First Lady Plants Third Annual Vegetable Garden at White House

Michelle Obama recently planted a vegetable garden, on the sunny South Lawn of the White House:

The garden, which was 1,100 square feet the first year, is now, 1,500 square feet. The main difference this year is that the plants are in raised beds, making them easier to weed.

...The plants this year include a range of vegetables, including artichokes, kale and purple broccoli from Monticello, Thomas Jefferson’s estate in Virginia.

Read more about the White House vegetable garden at Agweek.

Choose the Site for Your Garden Carefully

Before building a vegetable garden, take into consideration every aspect of the proposed site.

Start small. Start with a small area for the first garden. More often than not, a garden is too large for available time and effort.

Read more of this veteran gardener's advice at the Mansfield News Journal.

Gardening in Retirement

Intensive gardening after you retire can help reduce the amount of work your garden needs:

Mulch is important: “It virtually eliminates weeding in the flower beds and helps retain moisture in what is otherwise a very dry situation, and eventually the mulch decomposes and improves the quality and texture of the soil. “ I agree. She mulches flower beds with leaf mulch, and her soil is as good as any I have seen.

Find the full story at the online version of the Providence Journal.

Old World Style Intensive Gardening

Vancouver immigrant practices intensive gardening in "old world" style"

He, along with thousands of other Italians, transplanted that education here. It would transform east Vancouver, with the neighbourhood becoming a landscape of intensively cultivated mini-farms.

The Staniscias were typical in this, and with his wife, Luisa, Luigi turned their 33-by-48-foot lot into a food factory. In the front yard there is a grape arbour and a fig tree so large it obscures the entire front of the house. In the back, Luigi and Luisa have planted tomatoes, lettuce, basil, radicchio, endive, leeks, eggplant, herbs (including an ancient rosemary the size of a tree), more fig trees, peppers (both hot and mild) and a kiwi plant so large it has grown into a dense canopy over his back deck.

Read the full story at the Vancouver Sun.

Schools and Urban Intensive Gardening

Community members in Richmond, California use vacant city lots for urban intensive gardening:

Latino and African American families–often people who live just a few blocks from each other but rarely had a chance to meet in the past–gather at the garden and have a barbecue. Tomatoes, chard, and corn grow in raised beds across the street. Muslim families from the local mosque just a few blocks away pluck fresh mint from the garden for making traditional Arabic tea. The garden is the work of Urban Tilth, one of the dozen or so groups at the center of Richmond’s urban garden movement. It was built by community members, often young people, and is tended in part by students and teachers from the elementary school next door. And it has become a community gathering space.

Read the full story at YourOliveBranch.org.

Intensive Gardening: Raised Beds and Fall Planting

Some gardeners practice intensive gardening in their entire backyard:

While walking my dog through one of West Fargo’s alleys, I discovered a backyard that had numerous raised garden beds.

Find out what they're growing at the West Fargo Pioneer.

 

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Prepare now to plant fall intensive gardening crops:

this fall I am making the effort to extend my vegetable garden into the early winter months.

Read more about it at Cincinnati Enquirer Online.

Home Vegetable Gardening

Thomas Jefferson left a home vegetable gardening legacy at his Monticello home:

After he left the White House, in 1809, and moved to his Palladian estate at Monticello, Jefferson grew 170 varieties of fruits and 330 varieties of vegetables and herbs, until his death in 1826.

Read the full story at The Scotsman.