12 Fantastic Victory Garden Posters

During World War I and World War II, gardening took on a distinctly martial air. Citizens were encouraged to grow their own backyard produce (dubbed “war gardens” in WWI and “victory gardens” in WWII, which shows how far the art of positive spin had progressed in just a few decades). At the same time, food rationing was in effect domestically to support overseas troops – “An army marches on its stomach,” goes the quote by Napoleon Bonaparte – and citizens were encouraged to think carefully about food waste and watching what they ate.

“It gave everyone a sense of contributing to the war effort, sometimes in the most minuscule ways,” says Dr. Paul Ruffin, Distinguished Professor of English at Texas State University, who has written about victory gardens. “If they could grow a few vegetables, even just to feed their family, that meant they weren’t taking away from national resources. And in many cases, they would grow a sufficient quantity of vegetables they could contribute directly to the war effort.”

Culled from the Library of Congress, some of our favorite food posters from that era. Start a garden and salute.

[mf_image_caption layout=”bottom” img=”https://modernfarmer.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Grow-it-Yourself.jpg” desc=”Herbert Bayer, 1943, NYC WPA War Services”]

[mf_image_caption layout=”bottom” offset=”no” img=”https://modernfarmer.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/food-is-ammunition.jpg” desc=”John E. Sheridan, 1918, U.S. Food Adminstration”]

[mf_image_caption layout=”bottom” img=”https://modernfarmer.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/registered-war-garden.jpg” desc=”J.N. Dingo, 1918, R.R. Donnelley & Sons Co.”]

[mf_image_caption layout=”bottom” img=”https://modernfarmer.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/can-fruits-and-vegetables.jpg” desc=”J. Paul Verrees, 1918, National War Garden Commission”]

[mf_image_caption layout=”bottom” img=”https://modernfarmer.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/sow-the-seeds.jpg” desc=”James Montgomery Flagg, 1918, National War Garden Commission”]

[mf_image_caption layout=”bottom” img=”https://modernfarmer.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/the-fruits-of-victory.jpg” desc=”Leonebel Jacobs, 1918, National War Garden Commission”]

[mf_image_caption layout=”bottom” img=”https://modernfarmer.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/clean-plate.jpg” desc=”L. Mallory, 1917, New York State Department of Health”]

[mf_image_caption layout=”bottom” img=”https://modernfarmer.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/food-dont-waste-it.jpg” desc=”Frederic G. Cooper, 1917, U.S. Food Administration”]

[mf_image_caption layout=”bottom” img=”https://modernfarmer.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/garden.jpg” desc=”A. Hoen & Co., 1917, U.S. Department of Agriculture”]

[mf_image_caption layout=”bottom” offset=”no” img=”https://modernfarmer.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/war-gardens-.jpg” desc=”Stecher-Traung Lithograph Corporation, 1939-45″]

[mf_image_caption layout=”bottom” offset=”no” img=”https://modernfarmer.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/enlist-now.jpg” desc=”Edward Penfield, 1918, Bureau of Education”]

[mf_image_caption layout=”bottom” offset=”no” img=”https://modernfarmer.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/preserve-food.jpg” desc=”William Tasker, 1941-1943, WPA War Services Project”]