Second Guessing the White House Garden

There's lots of attention to the White House garden, so it's fulfilling its symbolic function. I can't resist some cracks/comments:

• I'm a bit surprised at the kale/collards--we grow them as fall only. I guess they're buying seedlings.
• I'm not sure what the First Lady is teaching the school kids--making them work for 15 minutes and then a cookie break. I don't think the mother of either of the Obamas would be that lax--standards are slipping. (Even I can work 30 minutes straight before taking a break, and I'm old.
  
• 15 students, plus maybe 10 adults from the staff--that's 25 people for 1,100 square feet meaning each one does 40 square feet.
• were they hauling off the turf--is that to be used for patching elsewhere on the lawn (maybe after the Easter egg roll) or maybe on the Mall? If they composted it, and where's the plan for the compost pile for the White House--surely that's going to cause lots of criticism from the organic people, maybe that would reduce the carbon released from the sod breaking. Or maybe not: if you plow native prairie you turn under the sod, but I haven't seen that mentioned as a redeeming factor in converting land to crops.

I'm not sure of the relation between the Clinton's rooftop garden and this--certainly the rooftop garden doesn't pose any security problem, while this one looks dangerously accessible from the street.

Bottom line--anything a politician does in Washington is subject to second guessing. Because people feel so strongly on this issue, they'll get a lot of carping.