There have been a lot of questions here on Garden Variety about dealing with vegetable garden pests, particularly squirrels and rabbits.

But our readers aren't the only ones asking those questions.

Mike Hendricks of the Kansas City Star, who describes himself as an avid gardener, actually called the White House press office and asked what the First Lady planned to do about the squirrels in her vegetable garden.

"I went on to explain that, by squirrels, I was not referring to the White House press corps or Congress," Hendricks writes.

Apparently, Washington has one of the highest squirrel populations per square yard - or however you measure such things - in the country.

The Very Transparent Obama Administration got back to the interpid Hendricks and said, by way of background, that natural pesticides would be used, along with very fine netting, to keep the squirrels out of the garden.

Photo credit: Baltimore Sun staff