Obama, Obama, How Does Your Garden Grow?

Exactly what is the point of having Mrs. Obama plant this garden when it’s abundantly clear she won’t or can’t take the time to cultivate the garden.
No one who gardens is fooled by this effort that’s no more than a publicity stunt.

Less than $200 for the a garden full of 55 different kinds of seedlings and “organic” soil? I don’t believe it.
Plus the labor, and soon the water.
Gardens are nice, but they aren’t cheap or easy.

Jake, please find out what the Obamas planted in their Chicago garden. Fun facts, etc…

Jake, please find out what the Obamas planted in their Chicago garden. Fun facts, etc…
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Oh that would be interesting! I wonder if Sasha and Malia helped with their Chicago garden. I wonder if they’ve had a chance to help with this garden.

When White House chef Sam Kess was working as the Obama’s private chef in Chicago before he was President, did they have a garden there, too?

“Cucumbers, okra, sweet potatoes and kale.”
They’re dissembling on the “soul” vegetables, as well as about the cost of it all (including whatever material is framing the raised beds): sweet potatoes will NOT grow as far north as DC, and it’s about a zillion weeks early for planting okra.
What poor soul is

Poor Gibbs -
I can hear CNN reporter Dan Lothian asking Gibbs “This is something a lot of people are talking about today Michelle Obama, Kids and vegetables?”
I think I starting to like Lothian :-D Helen Thomas is the greatest. I wonder how she feels about all this she goes all the way back to JFK.

This is a great thing the Obama’s are doing. Everybody should learn about where their food comes from.

What is the Chicago agriculturalist using for manure? Obama’s wearing gloves, while the children are not.

My wife is planting vegetables inspired by this example. I bet this is happening all across America right now.

samhiguchi:”$200 my butt, she probably has no idea of how much it costs to plant a garden.”
Nonsense. If you start from seeds (buy a few seed starter trays and peat plugs from Home Depot) $200 is well within reason. Sit down for a minute or two with a few good seed catalogs and the idea that it cost about $4 per variety is hardly absurd, especially if she is making the reasonable assumption that a pack of seeds can last two or three seasons. I keep mine in a mason jar in the refrigerator and have excellent germination rates even from the four-year-old bottom of the pack.
Is this a PR deal? Obviously, she’s first lady. PR is what first ladies do. Are they grossly lying? No. You can make a cheap garden.

“especially if she is making the reasonable assumption that a pack of seeds can last two or three seasons.”
Those little prop children are planting biiig plants, not seeds. The only thing Obama could HOPE to harvest a month from now from seed would be radishes.
How many staff are going to be busy in the wee hours of the night polishing the”garden”, you gotta wonder.

Pants on Fire:” sweet potatoes will NOT grow as far north as DC”
This is just wrong. Are you confusing Yams for Sweet potatoes? Something like a Georgia Jet or Beauregard cultivar only need 100 days of heat. Washington DC is not the place to grow them commercially, but if you want them in your backyard garden go for it.

mad:”Anything that is going to produce in a month is not from seed.”
? They started the garden almost a month ago. How hard is it to imaging they started seeds at that time (or even before)? And as I already mentioned NO ONE said anything was going to produce in a month. Mrs. Obama said June.

Does the $200 include the water and the salary of the white house staff to take care of the garden? Any fertilizer or plant food or insectide included in that? Can someone get a cost accounting for each bunch of spinach for me?

They started the garden almost a month ago. How hard is it to imaging they started seeds at that time (or even before)
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I think that’s possible, but there’s still the price of containers, fertilizers, tools, soil, etc.
Either way, it either cost a lot more than $200 or it took a lot more labor than has been portrayed.
Which isn’t a crime or anything- but because they are hoping to motivate people to action, it would be better to give people a clear idea of what they are getting themselves into.
Gardens are time consuming, labor-intensive, can be expensive, and suffer quickly from even a little neglect.
Surely they don’t want to motivate people to waste their money and time.

Learn to see good in people

“Gardens are time consuming, labor-intensive, can be expensive, and suffer quickly from even a little neglect.
Surely they don’t want to motivate people to waste their money and time.”
The Obamas’ endless performances don’t seem to be meant to “motivate”, so much as to assure media exposure for the permanent campaign.
If this “gardening” gambit had been meant to motivate the masses, it would have been done with demonstrations, Master Gardeners, and a realistic presentation of the costs involved.
Instead, she busses in children for a monthly charade about a subject about which she seems to be devoid of knowledge.

JHW: The first sentence of the article: “Well, if all goes well, it will be producing fresh herbs and vegetables by next month.”

