Growing a garden in your front lawn [in Oak Park] can land you in jail

[oladub]

"You can look all throughout the city and you’ll never find another vegetable garden that consumes the entire front yard.” -Oak Park’s Planning and Technology Director Kevin Rulkowski

Huh? Maybe Oak Park’s Planning and Technology Director Kevin Rulkowski should wipe the dust off of his trusty Commodore 64 and do a google image search for "front yard vegetable garden". Mr. Rulkowski's emphasis must have been Conformity back in planning school days.

[Bham1982]

They certainly have a right to enforce their ordinaces, though I'm surprised they are so strict in their enforcement.

And given the condition of much of Oak Park nowadays, I'm surprised they would expend resources on such a trivial matter. How about first fixing the rest of the city?

There are vacant homes and blight all over the place. Who cares about some contraband zucchini?

[JBMcB]

FTA: "Exempted from the provisions of this article, inclusive, are flower gardens, plots of shrubbery, vegetable gardens and small grain plots."

Looks like it's explicitly allowed?

[kryptonite]

I am a vegetable gardener and have talked to my next door neighbor about building a second garden in the side yard between our houses. She likes the idea and we may start the project. It would be visible from the street but not exactly in the front yard.

I have seen front yard gardens from time to time, my aunt in Huntsville, AL has a neighbor who has a front yard vegetable garden because that's where he has the most sun. It's a nice look although it's not for McMansions or lawn freaks.

to me she is doing something acceptable but you cannot ignore tickets/summonses, etc. There are repercussions.

[Detroitnerd]

Usually in cases like this, there is a dick neighbor, a dick cop or a dick administrator.

[milt721]

In our city, there cannot be any vegetation over 6" in height. Anything over that height is defined as a "public nuisance." I guess that means gardens are illegal, front yard or back.

[sirrealone]

Bass got the idea to plant a garden in front yard after it was torn up over a busted sewage pipe.
"There were piles of dirt outside and we knew we had to do something," Bass said. "We looked into putting in sod but it was shockingly expensive

According to Bass,the family hired professionals to make the planter boxes, bought tomato trellises, paving stones and a swing at a cost of over $500.

This doesn't make any sense. Re-sodding this would have cost a heck of a lot less than $500 and it probably could have been re-seeded for $50 or less. Between re-seeding, sodding, and having professionals get the area ready for a vegetable garden, the last one is clearly the most expensive option.

I don't understand why this garden couldn't have been constructed in the backyard. I applaud the garden. It looks fantastic and it looks like she's doing a great job with it, but I still can't get past the fact that putting it in the front yard is completely senseless.

[Brittz]

I hope the City of Oak Park allows this woman to continue with her garden and give her a stern warning about doing it again.

[Novine]

"It looks fantastic and it looks like she's doing a great job with it, but I still can't get past the fact that putting it in the front yard is completely senseless."

How so? How is it any more expensive to put it in the front yard than the back?

[Gistok]

This doesn't make any sense. Re-sodding this would have cost a heck of a lot less than $500 and it probably could have been re-seeded for $50 or less. Between re-seeding, sodding, and having professionals get the area ready for a vegetable garden, the last one is clearly the most expensive option.

I don't understand why this garden couldn't have been constructed in the backyard. I applaud the garden. It looks fantastic and it looks like she's doing a great job with it, but I still can't get past the fact that putting it in the front yard is completely senseless.

I haven't seen any images of her back yard... but if there are trees and only shade [[like my back yard) in back of her house... then wouldn't her actions make some sense?

[Maof]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540...3063&#43743063

making all the news channels.

[Corn.Bot]

"It looks fantastic and it looks like she's doing a great job with it, but I still can't get past the fact that putting it in the front yard is completely senseless."

How so? How is it any more expensive to put it in the front yard than the back?

My thought: it would be expensive and potentially back-breaking to remove any sod, back yard or front, before putting in that garden and its attendant architecture. Equipment and/or tools would have to be rented for DIY, or they'd have to pay someone to do the work. Having the lawn already removed and perhaps even regraded after the plumbing job was done certainly cut a ton of preparation effort and costs from the project.

I know exactly how the homeowner must have felt, looking at that stretch of bald-dirt front yard. BLANK SLATE! Let's do something.... useful with it! I can relate, as I had a new septic system put in last summer. The installers tore up a 100'x60' section of my back yard for the new underground tanks and drainfields. Plant a lawn? WHY? [[Not a garden for me, though - other types of ground cover plants due to that part of my property being almost entirely shady all day).

