V is for Victory

Last summer, my dear friend/neighbor asked me if I wanted to garden with him in his enclosed garden so that I won’t be sad when deer eat my tomato flowers. I would also be able to grow other vegetables because deer, squirrels, rabbits and chipmunks wouldn’t eat them! OF COURSE I WOULD! I JUMPED WITH JOY!!! All winter I dreamed about this garden and what vegetables I would plant. Of course, I would keep my current tomato bed, but I would also be able to plant all kinds of other wonderful vegetables under my experienced friend’s tutelage. I prayed that my local garden shop sold all the vegetables I wanted to plant!

Then the Coronavirus hit the U.S.. The quarantine was declared in New York and other Northeastern states. Wisconsin eventually followed. Cleaning supplies, toilet paper, canned goods and meat were sold in limited quantities per purchase. Then I remembered that Americans grew Victory Gardens during World War II. I was inspired to name my new garden The Victory Garden and only plant vegetables that I grew from seed. It seemed like just the right time to get back to basics and live without some of the luxuries we so often take for granted. I remembered that I used to watch Crockett’s Victory Garden on PBS with my Dad when I was growing up and that my best friend/suburban gardening partner gave me his book, Crockett’s Victory Garden by James Underwood Crockett. Even though I had only planted tomatoes and basil from seed before, everything around me seemed to point me towards planting a Victory Garden for vegetables that I only grew from seed.