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By now, everyone is talking about the White House vegetable garden. The White House has published the official garden plan, which is heavily slanted towards salad greens and peas. There are also small plantings of broccoli (no doubt for state visits by George H. W. Bush), onions, shallots, carrots, radishes, fennel, and rhubarb. This doesn't seem to be the entire layout, though, as the New York Times reports that the garden will include tomatilloes and a berry patch, neither of which appear on the plan. And it's a little surprising that the tomato, a staple of almost every American home garden, doesn't appear on this plan. Most of the media coverage has been aimed at the casual reader. The Cellar and the Pantry wants to know more, and I'll bet other gardeners do, too. Comment on this post at the Cellar and the Pantry Forums
My questions: - Fennel: root or seed? Because it got a full bed in the raised garden, rather than being stuck over in the herb garden, my guess is that this is Florence fennel, grown for its newly popular (and delicious) vegetable root rather than, or in addition to, its seeds. Will fennel bulb be on the White House menu, and if so, how will it be prepared?
- Will the flowers be eaten? The flowers lining the beds of the Obamagarden are marigolds, nasturtiums, and zinnias. Marigolds are edible, and nasturtiums are delicious. (Zinnias don't seem to be poisonous, but as far as I know they're not eaten very much). Is this just for safety reasons, since the garden will host a lot of local children, or, come summer, will the White House salads be topped with peppery, brightly colored nasturtium blossoms?
- Where are the seeds from? I haven't seen this mentioned anywhere. There's nothing wrong with seeds from catalogs, but I'd love to see the White House supporting a great organization like Iowa's Seed Savers Exchange, by using their seed in such a visible project.
- Which vegetables? The target demographic for this garden is schoolkids and beginning gardeners, who probably just need to know about "carrots" and "radishes". Gardeners want more. Which cultivars are going to be on the White House table?
Inquiring minds want to know...so I've sent off an email to the White House, where they certainly don't have anything better to do than to clarify whether "carrots" means Thumbelina or Chantenay. Comment on this post at the Cellar and the Pantry Forums
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