Posted on 06/22/2009 8:59:48 AM PDT by dennisw
Obama detractors are suggesting that the garden on the South Lawn (planted by Mrs. Obama and schoolchildren in March) is fake. The conspiracy theorists claim that, despite a lot of compost and a very rainy spring, the vegetables harvested by the first lady and those same schoolchildren last Tuesday could not have grown so big in just 90 days.
These critics surmise that the White House substituted mature plants for immature ones - in the dead of night, I guess - in order to fool the American public. An actual-dirt dirty trick that would live up to the name Watercressgate.
I wear two hats here at The Baltimore Sun. I write this column and a gardening blog called Garden Variety. It was in that capacity that I was invited to the White House last week to cover the harvest of the spring crop - snap peas and lettuces - and the picnic Mrs. Obama and the children prepared with the results.
It was in the comments posted to Garden Variety that this new conspiracy theory emerged.
"That garden was bought at a produce section and faked," wrote Clint Brown. "That is staged and you all know it!"
"That's what they do on every issue," wrote Mike A. "1) bait 2) switch 3) media says 'who cares.'"
"Vanderleun" said in the comment he posted on Garden Variety that the press knew the garden was fake but "they're just forbidden to say or report it."
An Internet search revealed the same skepticism elsewhere, on news feeds like the Drudge Report and on conservative "Obama-watch" blogs.
My own nephew (he is a Republican) sent me a text message saying, "There's no way those are the same plants. If they are, then I'm moving to D.C. and starting a farm and raking it in."
(Excerpt) Read more at baltimoresun.com ...
I think some fakery is going on
For quite some time, conspiracy theories have been the bastion of the left. Now, sadly......
I still say who cares..
I did ask the question about when they were planted but never decided if there was anything unusual going on.
If they were planted here in Michigan on that date I would say hell yes there’s something up but I don’t know enough about the DC climate to say for sure.
Unless the White House has some kind of Miraclegro on steriods (or a green house, which I have never noticed), there is NO WAY those tomatoes could have been grown and ready to eat at this point in June in Washington, D.C. I don’t know about the kale, etc. But the tomatoes, definitely.
Seems like there are people with to much time on their hands..
I haven’t seen the Obamas’ garden, but my own, planted about 25 miles away, is going insane this summer. Strawberries, rhubarb, peas, onions, raspberries—everything is growing like mad. We were eating the first produce this weekend. The tomatoes are still lagging, however. I have to cut my grass every five minutes and the bushes in my yard have doubled in size since last year. The amazing quantities of rain make all the difference, since rain contains nitrogen and doesn’t have the chlorine of city water.
The conspiracy theorists may simply not be living in this area.
This you mentioned in the article?
I noticed the bountiful harvest done in record time. Having grown those same vegetables in my own garden, I know the truth.
However, I am not so nieve as to expect anything even close to the truth to come from the acting president or his staff.
Well this reporter puts a lot of words down on the paper but he DOESN’T say whether he, the expert, thinks it was fake or not.
Looks like he is just poopooing those that don’t believe and in typical Lib fashion, offer NO evidence to back up his allegations and innuendos.....
ACTUALLY, WGAF?
DC used to have a prison facility in Lorton VA that grew all the vegetables etc for the DC hospitals, schools and jails..it was a working farm with dairy and all. This was halted when the ‘powers that be’ thought it was to demeaning for ‘city bred thugs to be tending crops in the field’ etc......
Unless the White House has some kind of Miraclegro on steriods (or a green house, which I have never noticed), there is NO WAY those tomatoes could have been grown and ready to eat at this point in June in Washington, D.C. I don’t know about the kale, etc. But the tomatoes, definitely.
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You can go to any garden store and find tomato plants with tiny tomatoes on them. Just stick in the ground and you have edible tomatoes in a few weeks
My guess is some of what the 0bama’s gofers trans-planted was pretty mature and from a green house
Quite possible the WH garden was ready with the spring plantings they put in. The plants they sowed were already in 6” or larger. Probably already a month old.
I figured she didn’t touch the garden except for photo ops. A garden takes a lot of work and if the WH wanted to; they probably have people that can do it. If not, it was trucked in.
Growing lettuce and peas in 90 days is just not a big deal.
Everything about the Os has an element of fraud, fakery or outright lie to it.
Here is SE Ohio we pretty much have the same climate that DC does and I can say that there is no way without a grrenhouse that they have tomatoes now. Ours are now covered with flowers but the fruit is still weeks away.
I figured she didn’t touch the garden except for photo ops. A garden takes a lot of work and if the WH wanted to; they probably have people that can do it. If not, it was trucked in.
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They are always bringing in children to help.... for photo opportunities. You would think 0bongo was running a 4H club
“No, no, Jimmy! That plant is for smoking, not eating!”
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