Historic Gardens

Garden Tips from The Past

by Seasonal Wisdom on March 11, 2012

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This is the time of year when even city folks start to dream of a little garden of their own. After the winter months, these warmer days have long inspired weather proverbs, poems and superstitions, as you’ll see from these old garden tips from long ago.

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Great Garden Advice from Thomas Jefferson

by Seasonal Wisdom on June 5, 2011

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Thomas Jefferson, the third president of the United States, was the author of the Declaration of Independence and founded the University of Virginia. But he also was a highly knowledgeable gardener and farmer. At Monticello, he grew 330 varieties of vegetables, 170 fruit varieties and amazing flower gardens, such as these larkspurs (Consolida orientalis) growing in the west front of the property. Not surprisingly, this wise gardener practiced crop rotation in his garden too.

Photo copyright © Thomas Jefferson Foundation, Inc.

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Vintage School Book Teaches Kids About Soil

June 2, 2011
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Vintage magazines, cookbooks and educational materials offer wonderful ways to better understand our culture in earlier times. Often featuring delightful illustrations or old photographs, these vintage periodicals can be found at garage sales, flea markets, library bookstores, and antique markets for a couple dollars. Recently, I found a school booklet from 1953, published by the National Wildlife Federation. Nearly [...]

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The Story Behind the White House Garden

June 17, 2009

The seeds of the newly built White House kitchen garden were sown long before the Obama family arrived in the nation’s capital last January. In fact, the idea started the year before at a much smaller white house in Maine on a cold February day. Not the best time for outdoor gardening, but definitely a [...]

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Great Victory Garden Resource

April 8, 2009

So, now that you’ve learned a bit about the Victory Gardens in WWI/WWII — not to mention how one artist interprets The Victory Garden of Tomorrow — are you hooked yet? Want to learn more about Victory Gardens? No problem. Just get yourself over to Red, White and Grew. It’s a wonderful clearinghouse of resources, [...]

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A Historian Looks Back at Victory Gardens

April 5, 2009

Imagine a world where millions of healthy kitchen gardens are created throughout the nation, for the rich and the poor, because the government makes it the patriotic thing to do. Is this idea some wild and strange utopian concept? Nope. It’s happened before in the United States. In fact, the seeds of this initiative sprouted [...]

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The Victory Garden of Tomorrow

April 5, 2009

Call these art posters the answer to old-fashioned Victory Garden propaganda for the 21st century. At The Victory Garden of Tomorrow, Portland, Oregon-based artist Joe Wirtheim mixes vintage-style themes with contemporary concerns about organic foods, recycling, composting and more. Fun art that promotes a good cause. What could be better? Check ‘em out!

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