Stay-at-Home Life: How to Grow Your Own Vegetables for Better Health

The coronavirus pandemic is changing life all over the world, and many Americans are using some of their sudden surplus of spare time at home to plant a their own garden.  Green America is promoting the Climate Victory Gardens, which is rising in popularity and has helped to grow 2,400 backyard gardens being used to supplement American home pantries in these trying times.

Inspired by the “Victory Gardens” planted during WWI and WWII that drove the creation of nearly 20 million gardens that produced 40% of the fresh fruits and vegetables consumed in the U.S. at the time, Climate Victory Gardens, empowers Americans to grow their own produce while incorporating regenerative agriculture techniques that help fight climate change.  Green America estimates that current gardens are offsetting the equivalent of taking over 70,000 cars off the road for a year.

Research shows that the world’s current climate crisis is a contributor to many epidemics and pandemics, so families that grow their own gardens can be part of the solution to reduce future pandemics and future challenges associated with the crisis.

Jes Walton, food campaigns manager at Green America, said: “In this time of crisis and uncertainty, growing your own food can be empowering. Gardening provides Americans with a way to be more self-sufficient, and when the principles of regenerative agriculture are applied, it can be part of the climate solution. Let’s work together to support our communities and the planet.”

 

To plant your own Climate Victory Garden, start by following these five steps:

1. Ditch the Chemicals
2. Keep the Soil Covered
3. Encourage Biodiversity
4. Grow Food
5. Compost

You can see detailed instructions at https://www.greenamerica.org/climate-victory-gardening-101.  Climate Victory Gardens across the country are being tracked through Green America’s searchable map.  To register your own Climate Victory Garden, visit: https://greenam.org/garden.  You can also see a how-to-video, featuring Rosario Dawson and Ron Finley, for gardeners who want to take advantage of the spring growing season to plant their own garden.