A Glorious Room at the Symphony Showhouse
Ok, I don’t have a great history with gardening, but I’m planting some mint for mojitos! 😉
Susan’s last blog post..Bold and Beautiful Kitchen Appliances
Love the vintage posters! This is our second year of gardening. We’ve got broccoli, potatoes, onions, zucchini, squash, tomatoes, and bell peppers (my personal fave!) Something very satisfying about growing your own food!
Amy @ Finer Things’s last blog post..Finer Things Friday: Wheat Harvest
Good for you to be patient enough and consistent in your care to grow veggies! Right now I am only attempting Basil on the kitchen windowsill, and it’s struggling 😉
I imagine your strawberries are popular with humans mouths as well as critters, and personally, I find freshly dug potatoes hard to beat. Your garden looks great.
That first poster would be so great to have framed on the wall of a kitchen. I love old game designs as well.
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I applaud you and everyone else who plants a vegi garden. I love the idea very much, but just don’t want to do it. We do get our vegetable and fruit from a local organic farm though. So I’m learning quite a bit too.
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Julia…you’re garden is wonderful! I sooo wish I had some sun in my backyard for a garden. I think my neighbors would flip if I planted veggies out front! Maybe I could sneak a few in. 🙂 Just think how healthy you guys are eating…no pesticides to worry about! That’s great that your children love their salad without dressing….so much healthier that way! This is very impressive! I love your Victory Garden!
Susan’s last blog post..Welcome to the 43rd Tablescape Thursday, Foodie Friday and Hooked On Fridays!
mmm! your garden looks delicious!!
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Hi Julia! Hope you are doing well and having a fantabulous week! I bet your week will be even better tomorrow since it will be Friday. Loved your hooked on photos this week. I wish I could be a greenthumb! 🙁
Lovely garden!! We, too, are trying our hands at gardening and have had wonderful results with okra and black-eyed peas! I’d love to have strawberries, maybe we’ll try that next year!
It Feels Like Chaos’s last blog post..Blueberry Picking
My first little home was maticulously manicured by 2 elderly sisters. The garden was weed free and an inspiration to a newly married wishful thinker as myself. I soon learned I did not have the HOURS upon hours it took to keep such a garden. I felt like such a failure. It soon was over run by weeds and bugs and I felt so bad when once the little ladies came to visit. Their hearts must have been crushed, but they simply said, “darling, some day you will love to pull the weeds and enjoy the fruit. It’s just not your time.”
Sort of a metaphore for my life. I did figure out how to pull the weeds and enjoy the fruit… but more on the scale of your lovely garden. Sometimes attempting to be something (or setting too high of goal) beyond your reach taught me to scale back and be happy with the present, smaller verson.
thanks for the reminder.
TTFN~~Claudia
Claudia@DipityRoad’s last blog post..Shy Summer
How fun. I had no idea potato plants had little flowers on them. We have so many deer and critters that it’s nearly impossible to plant things. My husband does grow basil.
Jenny’s last blog post..Picnic Table Talk: Traveling With Kids
Wow! Great garden! I really want to get mine going next summer…we need a yard first, though! The posters are great.
xo,
Lindsay
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I was just trying to catch up on my gardening today. We have had tons of rain in the last 2 weeks and now I have tons of weeds. I like that you put a garden right up against your house.
Love those vintage posters – we had similar ones here in WW2 in Britain (so I am told – LOL!)
Your garden is certainly flourishing – what a great lesson for kids too – that food does not always come clean and wrapped in plastic in a supermarket.
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Did you know that the garden center industry saw a huge increase in sales of vegetables and herbs this year? Many people are enjoying growing their own food as a way of saving money and enjoying their own back yard. I think it’s great!
Tamara’s last blog post..Hooked on Industry Luncheon’s
I love those old posters. My favs are the “We can do it” ones! WE WOMEN CAN DO IT!!!!!!
KARA @ MADE 2 CREATE’s last blog post..CLEAN SLATE COMPLETE
I am definitely hooked on gardening! A couple of months ago I indulged and bought myself a victory gardening plague to hang up outside.
Alea’s last blog post..Cooking with Lavender
Your garden is beautiful, Julia!!
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I love those old posters!! 🙂 You guys really have a lot going on in your garden! I planted 3 tomato plants and some thyme, but then we had some house work that disrupted one side of the garden, so I haven’t been able to plant much else. I didn’t know potato plants grew flowers. 🙂 I’d love to get a blueberry plant. Lettuce is in my plans for next year. Your garden is wonderful! 🙂
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I am so with you on the WWII posters! Weren’t they just the best?
