Depression Era Plants

This week, we will look at some Depression era plants that were grown in gardens across the USA by our grandparents and great grandparents to get them through lean times back in the 1930s and early 1940s. They grew vegetables that many of you have never heard of before. The good news is that we carry many of the seeds. Yes, they are still available to grow from seed at David's Garden Seeds®.

Depression Era Plants - 11/24-11/30/2025

This is a root vegetable called Scorzonera. Depression era gardeners grew it because meat was scarce and it tastes like oysters.

Below is a list of all of the seeds we carry now that were available to grow back during the Great Depression.

Black colored Radishes--Nero Tondo
Boston Pickling Cucumber
Brandywine Tomato
Burdock
Carrot--Chantenay, Danvers
Cardoon
Celeriac
Cherokee Purple Tomato
Collard Greens
Crookneck Squash
Dandelion
Deer Tongue Loose Leaf Lettuce
Dill
Dry Beans--Pinto, Midnight Turtle
Early Jersey Wakefield Cabbage
Fennel
Fish Hot Pepper
Glass Gem Corn
Golden Bantam Corn
Ground Cherries
Hamburg Rooted Parsley
Hubbard Squash
Jimmy Nardello Sweet Italian Pepper
Kentucky Wonder Pole Beans
Kohlrabi
Long Island Cheese Pumpkin
Mammoth Melting Snow Pea
Mexican Sour Gherkin Cucumber
Mortgage Lifter Tomato
Parsnips
Perkins Long Pod Okra
Pink Banana Squash
Purple Podded Pole Bean
Red Russian Kale
Rhubarb
Rutabagas--Helenor, Laurentian, American Purple Top
Salsify
Scarlet Runner Bean
Scorzonera--Enorma, Black Root
Shallots--Ambition, Matador, and Creme Brulee
Snowball Cauliflower
Southern Peas aka Cow Peas aka Field Peas--Blackeye, Mississippi Purple, Pinkeye Purplehull, Lady, Zipper Cream, Texas Cream, Knuckle Purplehull
Stinging Nettles
Storage Onions--Patterson, Spanish Sweet, and Red Creole
Straight Eight Cucumber
Strawberry Popcorn
Swiss Chard
Verde Tomatillo
White Egg Turnip
Yard Long Beans--Gita, Python, Red Noodle

Celeriac is a root vegetable that is a cousin to celery. It is known for great taste.

These days, times are tight, and you feel it at the grocery store. So let’s look back together and grow more of our own food, like our grandparents and great grandparents did. You can grow real food, for less money, right in your yard.

In this guide, you’ll find depression era plants to grow in the vegetable garden today. These are hardy, filling, and easy to store. They help you stretch every dollar. Because you grow them yourself, they will taste better and they will not be laden with chemicals. This means they are better for you and your family because they will be healthy.

Picture a small victory garden on your porch or lawn. Simple rows or pots. Strong plants. Big return. You can do this, even with a busy life.

The big idea is simple. Grow calories. Grow nutrients. Grow what keeps well and keeps giving.

My grandpa used to say, “Plant what fills the pot.” For him, that meant potatoes, beans, cabbage, and greens. You can make that your plan too.

Depression Era Plants - What To Plant

Start with potatoes. They feed you in many ways. They bake, mash, fry, and store well.

Plant seed potatoes in spring. Space 12 inches apart, in rows 2–3 feet apart. Hill soil up the stems to get more tubers and block sunlight.

Choose sturdy keepers like Kennebec, Russet, or Yukon Gold. Cure them in a cool, dark space. Then store them where it’s dry and cool.

Add sweet potatoes for dense energy. They love heat and make huge meals. The vines even shade the soil.

Plant slips after frost. Harvest before frost, then cure warm for a week. They get sweeter in storage.

Dry beans were a backbone crop. Pinto, navy, and Great Northern kept many pans bubbling. Protein, fiber, and comfort in a bowl.

Sow in warm soil. Let pods dry on the plant. Shell, then store the beans in a jar.

Grow cowpeas, also called Southern peas like black‑eyed peas or crowders. They handle heat and drought. You can eat the peas and the tender greens.

Try soup peas, also called field peas. Think split pea soup from your yard. Plant early; they like cool weather.

Consider corn for meal, not just sweet corn. Dent and flint types grind into grits, cornbread, and polenta. We have a large selection of dent corn seeds at David's Garden Seeds. That’s serious fuel.

Winter squash are storage champs. Butternut, Hubbard, and Boston Marrow last for months. Roast, mash, or make soup.

Pumpkins are more than pie. They thicken stews and stretch meals. Save the seeds to roast for snacks.

Cabbage gives crunch now and food later. Eat it fresh or make sauerkraut. A few heads go a long way.

