In
December 1941, the Secretary of Agriculture, Claude Wickard,
made an announcement that because commercial farmers were
busy feeding the U.S. military personnel, U.S. civilians who
wanted fresh vegetables on their tables should plant a 'Victory
Garden'.
Millions
of civilians who had no clue of how a garden was handled,
suddenly began planting a types of vegetables in every imaginable
place from prisons to zoos to school rooms.
To
help with this massive undertaking, the Department of Agriculture
and seed companies put out tremendous amounts of information.
Soon
states were helping with the promotions, for example, in Tennessee,
home farmers were refered to as 'Sunday Farmers'. Tennessee
gave a special State Certificate of Recognition to any 'Sunday
Farmer' that grew 75% of their food.

By
1943, 'Sunday Farmers' with their 'Victory Gardens' produced
approximately 1/3 of all the fresh vegetables consumed in
the country.

Note
this is a photo of Harry Ducote at his parking lot here in
New Orleans just a block off of Canal Street with his 'Victory
Garden'.