I don't know about you, but I've reached the point in the year when I've decided that winter has officially outstayed its welcome. Here in Georgia, the weather is doing what it usually does in February and March — providing us with false glimpses of spring that quickly give way to days barely above freezing, icy cold rain, and nights in the twenties. I can only imagine what people in other parts of the country, where snow and ice are covering the ground, are feeling. It's gotta be miserable.
The only thing that gives me a little bit of hope for what's to come is the opportunity to plan my spring and summer gardens. I spent much of this past weekend working on building a thatched wall for a space where I want to plant some flowers when spring finally does rear her pretty little head, but something — I've narrowed it down to Covid or a really bad case of hay fever — has me sidelined this week, so I've been inside ordering seeds and reading up on some things I want to experiment with planting this year. As it does, one thing led to another, and I found myself learning about the history of the various vegetable gardens at the White House, so I thought I'd share what I learned and bring a little springtime to wherever you are, dear PJ Media readers.
According to the White House Historical Association, John Adams — the first president to reside in the White House — had big plans for a vegetable garden, but it wasn't fully built to his specifications by the time he left office. Thomas Jefferson "inherited a construction site," and that might be for the best because to say Jefferson was obsessed with farming, gardening, growing, cultivating, and even cooking and preserving food is an understatement. He experimented with various vegetables in his home gardens at Monticello, often influenced by the produce he discovered while traveling abroad. From the blog We the Eaters:
On the grounds of Monticello, built on the property Jefferson inherited from his father, visitors will find a garden the length of three football fields. Vegetables are clearly the winner here, with neat rows of peas, tomatoes, benne, used to make sesame oil for salads, and multiple lettuce varieties. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg (pun intended). Jefferson’s records document more than 300 different varieties of vegetables once grown here. From hyacinth beans (mostly ornamental) to sea kale — things not typically found on American soil — the gardens of Monticello are as much a feast for the eyes as for the belly.
Jefferson visited the gardens almost daily, taking a half–hour stroll to see how his plants were progressing. Despite the bounty from his own crops, Jefferson’s family also bought vegetables — potatoes, hominy beans and cucumbers — from slaves living on the plantation.
Jefferson's biggest obsession, however, was peas, and at times he grew up to 15 different varieties at Monticello. In a letter to George Washington, he once wrote, "I am trying the white boiling pea of Europe (the Albany pea), till I get the hog pea of England, which is the most productive pea of all. But the true winter vetch is what we want extremely. I have tried this year the Caroline drill. It is absolutely perfect." (Oddly, this sounds a lot like the conversations I have with my plant-loving cousin.)
Jefferson, who was quite the foodie, famously preferred vegetables to meat, and one of his favorite dishes was — not surprisingly — split pea soup.
But back to the White House. Jefferson essentially redid the eight acres that surrounded his new presidential home throughout his time in office, adding groves of trees, gravel driveways, flowers, and ornamental gardens. One of the last projects was a 168-foot long permanent vegetable garden that was "out of sight on the southeast side of the house." By 1809, at the end of his second term, it was finally finished, and according to the White House Historical Association, it was filled with "cabbage, broccoli, green and yellow savoy, radish, endive, cucumber, carrot, beet, parsnip, turnip, and leek."
The White House vegetable garden wasn't just there to look nice or prove some kind of point in those days. It was literally where the president and his guests' food came from, though it's believed that Jefferson sourced most of his food from Monticello and local markets.
After the British destroyed the White House, James Monroe hired James Madison's gardener, Charles Bizet, to rebuild the grounds and tend the gardens. Today, he's considered the first official White House gardener. John Quincy Adams came along next, and he seemed much more enthusiastic about gardening on a personal level. He carved out two acres of space and planted herbs, vegetables, and forest and fruit trees. During this time, "dessert fruits," like strawberries and currants, became a part of the White House menu.
