Irish gardeners will get a peek at Michelle Obama’s White House garden this summer – and they won’t even have to travel to Washington D.C.

The First Lady’s recently launched White House vegetable garden will be recreated in the Phoenix Park, Dublin during the Irish Food Board's Bloom 2009 festival.

The garden will include a range of the vegetables chosen by Michelle Obama, in addition to some Irish favorites vegetables like potatoes, cabbage and turnips.

The theme of this year’s Bloom event is “Grow Your Own,” and Michelle Obama says she hopes to inspire other – including her own family – to grow and eat their own veggies.

With all the talk in Ireland about the usefulness of gardening during these troubled economic times, Obama’s mission is sure to attract the Irish in droves. Bloom organizers are expecting over 50,000 people to attend the five-day event this year.

Bloom features elaborate show gardens, demonstrations, a food market, arts and crafts and family activities.

This year the focus is on, not surprisingly, the trend of home gardens in recessionary times, and how to create a garden on a budget.

Chief Executive Aidan Cotter of Bord Bia (the Irish Food Board), the host of Bloom 2009, said: “In times of economic uncertainty the role of the garden becomes increasingly important and we begin to recognize the significant health, social, economic and environmental benefits of gardening.”

The Bloom 2009 gardening event takes place in Dublin over the June bank holiday weekend, May 28 to June 1.