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A media pool report said White House associate chef Sam Kass reported the garden has produced lettuce, snap peas, beans, kale, collards and chard. The 10 elementary-age children from the Bancroft school, accompanied by their principal and teachers, picked lettuce and peas.

Kass pointed to the garden exploding with early vegetables and said, "The rain has been beautiful", adding that heavy rain in Washington this spring had not washed away any plants and Bo, the Obama family dog, had not eaten any of them.

No chemical were used on the vegetables, Kass said, but the garden is not "certified organic" and the underlying White House soil had already been treated with crab meal from the Chesapeake Bay, green sand compost and lime powder.

Pests have been few -- Kass said "something is nibbling a little bit on the Kale."

The White House has begun offering tours of the garden to schoolchildren about twice a week. Kass said he has taken 90 pounds of produce from the garden.

After the garden toil, the children were invited into the White House kitchen to make baked chicken and shell peas, the pool report said.

No word on whether they got to eat any of their efforts.

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