WHERE is the article on the President’s bow to the Saudi King and the White House’s subsequent denial of that bow.
I cannot believe that you haven’t reported anything on this.
What the hell is wrong with the media? When Clinton almost bowed to the Japanese emperor, it was front page news!
GET ON THE JOB!!!!

I love wild blueberries and putting them all over strawberry ice cream :-)

I am in constant awe of our new first lady. It is so cool that she sends the message to Americans to learn how to eat healthy foods, survive despite economic woes with basic food supplies, and beautify your surroundings all at the same time. Down with the money, money, money crew and I got a fancy ride mumbo jumbo. Down with the mentality that food grower ‘jobs’ are for Mexicans. Up with the practicality of self-sustaining instincts and joys of knowing you are that way, touched with all the elegance of healthy, thrifty living. Go Michelle, go!

Pants on Fire,
What’s your problem with teaching American “kids” to be self-sustaining. The era that said people that do work that sustain our survival are mere monkeys is over. Don’g you get it?! Gotta eat!

“Down with the money, money, money crew and I got a fancy ride mumbo jumbo.”
Down with the Obamas’ endless media performances, which don’t quite obscure His bait-and-switch on every issue, or the fact that He’s turning over as much of the Treasury as He can, as fast as He can, to His corporate masters.

Her hair isn’t ‘bleached’. It’s beautiful and natural.

sngeorgia, don’t forget pistachios. Since Obama has been in office we can no longer eat them. Thanks for being fair and balanced.

“every smart person should be planting what they eat.”
GOSH, yes. Especially the wheat. And the corn syrup. And the magic beans.

“What’s your problem with teaching American “kids” to be self-sustaining.”
“Teaching” little girls to love fake foto-ops is something other than “self-sustaining”. At best, it’s exploitative of young girls. At worst, it’s worse.

Everybody could grow a garden like Michelle does, a staff of people to weed, fertilize and water. Must be nice.

I think her garden was a good idea.

phoenix lady,
/—–
I remember how much fun it was for me when my grandfather helped me plant my first garden. He wasn’t a horticultural expert either, but he made it a memorable experience for me. How sad to hear so many of you so filled with scorn and loathing for a lovely woman, trying to do something good. I think this is an experience these kids will cherish.
—–/
Don’t sweat it. It is the bitterness of the right-wing coming out in the ways Obama talked about that was taboo. Honest people rooted in family values are open to teaching the young how to NOT rely on corporate provided food or outsourced labor to eat.
Your story was actually very touching. Bonding moments are made as we learn to appreciate the gifts of the elders that are not rooted in strictness that the youngins’ don’t grasp until much, much later. The best learning is usually from a teacher that teaches something good for self.
I’m a little envious of you reading your story. My grands and greats taught me how to enjoy the fruits, but I never got to see the labor side until I did it myself. Doing it yourself brings a new appreciation for the lessons and the harvest.
Thank you for sharing!

MayBee,
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Ditto not being around when the food is ready to be picked from the vine/tree/plant/ground. It can go waste very quickly.
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Organic waste is much better for your garden, isn’t it? Who needs Scotts for making you scared to eat the stuff after news reports, when you can just use your own wasted foods, coffee grinds, paper, etc. (Admittedly new at this, but it doesn’t make sense to poison the soil when I can know what is going into my own reusable ground.)

Paulson. Geithner. Trillion Dollar Corporate Welfare Checks. Food for thought next time you get bored, Jake. You’re the “hard hitting” one, right? :)

If I had a trillion dollars…
I would buy off the media.

Normal people are not buying this.

common sense:Organic waste is much better for your garden, isn’t it?
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The vegetables wasting on the ground or the vine kinda defeats the point of the garden, doesn’t it?
Fruit and vegetable gardening isn’t a once a month thing, as even Michelle Obama will tell you. It would be interesting to see if reporters follow up on the amount of work (and $) the grounds crew/kitchen staff put into the tending of the garden.
I think the garden idea is nice. I simply think it’s better to be clear about what it takes, especially if they’ve never even started a garden before.

“Again with the freaking garden? This is what passes for news?”
The Obamas hope it will eclipse His 84-billion-dollar request for more robo-war, and their “Seder”.

You guys really aren’t ever going to get over the loss of McCain, huh? Big deal she’s doing a garden thing. What’s really wrong with this? Oh – it’s that it’s Michelle doing it.

As a naturalized U.S. citizen grow up in a refugee camp in Hong Kong. I can really appreciate the First Lady showing the virtue of back to nature and basic living. America is just blessed to have the right leader at the right time

HELLO???? Are you kidding me?! ABC is one of the best news broadcasters and you make a story out of the First Lady growing a garden??? How about news on trying to find the Cantu girl or how spies have infiltrated our energy grid….this stuff disgusts me. I come on this sight to read NEWS not stupid stuff like this…..are yall honestly that out of news and updates??? Give me a break….

