Gardening in wartime

I wrote here about my Dad's Italian POWs in North Africa, and how charming they were.  One of the things he found especially memorably was how they coaxed gardens out of the desert.  Since it's Memorial Day, it's probably no coincidence that I found this NPR story, complete with amazing pictures, about people (soliders, civilians, prisoners) during times of war, growing gardens as an act of normalcy and strength.