PREPPING, GROWING YOUR SPRING VEGGIE GARDEN Now's the time, as Organic Gardening magazine (www.organicgardening.com) Editor Scott Meyer explained on The Early Show Saturday Edition. Renowned chef and author Alice Waters has been at the forefront -- persuading the White House and the rest of the country to start planting organic, edible gardens. First lady Michelle Obama took the cue last week and invited a bunch of local school kids to the White House to help her plant a kitchen garden. It's good for the environment and can be good for your pocketbook. Meyer offered tips on starting and growing your own edible garden. The White House is hardly alone with its new vegetable garden: A Victory Garden revival is sweeping the nation, with people young and old, in cities and suburbs, rediscovering the joys of growing some of their own food, for flavor, for safety, for the environment, for the satisfaction, and for the cost-savings. If you want to join in, you can get started right now. These can be planted now across the country: lettuce, spinach, and other salad greens, e.g. arugula; carrots; radishes; beets; broccoli, cauliflower, kale, and cabbage; peas (traditional and snowpeas); onions; parsley, chives and cilantro. It's still too cool to plant summer vegetables such as tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, and basil outside right now in most of the country. In the warmest climates, such as Florida, Southern California, and Arizona you can plant those vegetables now, but anywhere north of these areas should stick to planting the cool-weather crops listed above for right now. You can grow these vegetables by planting the seeds directly in the garden: All the salad greens; carrots; radishes; beets; peas. Use a planting box with soil, seeds, tool for making a furrow (trench) for planting 1. Moisten soil first, then plant 2. Dig furrow with tool 3. Plant seeds 2-3 times as deep as they are long - generally ½ to 1 inch. Leave about the width from thumb to pinky when your hand is spread between seeds. Be prepared to thin after germination. 4. Cover lightly with soil. Pat it down but don't press. Tip: Remember to keep consistently moist until after the sprouts have a few sets of leaves. Special case: peas Soak seeds in bowl of water for a few hours before planting. You'll need a bowl of water with pea seeds. II. You can grow these vegetables by transplanting started seedlings into the garden: broccoli, cauliflower, kale, and cabbage; onions; lettuce and other salad greens; parsley and chives. Tip: Plant some salad greens with seeds and some as seedlings to extend the harvest. Use a planting box with soil, trays of seedlings, tool for making a hole, compost 1. Moisten soil and plants before transplanting 2. Use tool to dig hole a little deeper than the seedling's root system. Mix in compost for nutrients. 3. Push seedling out of the plastic pot from the bottom. If you need to tug from the top, grasp the leaves, not the stem. 4. Gently spread out roots with finger. 5. Place in hole at same depth as it was in the pot. 6. Backfill with soil and pat down gently, not press. 7. Keep consistently moist until you see it growing. III. Frost protection You can find out the average last frost date for your region at your county's cooperative extension office (every county has one). In most areas of the U.S. (outside the Gulf Coast and Southern California), it will be between April 15 and May 31. While these plants all tolerate cold, you want to give them a bit of protection if a hard frost is in the forecast. Use horticultural fabric (row cover), newspaper, bucket. 1. Watering before frost raises humidity and reduces frost risk 2. Remember to uncover the plants the next morning. You don't want them cooking in the warm sun during the day. Facts about how much money you can save by gardening A packet of 50 lettuce seeds = $1.99 Six-pack of lettuce transplants = $2.99 $50 in seeds can produce $1,250 worth of groceries purchased at a supermarket. According to the National Gardening Association: An average 600 square foot garden will produce about $600 of fresh food over the course of the season. Estimated cost of planting and maintaining a garden is $70, which creates a $530 ROI in gardening Estimated total value of US food gardening: $21 billion MORE FROM THE MAGAZINE: 5 Organic Gardening Tips for White House Gardeners (and You!) Leah Zerbe, Organic Gardening Magazine First Lady Michelle Obama put shovel to soil on the south lawn of the White House Friday, breaking