Young_voter: So, when it comes to Michelle Obama, you consider $200.00 to be “a fortune”. Very interesting!

Wow… only in America!!!!
Her ancestors used to toil in that very soil as slaves. Now she is graciously doing it as ……
FIRST LADY
Awesome!!!!

Omentum: Aren’t you a bit off the subject? But, since you mention it, the RNC making Mr.Steele their Chairperson as an effort to help broaden their base is like trying to skip arithmetic and go straight to algebra. They have a lot of fundamental changes to make before that base will include minorities.

These goof balls want to see a Garden, in a couple of months they should come to our house.
Last year we had 115 Tomato plants, 2 acres of corn, cucumbers, squash (3 kinds), beets, pepper (green, red, orange, yellow and 4 different kinds of hot).
We have 20 cows, 10 goats, 30 laying hens.
10 apple trees, 25 peach trees, 5 pear trees, 10 cheery (different varieties) trees.
I will probably cut 100 rolls of Hay this year(if rain stays good).
Plus, I am a computer programmer who bills 50 – 55 hours a week and my wife is a RN.
Mrs. Obama is a JOKE! I bet her damned hands have never touched dirt. Sorry, but a bunch of rich people thinking they are farmers.
I have done this all my life (except 8 years in the USMC and 4 years of college). My wife has done it all her life. Our parents before us and those before them.
MY 13 Year old probably knows more about farming then they do.
If they had to do it for a living.. it would be a different story. They have someone growing it for them. LOL

Republicans seem to be so angry, bet they will take out their NRA guns and shoot up something or someone tomorrow( very sad)
maybe they should plant something besides hate!!!

Obama is doing the climat changing , and the tomatoes will be ready by next month.

I can’t believe you don’t have any green beans, and tomatoes. I love this idea, since I gardened most of my adult life. what a great lesson to be learned.

The ABC blog “The Note” seems to be doing a better job covering policy instead of this domestic trivia and photo op stuff.

wow, never had a pet or a garden??

If you do a survey you would find that Republicans are the most frustrated Americans and more prone to heart attacks than people of other political persuasions. Since November that frustration level has gone up so very high. You can see it on the blogs etc..but the bright part of that whole situation for me is the fact that they are now in the minority. These people need our prayers. God bless president Obama and God bless America!

Has Michele ever been in dirt before? good grief….

Why is there no coverage of the Cuba junket made by various house members?

Rasputin3.14,
Because the US just admitted that Posada Corriles is a terrorist, but refuse to charge him with terrorism or murder, only LYING about it.
The hypocricy is astounding.

“In San Jose, peeved citizens cut the cables for the telecomms who do the surveillance work for the “Obama” organization … with the bonus of shutting down the financial institutions.”
n San Jose, vandals apparently entered a manhole between a highway and a railroad track at about 1:30 a.m. and cut four AT&T cables. In San Carlos, about 40 miles north of the San Jose site, some AT&T cables as well as some Sprint cables were cut underground. That attack apparently happened between about 4 a.m. and 5 a.m., said San Carlos Police Department spokesman Rich Cinfio. The San Jose incident affected people in a small area of the city of San Jose, as well as in Santa Cruz and San Benito counties to the south, according to San Jose Police Department spokesman Sgt. Ronnie Lopez. Because emergency 911 calling service was disrupted, law enforcement deployed more officers in some areas to make them more accessible, he said.

This kind of pr isn’t a bad thing. It is an example of how the Obama’s are bringing up their children. I think it is important for kids to learn where their food really comes from, the earth and a bit of tlc. From news reports that the President’s children will make their own beds and pick up their rooms, to buying them a swingset, to their planting a garden, one can see they are giving their children as normal an upbringing as possible.
Every child should experience the miracle of planting seeds, caring for them and picking a harvest. Even if you only have room for a window box or a few pots, kids will enjoy it immensely.

They will not lack fertilizer.

With inflation a certainty in our future because of the out of control spending by Obama and the liberal democrats that control Congress, perhaps we all should plant a garden to help curtail the increase in the cost of food for all of us soon.

Do you guys get pissed off in every single story that has the name “Obama” in it. She’s just planting a garden for godsake, LOL, I mean seriously, of all the things to get angry over….
Are you guys that bitter?

I like the garden idea—and it’s a super message for our fast food nation.
But I don’t like the angle from the First Lady that’s it’s inexpensive when the Obama’s are serving $100 a pound wagyu beef and flying in pizza dough. I really can’t stomach the hypocrisy—no pun intended.