[oldredfordette]

Every time I look at a big green lawn, I think of the waste of time and water to put in what looks like a carpet in front of your house. To my taste, a lawn is ugly. Her yard looks great. Leave the veggies alone!

[jcole]

Every time I look at a big green lawn, I think of the waste of time and water to put in what looks like a carpet in front of your house. To my taste, a lawn is ugly. Her yard looks great. Leave the veggies alone!

Not to mention all the poisonous chemicals they use to make it look like a carpet and to keep any kind of stray weed or flower to mar its perfection. They need to look into all those fertilizers and weed killers as reasons that cancer has increased exponentially in more or less recent years.

[Crystal]

Could the homeowner have her vegetable garden in the back yard?

When Henry Ford laid out Garden City with lots large enough so residents could grown their own vegetables, not even he expected that vegetable gardens would be placed in the front yards.

I'm a big supporter of native planting and growing your own vegetables, but I would not like the Oak Park garden next door to me.

She could work to change the ordinance, and maybe a sensible ordinance could be created. Maybe rows of vegetables could be permitted on the sides of a front yard?

[Novine]

What's the difference between having a yard full of vegetables and a yard full of flowers? It's all plant material.

[Detroitnerd]

What's the difference between having a yard full of vegetables and a yard full of flowers? It's all plant material.

A lot of people want to force their neighbors to never do anything that smacks of poverty or the working-class, even when it's green. Don't grow your own food visibly! We can all afford groceries! Don't hang your laundry out to dry in the sun and wind! Use fossil fuels to power your electric dryer!

[NorthofNormal]

I'm not picking on Crystal specifically, but this jumped out at me:

I would not like the Oak Park garden next door to me.

Why does your [[or, more appropriately, the neighbors', in this case) desire to not see a front-yard veggie garden trump the homeowner's desire to place her garden wherever she wants it to be?

[Mind field]

A lot of people want to force their neighbors to never do anything that smacks of poverty or the working-class, even when it's green. Don't grow your own food visibly! We can all afford groceries! Don't hang your laundry out to dry in the sun and wind! Use fossil fuels to power your electric dryer!

Or people just fear anything that is viewed as out of the ordinary, not normal. I'm amazed at the reactions to something as simple as growing vegetables in an unconventional location. People value conformity and aesthetics way too much, to the detriment of actually doing the right thing. There are homeowners associations in this nation that forbid installing solar panels purely for aesthetic reasons. Hopefully justice prevails in this case and this woman can grow vegetables on her own property wherever she damn well pleases. I'm sure Oak Park has far more pressing issues to deal with than this pettiness.

[rjk]

I'm not picking on Crystal specifically, but this jumped out at me:

Why does your [[or, more appropriately, the neighbors', in this case) desire to not see a front-yard veggie garden trump the homeowner's desire to place her garden wherever she wants it to be?

How does her expressing an opinion in any way suggest that she thinks her view should trump the desire of the home owner? It's just her opinion.

In other news the charges against the home owners have been dropped.

[Crystal]

NorthofNormal, I was not asserting that my [[or any neighbor's) wishes or desires would trump the wishes or desires of the homeowner with the vegetable garden. And if I were the next door neighbor, I'm not necessarily suggesting I would complain.

I was only stating my opinion that I would not like to look at such a sight in my neighbor's front yard.

This is a toughie! My family is very supportive of home gardens, organic food, locally sourced food, and gardening to save money.

On the other hand, it's reasonable for a community to establish standards for things like setbacks, lawns, height of homes, etc.

I would really like to know why the garden couldn't be in the back yard. If it were I, I would not use the front yard for a number of reasons, not the least of which would be automobile exhaust possibly tainting the vegetables.

[Novine]

"On the other hand, it's reasonable for a community to establish standards for things like setbacks, lawns, height of homes, etc."

The issue isn't that Oak Park can't regulate these things. It's that they are trying to create a distinction between flowers and vegetables that doesn't exist. Both are plant material. Vegetables aren't a noxious or invasive weed. What's the city justification for allowing one in the front yard and banning the other? "Mind field' nailed the mentality that drives these kinds of disputes. People and communities are so wrapped up into forcing everyone to conform that allowing something different or unusual can't be permitted.

[JasonMax]

She could have made it look more presentable. My neighbors were schetchy when I tore up the entire back yard with the rototiller and planted everything from broccoli to corn. One year later, no one is complaining at all. All it took was a bit of crushed stone, mulch, and sod [[for my son to play in). My grass skills have always sucked but I have always rocked at making produce. I shared my bounty with most of my block and suddenly nobody has an issue with it.

My wife likes flowers, so she gets the front.... about to be the hanging flower garden...I cant eat it :P