ground for an organic garden, the first White House vegetable garden since 1943. Back then, Eleanor Roosevelt planted a victory garden during World War II, a time when the country was also facing economic woes and uncertainty. “It made sense before, and it makes sense again as we try to live within our own means and those of the planet,” says Roger Doiron, founder of the nonprofit Kitchen Gardeners International, and the leader of “Eat the View,” a petition campaign that pushed for a White House garden. THE DETAILS: The First Lady told The New York Times that the 1,100-square- foot White House Kitchen Garden will not only provide fruits and veggies for her family and White House guests, but will be used as an educational tool to show children the importance of local, organic food production. And yes, President Barack Obama will have to help weed. “A garden at the White House will allow the Obamas to join the millions of Americans who are discovering that gardening is the dirtiest fun you can have without getting into trouble,” says Scott Meyer, executive editor of Rodale’s Organic Gardening magazine and an advisor to Rodale.com. “Serving the homegrown harvest in America’s House is a great symbolic act, but we hope that the President and his family are able to spend time together tending the garden, because the process of growing some of your own food the organic way is as rewarding as the results.” WHAT IT MEANS: To organic gardeners and sustainable-agriculture advocates, what happened on the White House lawn Friday was as satisfying as the juiciest homegrown tomato—and more ripe with hope than a mouthwatering garden watermelon. Finally, a First Family that gets the connection between healthy living and a healthy planet! But you don’t have to be living in DC to get in on the fun. Start your own presidential garden this spring. Here are 5 tips from Scott Meyer and Organic Gardening for the White House gardeners, and those who would like to join them: • Heirloom options: Mrs. Obama mentions her interest in heirloom tomatoes in the New York Times article. We’re tempted to recommend a well-regarded variety named for the last president to come from Illinois, but our field trials and taste tests have consistently demonstrated that ‘Cherokee Purple’ is the best tasting and most reliable heirloom. And the President may enjoy pleasant childhood memories when eating the fruity-tasting ‘Hawaiian Pineapple’ tomato. • Fruit pick: Blueberries are a great choice for the White House garden or any other. They are a native American fruit, supernutritious, and safe for Malia and Sasha to pick and eat themselves because they are thornless. The ‘Patriot’ variety seems like an appropriate choice. • Bug lure: The plan for the White House garden includes borders of nasturtiums. A smart choice because, as the April 2009 issue of Organic Gardening explains, it attracts lots of beneficial insects —the good bugs that eat pests before they can destroy your food crops. • Water smart: The state of California is in the midst of a 3-year drought, and many other regions have water shortages, too. The White House gardeners can use the “Two-Knuckle Test” recommended in the “Complete Beginner’s Guide to Organic Gardening” (also in OG’s April issue) to determine whether the garden needs to be watered or not. The test: Push your index finger two knuckles deep into the soil. If it feels damp, irrigating the crops wastes water, even if they appear to be wilting in the high heat of a Washington summer. • Gold standard: Every garden needs a compost pile, where yard waste and kitchen scraps are alchemized into “black gold,” or the most valuable fertilizer possible. The President will find no simpler way to turn government waste into a priceless asset. Join the fun! Want more tips? New gardeners who want to follow the Obamas’ lead will find all the information they need from planting to harvest at OrganicGardening.com. Related Links Start Your Own Organic Garden At Home http://www.organicgardening.com/feature/0,7518,s1-5-19- 1761,00.html?cm_mmc=Early_Show-_-5%20Organic%20Gardening%20Tips-_- Article-_-Organic%20Gardening%20for%20Beginners%20 Create A Beautiful Landscape In Just A Few Weeks! http://www.organicgardening.com/slideshows/ogbasics/?cm_mmc=Early_Show- _-5%20Organic%20Gardening%20Tips-_-Article-_-OG%20Basics Make a Difference In Your Community http://www.organicgardening.com/feature/0,7518,s1-65-70- 1531,00.html?cm_mmc=Early_Show-_-5%20Organic%20Gardening%20Tips-_- Article-_-WaterWorks .