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Exclusive Video: White House Garden Survives, Thrives in Washington Winter
Posted: 03/26/10
http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/03/26/exclusive-video-white-house-garden-survives-thrives-in-washing/

Despite a harsh Washington winter -- two blizzards and several feet of snow 
-- the recently harvested White House kitchen garden yielded a bounty of 
lettuce, spinach and a lot of turnips.

"There was some concern about how our garden would do," said Sam Kass, an 
assistant White House chef and Food Initiative Coordinator in a video about 
the White House winter harvest, debuting exclusively on AOL's Politics Daily:

"Nobody thought that the garden would survive," said Kass.

It not only survived, it thrived, making First Lady Michelle Obama's 
signature project a four-season source of fresh produce.

The plants grew over the winter covered by white plastic stretched over 
hoops, trapping the heat of the sun by day and keeping the plants warm at 
night. But even Kass was not sure the "hoop houses" would work. "The fact of 
the matter is we didn't know."

The video shows how the hoop houses exceeded expectations. The harvest 
included robust looking lettuce, spinach and arugula, Kass said leeks will be 
ready in the spring, garlic and peas will be picked later, as will carrots, 
planted but not harvested.

Ground for the 1,100-square-foot garden on the west side of the South Lawn 
was cleared on March 20, 2009 and first planted in April, with a "perfect" 
southern exposure.

"The planting of this garden was one of the first things I wanted to do as 
First Lady here at the White House," Mrs. Obama said at an earlier harvest on 
June 17. At the opening of a Farmers Market on Sept. 17 in Washington, Mrs. 
Obama said the garden was "one of the greatest things I've done in my life, 
so far."

The garden was been wildly successful, growing into Mrs. Obama's 
anti-childhood obesity campaign.

Kass, gesturing toward stakes already in the ground, says in the video "we 
are going to be expanding our garden this year, at the request of the First 
Lady." The plan is to "build a couple more rows of beds," Kass said.

In assessing the harvest, Kass said it was "more humble" than a summer 
picking, "but I think we did pretty great."

After all, who knew from growing vegetables in the winter?

Said Kass, "Nobody had the expectations that we were going to grow any food 
during January and February."

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