The White House South lawn now has much more flavor. The First Lady, surrounded by local fifth-graders, broke ground on a new 1,100 square foot vegetable garden today.
The garden will feature 55 different vegetables, though beets, which the president isn't a huge fan of, will be noticeably absent. Instead, arugula, spinach, chard, and lettuce will be some of the garden's staples. They'll even have two bee hives, so the First Family can have local honey.
Beyond serving the immediate purpose of feeding the Obamas and White House guests, the garden also makes a strong statement advocating nutrition and eating local foods.
While most of us don't have room for a 1,100 square foot garden or huge staffs to monitor growth closely, the total cost of starting this project in terms of seeds and mulch was about $200. If you translate that into a more manageable 10 square foot garden, the cost would be significantly lower.
The health benefits of eating garden-grown vegetables are also pretty self-explanatory. If you can get high quality vegetables and fruits at a relatively low cost, you save money and your waistline.
Although this new garden is a nice gesture, it probably won't lead to masses of Americans running to their local nurseries to plant their own vegetable gardens any time soon.