White House vegetable garden

On March 20, 2009, Michelle Obama broke ground on the largest and most expansive vegetable garden to date on the White House lawn.

In 1801, Thomas Jefferson, the second president who resided in the White House, transformed Adams’ garden with the addition of ornamental and fruit trees.

The Obamas planted an L-shaped 1,100-square-foot (100 m2) vegetable garden on the South Lawn of the White House on March 20, 2009, by the mansion's tennis courts visible from E street.

[9][7] The plot provides more than 55 varieties of vegetables and fruits for meals for the Obama family and guests and donated to the local soup kitchen and the Food Bank Organization.

[10] The vegetables grown included arugula (rocket), cilantro (coriander), tomatillo, hot peppers, spinach, chard, collards, black kale, berries and lettuce, 25 heirloom seeds and 10 herbs such as anise hyssop and Thai basil,[11] and former presidents' favorite produce plants, such as Thomas Jefferson's preferred "Brown Dutch and Tennis Ball lettuce, Prickly Seed spinach and Savoy cabbage".

"[16] The fertilizers used in the plot were made with "White House compost, crab meal from the Chesapeake Bay, lime and green sand.

[1] The vegetable patch became symbolic for change within current government policies, such as Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack lobbying Congress to review The Child Nutrition and WIC Reauthorization Act in order to change current school lunches, and asking the USDA for more funds to make fruits and vegetables accessible to children.

[17] This idea was further satirized on "The Daily Show" by Jon Stewart, on which Jeff Stier of the pro-industry American Council of Science and Health stated that it was irresponsible to eat organic, locally grown food because not everyone could afford it.

[18] After Donald Trump was elected in 2016, Barack Obama publicly worried about Michelle's garden being dug up, and conservative pundit Ann Coulter suggested it become a putting green.

[19] However First Lady Melania Trump continued to maintain the garden, personally working on it with members of the Boys and Girls Club in 2017,[20] and using vegetables from it for her first state dinner in 2018.