Michelle Obama: First gardener

by Mark Silva

Michelle Obama is digging the White House - or at last a patch of the lawn, where the first lady plans to plant a garden.

The president's wife will turn a patch of dirt on the White House lawn on Friday - the first since Eleanor Roosevelt's "Victory Garden'' during World War II - the New York Times is reporting.

"There will be no beets (the president doesn't like them),'' the Times' Marian Burrios writes, "but arugula will make the cut.''

The organic garden will help feed first family, the first lady explains, but its primary role will be to help educate children about "healthful, locally grown fruit and vegetables at time when obesity has become a national concern.''

In an interview, the first lady told the Times: "My hope is that through children, they will begin to educate their families and that will, in turn, begin to educate our communities."

Twenty-three fifth graders from Bancroft Elementary School in Washington will help the first lady turn some soil for a "1,100-square-foot plot in a spot visible to passers-by on E Street.''

The family will help pull weeds ""whether they like it or not," Mrs. Obama said laughing. "Now Grandma, my mom, I don't know."

The Clintons grew some vegetables in pots on the White House rooftop, the report notes. But the Obamas will grow 55 varieties of vegetables -- from a wish list of the kitchen staff -- from organic seedlings started at the executive mansion's greenhouses.

They plan cilantro, tomatilloes and hot peppers, lettuce, spinach, chard, collards and black kale. They will raise berries and herbs, including anise hyssop and Thai basil. And "a White House carpenter who is a beekeeper will tend two hives for honey.''

The cost of the seeds and mulch is running $200.