By the time Martin Van Buren was president, "the kitchen garden brimmed with strawberries, dewberries, and raspberries; Neshannock potatoes, drumhead, and early York cabbages, white and red sugar and pickle beets, marrowfat peas, carrots, and parsnips." This was seen by many as overindulgence at a time when many people were facing hardships, and it was often used to criticize Van Buren. However, that didn't stop the occupants of the White House and their gardeners from keeping the vegetable garden up and adding more and more to it through the years.
When Abraham Lincoln was president, bills for seeds and plants reflect that. Tomatoes, eggplant, radish, cucumber, York cabbage, cherry pepper, squash, blood turnips, celery, cantaloupe, pumpkin, corn, lima beans, potatoes, rhubarb, and early peas were now a part of the White House vegetable garden. The first lady, Mary Todd Lincoln, often took strawberries, flowers, and other produce from the garden when she would visit the sick and wounded Union soldiers at local hospitals, hoping to cheer them up a bit.
Vegetable gardening at the White House took a backseat to the industrialization of the food industry between the Civil War and two World Wars, but during the World Wars, it came back out of necessity to encourage the public to grow their own gardens as the nation faced food rationing and shortages. Notably, Woodrow Wilson had a "demonstration garden" set up across the street from the White House during World War I.
During World War II, First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt wanted a "victory garden" planted on the front lawn of the White House, which was meant to encourage women to do the same at home. But it didn't quite happen the way she wanted. If this 1943 article from the The Tuscaloosa News is to believed, the president himself rejected the idea. It alleges that Franklin D. Roosevelt called in some soil scientists and told them to "Tell her the yard is full of rocks or something. The people own this place and don’t want it busted up just so she can plant beans." The paper also alleges that the soil around the White House is some of the most fertile in Washington, DC.
Eventually, with the first lady's encouragement, Diana Hopkins, the young daughter of FDR advisor and Secretary of Commerce Harry Hopkins, planted some vegetables in one of the White House flower beds. Diana, who was close with the first lady, was only 11 years old at the time, and she was given a small space in which she planted beans, carrots, tomatoes, and cabbage.
The first lady's new message to the world was that even children could help grow food, and even the president changed his tune. The next year, he said in an address to the nation, "I hope every American who possibly can will grow a victory garden this year. We found out last year that even the small gardens helped. The total harvest from victory gardens was tremendous. It made the difference between scarcity and abundance."
After the Roosevelts left office, having a vegetable garden at the White House became less important. Jimmy Carter reportedly planted a small herb garden on the White House grounds, but most presidents and first ladies of the 20th century seemed more concerned with ornamental spaces.
In more recent years, however, Michelle Obama brought it back to the South Lawn in the form of a kitchen garden in 2009. This might be the only thing she ever did that I actually approve of. One thing that I found especially cool is that she filled it with heirloom vegetables that related to past presidents. For example, she incorporated Brown Dutch and Tennis Ball lettuce, Prickly Seed spinach, and savoy cabbage, all favorites of Thomas Jefferson. Food from the first lady's garden was served at state dinners and leftovers were donated to a local nonprofit organization that provided meals to the homeless.
When the Trumps took office in 2016, there was some fear that they would tear down the garden. Ann Coulter suggested they turn it into a putting green. But what many people don't know is that the first lady opted to keep the vegetable garden and even took steps to spruce it up and make it a more permanent fixture on the White House lawn. In 2017, Melania Trump invited kids from the Boys and Girls Club to spend a day helping her plant and harvest vegetables and spoke to them about the importances of healthy eating.
As far as I know, the White House Kitchen Garden still stands. Jill Biden added a flower cutting garden to the space so she could use them as gifts, though I can't find much information beyond that, aside from the National Park Service stating that it currently cares for the space.
Since I was forced to end with the Bidens, I'll leave you with a palate cleanser. Here is a cute picture I took today of my duck, Cinnamon, and a rustic garden wall I'm currently building of sticks. I can't wait to get it done and fill it up with dirt and seeds and plants for spring... which is just two weeks away!
Do we have any gardeners out there? Let me know what you're planting this year in the comments.