Greens keep the vitamins coming. Collards, mustard, and kale thrive with steady picking. Cut and come again for months.

Grow turnips for roots and greens. They are fast and reliable. Eat them small and tender or let them bulk up.

Don’t skip rutabagas. They look like big turnips and store well. Mash them with butter or add to stew.

Beets do double duty. Sweet roots and tasty greens. Plant a patch and harvest both.

Try mangel‑wurzel, the giant “mangel” beet. Old‑timers used it for animal feed and for people too. Slice and roast like a beet, or shred into soups.

Carrots are steady keepers. Sow in loose soil. Store in a box of sand in a cool space.

Parsnips sweeten after frost. Leave some in the ground and dig in late fall. They roast like candy.

Depression era plants like salsify helped fill hungry tummies when there was no money to buy food. It also tastes like oysters.

Meet salsify, the “oyster plant.” It’s a mild white root that was common a century ago. Peel and pan‑fry or add to soups.

Scorzonera, or black salsify, is similar and hardy. It can live in the ground over winter. It’s an old taste worth bringing back.

Kohlrabi looks odd but grows fast. The bulb stem is crisp and sweet. Eat it raw or sautéed.

Celeriac is the knobby cousin of celery. It stores like a champ. Cube it for soups or mash it with potatoes.

Jerusalem artichoke, or sunchoke, is tough and productive. It grows tall and makes lots of tubers. Plant it where it can spread.

Onions are kitchen gold. Plant sets for bulbs. Choose storage types like Spanish Sweet or Red Creole.

Plant garlic in fall for next summer. It asks for little and gives a lot. Braid and hang to cure.

Leeks keep you cooking all winter. They handle cold and taste rich. Hill the stems to blanch them.

Radishes fill gaps fast. Try French Breakfast or White Icicle radish. You can even eat the seed pods of “rat‑tail” radish.

Swiss chard is a workhorse green. It survives heat and light frost. Pick leaves for months.

Spinach loves cool weather. Sow early and again in fall. When it bolts, switch to beet greens for the same feel.

Okra shines in heat. Pick pods short and tender. It fries, stews, and thickens gumbo.

Tomatoes were a canning star. Paste types like Roma make sauces that stretch meals. Grow a few slicers too.

Peppers add flavor without cost. Sweet bells and hot chili peppers dry well. A pinch of heat makes simple food sing.

Herbs stretch simple dishes. Dill, parsley, thyme, and sage were pantry basics. A handful turns “plain” into “good.”

Plant a few perennials for steady harvests. Rhubarb, asparagus, and sorrel come back each year. They offer early food when you need it.

Try Egyptian walking onions. They multiply on their own. Snip greens year‑round.

Some folks still pick wild greens. Dandelion and lamb’s quarters are common. Learn safe ID first and only harvest clean sites.

Add old pie plants for treats. Ground cherries (husk cherries) are sweet and fruity. Garden huckleberry cooks into jam and pie when ripe and prepared.

Let easy plants reseed. Dill and cilantro will pop up next year. That saves money and time.

Tight on space? Use containers and trellises. Pole beans, cucumbers, and peas all climb.

Plan successions. Cool‑season roots and greens in spring. Warm‑season staples in summer. Then fall greens and roots again.

Save seeds from open‑pollinated varieties. Beans, peas, and tomatoes are beginner‑friendly. Keep squash and melons separate if you want pure seed.

Build soil like your grandparents did. Add compost, leaves, and well‑rotted manure. Mulch to hold water and block weeds.

Water smart. Deep, rare watering grows strong roots. Mulch thick and try drip lines if you can.

Potatoes planted in one of our troughs...

On a budget? Start with a short list. Potatoes, dry beans, cabbage, kale, beets, onions, and a winter squash can feed you well.

Learn simple storage. Dry beans in jars, onions and garlic braided, squash on shelves. Ferment cabbage, can tomatoes, and dry peppers.

Cook like it’s 1933. Bean soup with cornbread. Skillet hash with potatoes, onions, and greens. Succotash of corn and beans. Colcannon of potatoes and kale.

This is more than food. It’s control, hope, and health. We need nutritious foods that we can grow in our backyards during lean times, and these crops deliver.

If you want real food to feed the family in the depression style, start planting now. Choose depression era plants to grow in the vegetable garden today, and build your own victory garden one row at a time. Your future self will thank you.

My grandmother used to serve rutabagas with meals. They have a mildly sweet flavor and I like them better than turnips.

Monday, November 24, 2025

This is Azur Star Kohlrabi. You can grow unusual Depression era plants like this in your garden.

Good morning and happy Thanksgiving week! Today was supposed to be our best chance for rain but according to Alexa, there is a zero chance today. It is now 7am and still no rain. Yesterday's rain did not even register on our rain gauge.

