The hidden costs of Michelle Obama’s organic vegetable garden
When I was in grade school, my mother and I began the tradition of planting a small vegetable garden in our backyard each spring. The patch was strategically placed next to the cement slab upon which the air conditioning unit rested; deemed undesirable and away from the reach of the chained up dog during his ‘œdoing-his-business’ time.
From what I recall, we only planted tomatoes, cucumbers, green onions and pumpkins. The first three choices were dictated by my mother (apparently, our 3-5 recommend daily servings were limited to the only vegetables she liked) and the last one was my decision’¦ after all, when you watch a pumpkin grow, the end of October provides a natural goal with a deadline. Even as a kid, I liked my activities to have purpose.
Looking back, I realized how unhealthy those backyard vegetables probably were. Why? Lead may lurk in backyard gardens unless you grow them in a raised bed:
As backyard vegetable gardens undergo a renaissance, environmental officials and scientists are warning homeowners to be careful before planting the carrots and chard: There might be lead in the soil.
Flakes of lead paint from old homes often create a halo of contamination around houses that vegetables can take up. Remnants of leaded gasoline might also be in the soil, especially near busy roads. While the problem is pervasive in urban areas, suburban homes that were built on or near apple orchards are also at risk because lead arsenate was once used regularly as a pesticide. The heavy metal can remain in soil for hundreds of years.
So when I saw the news footage of Michelle Obama breaking ground on the organic vegetable garden at the White House, they showed her tilling the soil as if she planned to just scatter some seeds right there on the ground. Of course, it was just a photo opportunity and the project is to raise awareness about healthful, locally grown fruit and vegetables. And yes, to avoid contamination, they will be grown in raised beds:
The plots will be in raised beds fertilized with White House compost, crab meal from the Chesapeake Bay, lime and green sand. Ladybugs and praying mantises will help control harmful bugs.
The White House was quick to outline the costs:
The total cost of seeds, mulch and so forth is $200, said Sam Kass, an assistant White House chef, who prepared healthful meals for the Obama family in Chicago and is an advocate of local food. Mr. Kass will oversee the garden.
What they didn’t include were the costs to build the raised beds and based on the published garden plans (above), this will likely approach several thousand dollars. It ain’t cheap to grow your own! Unless of course, you do it the way my mom did, without any fear of exposing the children to toxins that might cause learning disabilities and behavioral problems. Thirty years later, all is forgiven. After all, it was the seventies and back then, we were even allowed to bury our pets in the backyard.
But today, we know better and that knowledge will cost you. A typical backyard bed will set you back over $2,000 to have it built by a professional. Of course, you can trim these costs to $500 if you do it yourself. I even found one version where the cedar estimates were around $90. This same blogger also followed up with a Part 2 about how to fill the raised vegetable garden bed.
This project is actually on Jeanine’s list of goals for 2009. What we’re trying to decide is if we want to save money and do it ourselves or hire it out to a professional. Here is one service in San Diego County that we are considering.
I recently learned from my ex (Partner #2) that her sister, a landscape designer by trade, now builds backyard beds in Los Angeles. A few celebrities have even hired her to provide the weekly gardening services. I guess the B-list wants their organic veggies in reach, but they don’t want to do the weeding and watering. Only in LA! And of course, coming to you now in Washington, D.C.
For additional reading: Be sure and catch Serena’s gardening posts (Part 1 & Part 2) in her Stretch Your Food Dollar series and James’ posts on container gardening and urban (indoor) composting (Part 1 & Part 2).
In the meantime, has anyone done the math on growing your own? How long will it take to get a return on investment? Please share your stories below about savings gained through backyard gardens.
Image credit: The White House via The New York Times.
There is a post about building your own raised beds here:
http://thepioneerwoman.com/homeandgarden/2009/02/build-your-own-raised-flowervegetable-bed/
More about dirt here:
http://thepioneerwoman.com/homeandgarden/2009/03/about-that-dirt/
And promises of more posts to come if you want to add her to your feed reader.
