White House plants a vegetable garden
After President Obama was elected, and even before, the magnitude of the recession became apparent, there was a push from community food activists to plant a "Victory Garden" on the South Lawn of the White House. Led by Roger Doiron, founder of the Kitchen Gardeners International, a Maine non-profit to encourage home gardening, a petition drive was started, through the "Eat the View" campaign that gathered over 100,000 signatures using Facebook and other social networks to encourage the Obama's to plant a garden. Today, the Michele Obama, along with 23 fifth graders from the Bancroft Elementary School in Washington, DC broke ground on an 1100 square foot plot. This will be the first garden on the lawn since Eleanor Roosevelt had a garden at the White House during the second world war. For more information see the New York Times or the USA Today.
Michele Obama getting her hands dirty (from USA Today).
Map of the W.H. garden and a map of the approximate location. From the White House via the N.Y. Times.