Reader Amy recently sent me a link to this article, with the following note attached,
Hi Mavis,
I thought you’d be interested in this article. A couple in Florida was forced to dig up their 17-year old vegetable garden just because it was in the front yard. They would have been fined $50 a day by the city if they had kept it. Apparently the law does not allow veggies because of “aesthetic” reasons, but lets people put whatever other decorations they want in the front of their homes! That is ridiculous!
I hope you can use this. I really enjoy your blog!
–Amy
First off, thanks Amy! Second, I immediately popped over to read the article. The long and short of the article is that the neighborhood ordinance specifically does not allow front yard gardens. After a complaint {the article does not state from who}, officials responded to the house and gave the owners, Hermine Ricketts and Tom Carroll a date to have the garden pulled up, or they would face a $50 per day fine.
The owners have responded by suing, stating the ordinance violates their rights under the Florida State Constitution. Now, here is the kicker: They are suing for $1. Yep, all they really want is the right to grow their vegetable garden again. Under the same ordinance, they can have yard art {read: flamingos, gnomes, etc.}, but not veggies. They want the right to grow their own local, organic veggies in peace. Aw, the humanity!
I mostly want to know what you think, but here’s what I think: When did being self-sufficient stop being beautiful and start being an eyesore? Are people so removed from their food that a squash plant with it’s big yellow blossoms is no longer beautiful? {On the flip side, I guess I could get it if it wasn’t a well-maintained garden, and more like a jungle–but the article shows the garden. It looks well-maintained and planned out to me. If she had planted only flowers in the beds, would people have really been happier? I have to be honest, I have seen some pretty poorly maintained flower beds–I’d take Hermine’s garden to look at over those any day of the week.
I say, garden on. What do you think?
~Mavis
Rosaleen says
We have many deed-restricted communities in our USA which define even which ornamental plants are acceptable or require homeowners to have plantings pre-approved. Some whole towns do not allow laundry lines. I choose to live in none of these. We may understand that we need to plant our vegetables where we have enough sunlight and space. Tthe FL couples’ neighbors may not. I think to keep my neighbors happy, I might choose to plant edible garden flowers in the front yard with borders of leafy greens like kale or chard. My strawberries have been planted between evergreen bushes out front for years. As much as I’d like to tell the neighborhood to “Get over it,” the couple in the newspaper were in violation of local laws, so their only recourse is to try to change them. Good Luck to them!
Ashley says
In general I think it’s really pathetic how many rules there on on what we can do and can not do with our property. We own and pay taxes on our houses and land, we should be able to do what we want (as long as we keep safety and environment in mind). I would think the ‘officials’ would have more important matters to attend to than handing out fines to gardeners.
katherine slate says
this is terrible. with the state of economy and how so many people are struggling, why are we punishing those that try to do the best for their families. i say everyone put some veggies in their front yards as protest! we can call it ‘the great veg out’! let’s do it!
Jenn says
I would have every tacky piece of yard art I could find in my front yard until I was allowed to put my garden back in. Absolutely ridiculous. I hope they continue to fight and I really hope they win!
Tisha says
I think I would paint the house pink with purple polka dots in protest.
Shannon says
Ha! There was a house in Lubbock, TX that did something like that because there was an ordinance that no more than 2 unrelated people can live together. http://www.ci.lubbock.tx.us/departmental-websites/departments/311-on-line/other/lists/other/information-about-more-than-two-unrelated-persons-in-a-home.
I think that it might be a remnant “brothel law” or an attempt to keep rent up in a college town.
Amy says
What is really sad is that every pic I have seen of their garden shows it as well kept and organized. I would bet that it beautifies that neighborhood more than a lot of other front yards. I’d love to drive thru their neighborhood and do a comparison. This is why I refuse to live in a subdivision or a community that can place restrictions on what you do on your own property. There was recently a news story in Florida about a man who had to dig up two magnolia trees because according to his HOA rules they were to short. Ridiculous!
Diana says
I hope the couple wins their suit, and I hope they are able to recover their attorneys’ fees. Truthfully, I’m even offended by the ordinances that don’t allow a couch on the front porch or trash cans to be visible from the street. I personally don’t want a couch on my porch, but live and let live. Leave other people alone, dammit.
At the far end of my block there is a house with an old white porcelain toilet leaning up against the front, sitting under a step ladder propped up so the inhabitants can climb up and adjust the TV rabbit ears mounted to the guttering with a block of wood. I confess I’m glad the rabbit ears people aren’t my next door neighbors, but from down at the other end of the street, I love it. It’s hilarious.
Laura says
I think everyone should be able to grow what they want on their own property (well, not everything, I wouldn’t want them growing opium poppies or something!), BUT… they knew the neighborhood ordinances when they moved in. There are worse things that could be in a front yard, but if you don’t like the bylaws, don’t move into that neighborhood.
