Sam Kass blogs about how hoop houses held off Snowmageddon; video belowThe White House today debuted a new video about First Lady Michelle Obama's Kitchen Garden, and the recent winter harvest. White House assistant chef and Food Initiative Coordinator Sam Kass, who oversees the garden, gives the run down on how the garden managed to grow about fifty pounds of seasonal veggies during the most devastating Washington winter in a century. And he also announces some big garden news...
Kass is joined by Executive Pastry Chef Bill Yosses and chief horticulturalist Jim Adams as he harvests winter veggies onscreen, including lettuces, spinach, arugula, carrots, and turnips. Last week, Mrs. Obama called the Kitchen Garden "1,100 square feet of pure joy," and Kass says that the history-making project, which morphed into the Let's Move! campaign, will be much larger as it enters its second year. An additional 500 square feet of growing space is being added.
"We are going to be expanding our garden this year, at the request of the First Lady," Kass says, on the video, as he points out flagged stakes. "We're going to take out this whole little piece of land, and build a couple more rows of beds." (Above: Kass checking on the garden during the harvest)
Sunlight lessons, and four-season growing efforts...
The District, along with the rest of the Northeast, suffered through two blizzards that were so bad that locals--and President Obama--referred to them as 'Snowmageddon.' Kass credits the plastic and aluminum hoop houses that were installed in December for the unexpected bounty, and explains the gardening lessons that the White House team has learned during Year 1, in the blogpost, below. Kass writes:
After a long, and historically snowy winter here in Washington, DC, we harvested our winter crop on March 10th. We have been enjoying the lettuce, spinach, turnips, carrots, and greens ever since. From the beginning, we wanted to demonstrate that a four-season garden was indeed possible even in Washington. As it turned out, this winter was harsher than most and in fact more like the ones typical to Chicago, with the city experiencing over two feet of snow one week!
Farmers and gardeners around the world are extending their growing seasons through the very simple technology of hoop houses. We used a smaller version that is often referred to as high tunnels. The structures are simply a series of four or five metal bars arched over the beds about three feet high. Fixed to the bars is a simple plastic covering which traps the heat of the sun during the day to keep the plants from freezing at night.
We were cautiously optimistic that our hoop houses would protect the crops and were pleasantly surprised. All told we harvested just under 50lbs of produce. A modest harvest compared to what the summer had brought, but it is exciting to have been able to produce food during a long harsh winter. The lettuce and spinach are particularly sweet and delicious. We also learned a few things. For example, we planted our carrots a little too late. They were not as big as we had hoped, but the little things are tasty! We also discovered that the beds to the north side of the garden get considerably more sun than the beds that are on the south side. The sun is much lower in the sky and late in the day the southern beds are shadowed by surrounding trees. Next year, we will be sure to put plants that need more sun on the north side of the garden. Good lessons to learn, but altogether a nice surprise.
Over the next few weeks we will be getting the garden ready for our spring planting. Seeds are being sprouted and at the First Lady’s request we have expanded the garden by 500 square feet so we can grow even more varieties of fruits and vegetables. Needless to say we are excited for Spring so stay tuned!
Deputy Agriculture Secretary Kathleen Merrigan joined Kass for the December installation of the Hoop Houses; USDA is running a pilot project around the country, to encourage the use of the garden protectors, and increase interest in expanding growing seasons around America. Garlic and leeks and peas are already planted for Spring, and will be coming up shortly, Kass says. A cover crop of rye that was planted in December also thrived, and it was outside the bounds of the Hoop Houses. (Above: One of the stakes marking out the new expansion for the Kitchen Garden)March 20 was the one-year anniversary of the groundbreaking for the Kitchen Garden, and Mrs. Obama's project continues to break new ground, as her campaign inspires a national conversation about health and nutrition, and fresh and local food.
Related: The annual White House Spring Garden and Grounds Tours are April 17 and 18, and open to the public. Ticket info is here. A post about how the White House Kitchen Garden project morphed into a national, mainstream child health campaign is here. The White House video about the Hoop House installation is here. Kass writes a blog post about the installation of the Hoop Houses here. Mrs. Obama tells the Story of the Garden on video here.
*White House video and photo.*Updated