As you read above, this week's garden topic is Depression era plants. My grandparents were in their 20s when the Great Depression began and they had big gardens to feed their families. Both of my parents were born in the 1930s so they grew up during this time. Money was tight which is why they had to grow food. I watched several videos describing vegetables they grew back in the 1930s and 1940s. It turns out that we sell a lot of the seeds for these vegetables.

I got all of the onion start orders shipped out today. David said they will only be shipped out on Mondays. Wouldn't you know it, after the mailman came, we got another onion start order so that order will be with us until next Monday. We have four more onion sets, each with about 48 starts in it. They can also be bought in person.

I wrote three emails about our Black Friday sale today and got those scheduled. We will be having a 25% off sale on all of our regular sized seed packs starting at 6pm CST on Thanksgiving evening and that will go through midnight on Cyber Monday, December 1.

Tuesday, November 25, 2025

Sunrise behind the big oak tree this morning.

Good morning. It is 52° and the air feels lovely this morning. I had to step outside to get the sunrise shot because my windows are dirty. While I was out there, I noticed the dogs got one of my boots. I will have to go out and retrieve it before they tear it up. I hate that they now have access to the full fenced in backyard instead of just half of it.

David has heard that possibly the two smaller buildings could be moved today but we have heard that so many times now. The big one was supposed to be moved on Thanksgiving Day but now that has been moved to next Monday, December 1. We will see. We ought to be charging this guy rent.

I will be making a homemade chicken pot pie for dinner tonight. Tomorrow night, we plan on making the chile rellenos again with slightly smaller peppers.

I also need to bake the cornbread today for the Thanksgiving dressing so it has a chance to dry out some.

We had a helper out in the asparagus patch today working with Matt to get the ferns trimmed down and cover it all with hay just in case we have some winter weather.

I filled orders and counted seeds. No customers or other visitors came today. That means that no buildings were removed but are we really surprised they did not show up???

We got a notice saying that our PCP will be leaving the new health plan we chose for 2026. The plan picked out a nice new PCP for us, one who doesn't accept any new patients according to the internet...Fun times.

The Spanish Sweet onion is one of the Depression era plants to grow if you want onions that store well over winter.

My homemade chicken pot pie turned out to be very tasty, certainly way better than frozen ones.

Wednesday, November 26, 2025

This is Glass Gem corn, a favorite Depression era plant.

Good morning. It is the day before Thanksgiving. I need to make my pie and boil some eggs for a starter. Yes, we are still working.

Sammy enjoys being by my feet. She constantly steps in front of me as I am walking, trying to trip me.

I filled some orders and counted some seeds. Then I went in the house, ate lunch, and worked on my Thanksgiving pie-Dolly Parton's Butterscotch Pie. I wanted to try something new this year instead of pumpkin and pecan so I found this recipe online but it was not at all like any pie I have ever made. No, I did not make a box of butterscotch pudding. This was all made from scratch including the pecan crust.

Putting the butterscotch filling together using butter, brown sugar, cornstarch, flour, milk, and vanilla.

The only problem was that I did not have a double boiler so I had to put one pot in another and I spilled water all over my stove a few times...but the pie turned out beautifully.

My first butterscotch pie ever using Dolly Parton's recipe. I think it turned out amazingly!

I boiled some eggs for deviled eggs which I will make in the morning. I will also make some jalapeno potatoes, a dish that my mother-in-law always served on her holiday table, and a green bean casserole that both Matthew and David love. David has decided he wants to make the dressing this year. He will be smoking the turkey and I am so excited about that. I love smoked turkey.

Thursday, November 27, 2025

The sun is starting to come up...

Good morning. Happy Thanksgiving! When I got up at 6:30am, David already had the turkey out on the smoker. It is 45°. I have had some mushroom coffee and now it is time to go out and feed the animals.

Hubbard Blue squash is one of the Depression era plants grown in many victory gardens.

I took care of all of the animals and then got ready for the day. I made the deviled eggs, green bean casserole, and jalapeno potatoes. The turkey was very good. David also made the dressing.

The butterscotch pie was very good. It stayed overcast all day long. We started watching a new show, Tulsa King with Sylvester Stallone. It is really good.

Matt and I took all the meat off of the bones this afternoon and I am making bone broth now.

Here is our turkey right out of the smoker. It was delicious!

Friday, November 28, 2025

Grow Depression era plants like the Pink Banana Jumbo winter squash. I grew this in the spring of 2025.

Good morning. It is 56° but the high will be 67°. We are closed today but our Black Friday sale online is going on for the weekend through Cyber Monday. Save 25% on all regular sized, regularly priced seed packs.