My city is going through this right now. They want a pedestrian trail on land that was set aside for that years ago, long before some nearby townhouses were built. Now the residents are throwing fits about a trail at their back fences. Well, it was in their purchase information if they had chosen to look.
I choose to live where I can have an antennae (I don’t) if I don’t want cable, can paint my house any color I want (it’s yellow with a bright blue door!), and park on my lawn if I want (I don’t have a lawn, and really hate to see the neighbors do it, but it’s their lawn!). That’s the bottom line. If you don’t like the rules, look elsewhere. Or, petition all the neighbors in the complex to change the bylaws.
(Having watched the video, I hate to suggest this… but could a neighbor be giving them grief, hoping they move, because they don’t like the looks of the couple? They could rightly sue for discrimination then.)
Kathy says
I’m telling you, these people in Florida are nuts. They let people place those horrible, tacky, naked, pink, plastic flamingos in front yards, but get hysterical when someone plants an edible plant. It has to be too much sun or maybe it’s the water.
In this day when more and more of our established food sources are not safe, people are planting vegetable gardens so they know what’s really in their food. Or plant for just plain economics, or for the joy of it.
I say plant kudzu (the vine that ate the south) and let it take over the entire neighborhood. Start with the homeowners’ board members. That will show em.
Diane says
I haven’t read the text of the ordinance, but I saw an online post that said the language prohibited planting “vegetables” in front yards, but not fruit. My suggestion is that they plant a yard full of tomatoes and bell peppers (both bear FRUIT, not vegetables), and then sue the living daylights out of the neighborhood association (or whoever is responsible for the stupid rule) when fines start being levied. This is beyond ridiculous, but if the neighborhood wants to ban edible plants in the front yard, at least they need to be mighty specific in the language they use.
Marcia@Frugal Healthy Simple says
OMG so ridiculous. They should put up so much yard art that it blocks the plants.
As to what the rules are, how do we know their garden didn’t pre-date the ordinance?
Food Not Lawns.
Amy says
so does that include orange trees?..if so, there are tons of those in florida that are gonna have to be chopped down too.. this is crazyness!
Amy says
what is more of an eyesore, a nice vegg garden or a 10 ft privacy fence? if they cant actually see the garden, is it actually there? lol
Sarah G says
We live on 95 acres in the middle of nowhere…it rocks! No whiny neighbors, no city ordinances, just common sense people in my hood…
Renay says
They need to get on their local Planning Commission or neighborhood association (whichever authority it is that passed the law) and change this law. Many of these laws were fine at one time, but neighborhoods evolve and growing your own is (thank God) once again in vogue. Citizenship is not a spectator sport, people – get involved!
Sydelle says
Wow, quite the story. I wonder, since the garden had been in place for 17 years without complaint, or compliance issues, could it by default be grandfathered in, and therefore remain. If no one complains for 17 years about this garden, then why ask the owners to take it out now.
April Myers says
I just found out that the Condo Association for a home we bought in Florida won’t even allow me to move in with my husband and brother . . . because it’s for “single families” and my disabled brother isn’t my dependent. It’s a three bedroom condo. I don’t think I would intentionally submit to another HOA, especially in FL. The good news is the max they can fine you now is $100 a day and up to $1000, I learned that firsthand as well, as our renter violated rules (sublet without their approval) and we’re responsible for that, too. It would be nice if some idealistic attorney’s would get in there and fight for some sane protections. Otherwise, you might as well rent.
Dor says
In small cottage gardens in England they grow veggies in their walkways in plant bias. If they can do that in English Gardens Floruda should get over the self. I grow veggies mixed with my flowers in my front garden too.
Christina says
This is so sad and stupid. I hope the city this wonderful couple lives in is embarrassed.
JC says
This happened to a family in Oak Park, MI, not too long ago. Oak Park does not have an HOA but instead it was city ordinances. Put tack crap in your yard, no problem. Grow food, you’re the devil! http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/15/julie-bass-front-yard-gar_n_899723.html
Lorraine says
All I can say to this is: RECALL THINGS LIKE THIS WHEN YOU VOTE! When we allow the Government to intrude in anything….by
“giving us” money, by making other people do what we want. . . then this is what we eventually get. City, County, State, Federal….government is all the same. It will take whatever we give it, or allow it to take from us.
Meg B. says
Neighborhood organizations, like most well-intentioned groups, have gone off the deep end. They served a good purpose initially. When human beings are involved, some tend to get on power trips or nit-pick at any little thing (perhaps some jealousy involved). I think a garden is beautiful whether it’s vegetable, bushes, flowers, cactus, if it’s maintained and cared for. I have a good friend who incorporates her vegetable garden into the rest of the garden. Beautifully and tastefully done. Wish I could attach a picture for you.