April 2021 Update

Chun Sim and her husband, Seang Samet live in Sdok Chum village in Cambodia and are both farmers by trade. They first created their victory garden back in October 2018. Their initial plan was to only grow herbs. Fast forward 2+ years and Chun has expanded her garden to include more than 30 kinds of vegetables, herbs and fruit trees.

She has chosen to grow both long-term plants (plants that produce food several months after planting and come back annually) and short-term plants (those that can be harvested in 2 months or less). To make it easier to retain water during the dry season, conserve space, and easily relocate during the rainy season, she has begun using foam containers to plant some of the long-term vegetables like green onion, lemon grass, turmeric, and chili, and bamboo circle enclosures and plastic bottles for a lot of the short-term vegetables, like green mustard, cabbage, long bean, and cucumber.

Chun and her family have stated that in addition to the benefits that victory gardens provide in normal times (food security, added health benefits, and additional income from the sale of surplus vegetables) they now have a greater sense of security during Covid knowing that they are able to provide for their family without having to go to the market to buy food.