Vegetable gardens were an integral part of my family’s life going back multiple generations. It was a rite of passage to plant the vegetable gardens (note the plural form) each spring with anticipation of a bountiful harvest in the summer and likewise for the fall garden. Like my grandparents before her, my mother cultivated vegetable gardens that included rows of beautiful collard greens, turnip greens, corn, string beans, peas, okra, tomatoes, cabbage, sweet potatoes and white potatoes. My family had at least two vegetable garden locations on small parcels of land near our home and my grandparents had gardens on their property. When my grandparents could no longer maintain vegetable gardens due to their advancing age, my mother took over the task of planting and cultivating their gardens in addition to her own. The vegetables were preserved for the long winter months by blanching them and stored in plastic bags. The yield from our gardens was so plentiful that it required several large freezers to accommodate the many bags of preserved vegetables. We also shared vegetables with friends and neighbors in our community.
Vegetable gardens has a long history in the African American community. For enslaved African Americans, growing their own vegetables came out of a necessity to provide food which often supplemented the inadequate rations of slaveholders. The slaves introduced foods to the American South such as black-eyed peas, watermelon, and collard greens. Planting vegetables gardens is gaining interest among contemporary African American families due to rising food prices, the threat of reductions in federal nutrition programs and concerns about the safety of the food supply. Like the slaves from centuries ago, today’s Black Americans view growing their own food as a way of survival in a world filled with uncertainty and anti-black hostility that threatened the ability of families to put food on the table. And vegetable gardens can be created on large plots of land or in places with limited spaces with the use of metal or wooden raised garden boxes making it convenient for those living in urban areas. There are good resources to help both the experienced and novice gardner on how to successfully grow vegetables. Another indirect benefit of having gardens is the physical activity associated with working in the garden and cultivating vegetables. Getting outdoors and moving around provides physical benefits and can be a source of stress release.
We salute the renewed interest in vegetable gardening within the Black community which can lead to both mental and physical benefits.