White House garden envy
The White House kitchen garden is one any vegetable gardener would envy.
L-shaped and nestled in some trees in the South Lawn, it is perfectly manicured and incredibly bountiful.
White House chef Sam Kass, who has become something of a rock star since the garden was planted in April, said he and members of the White House staff do one big weeding every week to keep the garden in shape.
No signs of insect damage or disease, but Kass said no pesticides or chemical fertilzers are used.
"It isn't certified organic, but it's organic," he said.
Once the turf was lifted by Michelle Obama and her grade-school helpers, the soil was amended with crab meal, green sand, compost and powdered lime before the seeds and seedlings were planted.
The rainy spring is the reason the garden is so bountiful, Kass said. "Kale, collard greens and chard have been non-stop. The snap peas are going crazy."
Some of the lettuces were planted with seeds handed down from Thomas Jefferson's gardens and have been allowed to bolt and go to seed this spring. The children will harvest the seeds and learn that even plants have history, Kass said.
Photo credit: Associated Press
Comments
Ha haaa.. "isnt certified organic, but it's organic..." ..i love that. Great article and beautiful, heart-warming photo. Thanks!
Posted by: Marena Beasley | June 16, 2009 8:08 PM
That is a lot of food out of the garden already. What a wonderful job you did on covering this story. It was nice to read. Thank you again.
Dan and Deanna "Marketing Unscrambled"
Posted by: Dan and Deanna | June 17, 2009 12:53 AM
That garden is a great teaching opportunity! Suggest you also check out Good Agricultural Practices at: http://www.foodsafety.gov/~dms/prodguid.html. The National GAPs Program has additional resources, including a produce safety coloring & activity book for children
and www.gaps.cornell.edu
Here is a link to the coloring book. http://www.gaps.cornell.edu/educationalmaterials.html and a few pages on PDF http://www.gaps.cornell.edu/Educationalmaterials/Samples/CBSampleEng.pdf
http://www.fightbac.org/content/view/5/12/
Posted by: Michelle | June 17, 2009 9:49 AM
this is the best. great work.
the pic for the RSS feed just shows the top of her head - needs some help from tech.
thank you, Susan. this is stuff that I would never read in hard copy, but on a screen, wow! the format is great. the new front page of the Sun, not so good.
Posted by: @ecogordo | June 17, 2009 2:05 PM
That garden was bought at a produce section and faked. That is staged and you all know it!
Posted by: Clint Brown | June 17, 2009 2:32 PM
Of course they all know it. They're just forbidden to say or report it.
Posted by: vanderleun@comcast.net | June 17, 2009 2:46 PM
Oh, Clint and vanderleun ... would stop-action photography convince you? Probably not.
Posted by: Dahlink | June 17, 2009 5:00 PM
It's true, Clint Brown! And you're also right about man never landing on the moon. Those pictures WERE faked!
Posted by: Eve | June 18, 2009 10:31 AM