And I love your garden–what a good way to get into gardening. We haven’t had a big garden in a long time, and I’ve been hesitant to try. . . but seeing your beds makes me think that this could be very do-able. Thanks for the inspiration.
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Julia,
There is nothing finer then enjoying fresh fruits and vegetables at your table! What a wonderful way for your children to appreciate the benefits of a healthy diet and lifestyle. Wishing you a nice weekend. Cathy
Cathy @ The Stylish House’s last blog post..Cloche Party!
Love your blog! I’ve painted those lovely houses in your top bar in one of my books, they always make me want to visit SF! We’ve just planted our own victory garden- potatoes would be a fun addition! It’s so rainy her (Cape Cod) that it’s the perfect day for a Blog Party- thanks for the fun! Martha
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Good idea keeping the garden next to the house–that must keep at least some of the critters away!~Tracy
daily decorator’s last blog post..Romeo, Romeo…
I love Victory Gardens as well. We planted one this year. I don’t have a lot of experience in vegetable gardening and I think I planted too many tomato plants…They are close to 4 feet tall and full of little green tomatoes…can’t wait.
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In my efforts to be greener I really wanted to start a little garden. It will have to wait until next year after I move. I’ll have to live vicariously through yours. You just gotta love the lettuces for salads. It is one of the few veggies everyone in my household will agree on. I’d love to have jalapenos and tomatos for fresh pico de gallo. The grocery store just won’t do. Might have to get me one of those upside down thingys. Anyone know if they work?
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I can’t remember exactly where I read it, maybe in some of kids’ learning stuff, but it turns out that the British grew potatoes for like 20 years just for the beautiful flowers, before finding out that they could eat the roots!
LOVE the vintage artwork!!!
Fifi Flowers’s last blog post..Fashionable Day in Milano…
A friend of mines grandmother laughed when she saw the ad for topsy-turvey. She said growning up in Sicily that’s the way they always grew their tomatos. They’d wait until the seedlings were established then rip them out of the grown and hang them upside down on the porch out of the bottom of buckets. She didn’t know any other way until she came to the US.
I love your garden! I haven’t planted many vegetables yet, but I plan to come fall. It is really hot here in East Texas. And humid! Don’t wanna go out if you don’t have to. I do love the vintage images. Can’t have enough of that. I wasn’t aware of this blog carnival, and I don’t have one for Fridays. So I shall bookmark it. Have a wonderful weekend!
Brenda
Brenda Kula’s last blog post..Friday Cloche Party!
You always have such great posts!
Great pictures! Great posters!
Thanks for your posts on celebrity houses! Awesome to be able to look inside their homes!!!!!!!! Thanks again, Luann
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Oh Julia-good for you! We really wanted to plant vegetables this year, but just couldn’t find the time to get it started. We needed to build something to hold them all, and ran out of time this spring. Besides, it rained so much here that they might have drowned! I will definitely plant some potatoes next time. Nothing like having flowers added to the garden, right?
~Misti
Misti England’s last blog post..I confess my love of…
Just saw the movie The Proposal. You are going to want to check out that house!!! It’s amazing : )
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Hi Julia–
I left a comment earlier today, but then I realized that my post today was about something that I really am “hooked on”–so I came back and linked up. Thank you for hosting this feature. It is lots of fun to see what people like. I’ve never hosted a Linky party, but I sure do appreciate those of you who do it regularly.
Richella at Imparting Grace’s last blog post..The best candles and a special offer
Oh I am so jealous! I’m the worst gardener ever. But I’m still trying.
FROM THE RIGHT BANK’s last blog post..Welcome To My New (Blog) Home
For the past four years, I have helped my daughter’s class with their raised vegetable gardens.
Nothing has been more satisfying than making a salad with a bunch of 8 year olds made from the
vegetables that they grew in their own garden.
Great post, Julia.
Happy weekend.
xo
Brooke
velvet and linen’s last blog post..velvet and burlap?
Oooh, home grown strawberries. There’s nothing better! Good luck with the victory garden – show us pics when everything’s grown even more.
lucyatfourwallsandaroof’s last blog post..Hooked on quirky chandeliers
I love gardening. There is something about putting your hands in the dirt! This year we planted radishes and when I was out weeding two days ago— all of the sudden there they were beautiful red little balls coming out ot the earth. I had no idea they would be ready so soon. My three year old and I had a little celebration! Such fun.
Thank you for hosting Hooked on Friday’s, I always love being part of it.
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