Veggie Garden for the White House and the Obamas

"This is a real opportunity for the president to lead by example," Mr. Simon says. He points out that past administrations have had gardens and grown vegetables, including those of John Adams and Thomas Jefferson. And First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, like millions of other Americans, had a Victory Garden during World War II. ...

Roger Doiron, too, envisions a presidential vegetable garden. The founding director of Kitchen Gardeners International, an advocacy group in Scarborough, Maine, that is part of the eating-local movement, runs a campaign called Eat the View to promote a White House garden.

Mr. Doiron has gathered more than 10,000 signatures on a petition supporting the idea. His cause ranks first in votes among more than 5,000 ideas for President Obama that people have submitted to On Day One, a project of a group called Better World Fund that promotes good ties between the U.S. and the United Nations.