I raised an eyebrow at that $200 figure myself. I’ve been comparing costs all month for my raised beds, and trying to weigh the fruit of all that work against a sub-optimal sun exposure in my back yard.
Now I’m off to check out those links–thanks!
OMG my idea of a raised bed is a bunch of cereal boxes, old vegetables and juice scraps and egg cartons on a dirt pile. If I had $200 for garden supplies my father-in-law and i would have a field day with the Gurneys catalog.
Rachel: Thanks for the links! Those are great!
Meredith: I’m glad I wasn’t the only one that caught the $200 amount. I think if the White House is going to gush about the low costs, they need to include the entire amount… and a raised bed is a must if you’re going to do some urban gardening.
Renee: I think it’s sweet that you garden with your father-in-law. The family that grow vegetables together (even using cereal boxes and egg cartons) eats well together.
My partner and I built our raised beds from wood we salvaged when we tore down our decaying deck (we pulled out the better boards and saved them). We already had all of the tools and most of the hardware- our only purchases were gopher wire to the line bottoms and the soil to fill the boxes.
I have to ask if this article was fully researched. What percentage of lead poisonings come from ground contamination? How can one obtain lead testing, perhaps the local extension agent? Is this really a problem? I live in a semi-urban environment in a small southern city, raise my own vegetables, eat very healthily. How are you spending that much? 4 hay bales will grow 16 tomato plants, freecycle will get you all kinds of seeds and planters. Check Mother Earth News, and any number of Urban Homesteading blogs for advice about every crop under the sun. There’s no sense scaring people without facts to back yourself up.
Tracie: Smart idea!
Pixiedyke: The Boston Globe article (linked above and again here) reports on some of the research:
Although soil around homes can contain everything from arsenic to motor oil, lead is one of the most common…
With odds anywhere between 10 and 83% – it’s worth the money for me personally to take the precaution.
But Nina, remember that 10% figure is based on samples from people who were suspicious enough about what’s in their yards to even send a sample for testing. It’s definitely *not* a representative cross-section of suburban or rural yards.
Dorchester and Roxbury are inner city Boston; it’s not surprising those figures are so high, but again, not representative of what suburban gardeners would find.
Yes, but $9 and $200 is quite the leap. Saying “have your soil tested” and “‘Ware the urban garden for you will fall into a pit of money and die” are two very different things. I built 2 raised beds, both 8’x3’, including edging (freecycled 2×4 and cement blocks), seeds, compost because mine isn’t ready yet, AND new garden tools for $60. The tools and beds will last for years, I’ll get freecycled and bartered seeds again next year, when my outlay will be nil.
Anyway, thank you for bringing the danger to my attention. I argue with the tone of your article, that gardening isn’t worth it, rather than the substance of your argument, that lead poisoning is bad and should be prevented.
OK, I am confused. I built raised beds in my backyard, and spent around $40.00. The second year I expanded, replaced the origional beds with a completely contained system for an additional $30.00. Now, with the cost of seeds and yes I overspent, that increased by $60.00.
$2k for a raised bed? Even $500 is a lot. We built 4’x9’x1′ raised beds out of brick for about $30 each (most of the cost was transportation). You just have to be willing to wait for materials (from craigslist/freecycle/friends getting rid of stuff) and be willing to do the manual labor yourself.
We have an Apex lead-free hose. The dirt was all new Seed-Starter and literally, dirt cheap (Dollar Tree!). Total cost was around 250 vegetable plants for $200 (started from seeds). The garden is away from everything on land that is 3 generations old and we know the history. Termite treatment was applied to the house and nothing could or should be grown around the building but flowers. We surrounded the building with thousands of wildflowers (also started as seeds) and some grow 4 feet high. The grading and drainage leads the water to the sewage line. It’s hard work but fun. It’s a nice thing to do.