RELIEF GARDENS

RELIEF GARDENS. The GREAT DEPRESSION struck the the United States at the end of 1929 and lasted until 1939. With hundreds of thousands out of work and in serious financial trouble, city government began relief gardening programs to fight hunger, poverty, and emotional stress. Relief gardens were also called welfare garden plots, vacant lot gardens, and subsistence gardens accomplished more than providing needed food. They gave participants feelings of usefulness, productivity, and importance. (1)

The relief garden movement faced many problems. Organizers argued about the size and and make-up of gardens. Many wondered if the depression would even last long enough for the relief gardens to be necessary. During these early years ordinary citizens were incredibly helpful in supporting gardening programs. Vacant lots were turned into "relief gardens" designed by those that still had jobs to help feed those that did not have food for the table. (2) In Detroit, city employees donated monthly contributions from their salaries to raise the $10,000 necessary for financing a free garden program. (3)

These disagreements and organizational challenges were solved by 1933. By this time, non-governmental organizations such as the Family Welfare Society and the Employment Relief Commission formed garden committees to help combat hunger. Those with land of their own were encouraged to cultivate it instead of taking up valuable gardening space in the overflowing relief gardens. (4) Relief gardens found support among those who did not believe in welfare. On February 3, 1933, the Cleveland Plain Dealer reported on “the merits of work over direct relief.” (5) Seeds and supplies were provided for those working the gardens. In Dubuque, the city furnished some of the seeds and ground on CITY ISLAND. Some vegetables were grown in enough abundance to be sold from house to house. (6)

Between 1933 and 1936 ,the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) gave over three billion dollars of aid to work garden program. Gardeners received a wage for cultivating and distributing produce to those in need. These gardeners, however, had to meet strict eligibility requirements to participate. The work garden program shifted relief gardens from being for anyone in need to being jobs for some. This program lasted until 1935. (7)

An addition to the federal gardening program, individual gardening programs, continued in cities around the country. In New York City, a gardening campaign led by the welfare department and helped by the Works Progress Administration (WPA), resulted in the formulation of over 5,000 gardens in vacant lots. These 5,000 gardens produced $5 worth of vegetables for every dollar invested resulting in a total of $2.8 million worth of food by 1934. (8)

In 1935 the government cut funding for relief gardening programs because they were no longer viewed as as opportunities for success and improvement of life. The country’s experience with the success of relief gardens in the early 1930s made them receptive to the VICTORY GARDEN during WORLD WAR II. (9)

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Source:

1. History of Urban Agriculture. "Depression Relief Gardens: 1929-1939," Online: http://sidewalksprouts.wordpress.com/history/relief-garden/

2. "Depression Gardening," Landscape America. Online: http://www.landscape-america.com/gardens/depression-gardens.html

3. History of Urban Agriculture.

4. Ibid.

5. The Cleveland Memory Project. "Work Relief Gardens," Online: http://www.clevelandmemory.org/urbag/relief.html

6. Five Families in Dubuque: The Urban Depression 1937-1938, "Beuscher Family Interview," Online: http://www.uni.edu/iowahist/Social_Economic/Urban_Depression/urban_depression.htm#Beuscher%20Family%20Interview%20December%201937

7. History of Urban Agriculture.

8. Ibid.

9. Ibid.