I’ve said before that ours is the third serious wave of victory gardening stateside in the last century. But now I wonder if, technically speaking, we might be on our fourth?

Exhibit A: A Google News timeline for the phrase “victory garden”

Notice the blips at the end of WWI and during the start of WWII. Look, too, for the rise in the popularity of the term in the late 1970s (and an era known for its energy crisis). Of course, I’ve discussed the popularity of home gardens during the 1960s and ’70s, but hadn’t been able to “see” how popular the notion became. (Credit, too, to PBS’s long-running and popular series, The Victory Garden.)

Exhibit B: A Google New timeline for “victory garden” during the period 2000 to 2010

You’ll see here a rise in in the media’s use of the term in 2000, a slump after 2001 (which is counter to what I’d thought before), a rise in ’03 and a plateau followed by a 2006 dip. Then, of course, there’s the steady climb between 2007 through to 2009, when The White House was revived.

Where are we headed now? Well, for 2010, we’re almost at the half-way point for 2008, but I’ll wager a guess–based upon my “read” of media articles of late (the term seems less popular overall this year than last–though traffic here at RW&G continues to go up), we’ll see a dip similar to what we saw in 2004. However, I think the current Gulf crisis might increase Americans’ willingness to grow their own food again next spring.

None of this is scientific, naturally. But it is good, clean, geeky fun!

Now to figure out how to include this in my Google Knol.