Steal This Look: Michelle Obama's White House Garden - Gardenista
One cold, windy morning three years ago, First Lady Michelle Obama grabbed a pitchfork and joined 23 fifth-graders on the White House lawn to do something no one had dared since World War II: They dug up the grass to plant vegetables. Photographs by Quentin Bacon for American Grown, except where noted. The 1,100-square-foot White House Kitchen Garden cost $200 to create (excluding the salaries of the National Park Service staff who tended it) and yielded, by the end of its first growing season, 740 pounds of fresh produce. Michelle Obama and her dog, Bo, inspect the crops. Photograph by Justine Hand. Marigolds, to keep away aphids, edge the White House garden paths. The White House garden, spring of 2011. For heirloom varieties, a seed packet is $1.75 at D. Landreth Seed Company. Lettuce and other vegetables at the White House garden are planted in raised beds. A rot-resistant Cedar Raised Bed Kit is $149.95 to $179.95, depending on size, from Williams-Sonoma Agrarian. A Seed Rule to space plants precisely. The original planting plan, circa 2009, of the First Lady’s vegetable garden. Rust-resistant copper tools are fit for turning the dirt at the White House; the set includes a Copper Long-Handle Fork; it’s $299.95 from Williams-Sonoma Agrarian. On the perimeter of the White House garden are blueberry and raspberry bushes; established pots of 2.5-foot-high Blueberries are $49.95 each from Williams-Sonoma Agrarian. The First Lady’s new book, American Grown, is $19.71 from Amazon.