I made scrambled eggs with jalapeno potatoes for breakfast. It was delicious!

I took care of all of the animals. Then I pulled whatever meat was left on the turkey carcass and froze the meat and the bone broth for a cool day when I want some delicious homemade soup.

I cut up some turkey for sandwiches and took all of the leftovers out to the chickens. I got the dishes going again and so far today, I have washed two loads of laundry and folded three loads with another to fold in the basket plus the two that are still going in the washer and in the dryer.

All Thanksgiving decor is down. My Christmas tablecloth is now on the table with some lovely smelling Christmas candles. I have made a picnic lunch because it is a lovely, cool day for a picnic.

David is outside doing some yard and garden work.

Well, we never got to take that picnic. Earlier this week, David decided we would drive down to Dixondale for more onion starts. He called. The girl on phone duty told him the onion starts would be harvested this morning and would be ready for pickup by 3pm today. David said we would leave here at 1pm today. I asked him earlier in the week if he was sure they would be open today. Well, they weren't.

David called and called but no one ever answered at 1pm and after. Somebody has no clue about her office hours. I am glad we did not drive all that way for nothing.

So we jumped in the truck and drove to Devine to get hay and feed.

At 4pm, it was supposed to start raining. Ha ha ha! I went out to put the animals away early so I would not get drenched in the chilly air. It never rained.

The mailman just delivered the mail at 4:40pm today. Wow.

I will be making turkey enchiladas today for dinner. I thought that sounded good.

I have now folded most of the laundry and the tree is about as decorated as it will be now that it is just me doing the work. The mantle is decorated. I have to run the boxes outside.

No one ever came to move the three buildings but now we hear that all three will be moved on this coming Monday. I have a lot of doubts because we have heard this so many times.

Saturday, November 29, 2025

This is Strawberry Cherry Berry popcorn, one of the many Depression era plants that our grandparents grew.

Good afternoon. It is 12:30pm. I was up early and went out back to take care of the animals. I actually separated the three younger goats from the two mothers. I believe both mothers are expecting on December 7 so they needed to be separated. The babies, who are now full grown, are not taking it well and their mothers are flipping out.

We have been looking for a male Nigerian Dwarf goat service but have not been able to find one locally.

I thought we were not going to work today but a lot of people have been calling David on Thanksgiving and on Black Friday asking if we would be open today. He said yes and every one of them said they would be here today between 10am and 2pm. Not one has shown up yet. I have been pulling orders the entire time and I am still not done.

We're here waiting to serve you from 10am-2pm on Saturday, 9am-5pm on Monday-Friday.

The sky is overcast but we did not get one drop of rain last night or overnight and certainly not today. It is a bit humid and 75° now.

The mailman made it just before the gate closes today. None of those who called came.

We may have found a male goat to buy. He is an eight month old Nigerian Dwarf in a small town just outside of San Antonio. We have not had any luck trying to find one to rent. I think that is strange because all of my goat books say you should be able to rent one.

Looks like we will be going to get this new addition to our family on Wednesday.

This is a photo of the boy goat we will probably be buying next week.

We made chile rellenos again tonight for dinner only this time we wrapped them in bacon before dipping them in batter. They were absolutely delicious!

We wrapped the stuffed peppers with bacon and then dipped them in flour and batter.

The fried chile relleno covered in cheese sauce. This is how they are served in El Paso. They were delicious!

Around 10pm, the heavens opened very briefly for about 10 minutes and we got a bit of rain. It sounded loud but it barely moved the rain gauge.

When Matt got here this evening, he unloaded the hay and feed for us.

Sunday, November 30, 2025

This is Dragon fennel, another one of the Depression era plants found in many victory gardens.

This morning it is cold and windy at 54°. I still have to go out and feed everyone. The high today is supposed to be 54° and it is only 7:45am.

I went into what felt like the Arctic tundra and got the animals taken care of. Ethel is still bellowing away at being away from her mama. She is so loud. As I mentioned, Trixie and Alice are about to have babies and they don't need some eight and nine month old, full sized girls trying to nurse. I probably should have separated them from their mothers a few months ago.

I am freezing in this house. The temperature has dropped a few degrees. David is wearing shorts and says he is fine. I have long pants and a jacket on. Usually, I am the hot one.

We had leftovers for lunch and I am falling asleep at my desk.

I went out at 4:30pm to put everyone away for the night and the air felt so cold but it is 52°. It really should not feel that cold but the wind is biting. Ethel is still so upset to be away from her mother. I gave her some goat treats. She calmed down and then when I left, she started up again.

Our neighbors brought us some tamales made by a family member. We have had them before and they are incredible. We put them in the freezer so we can have them close to Christmas. Yum! Thank you!

Return from Depression Era Plants to Year 7 Of Farm Life

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