i was thinking about this quote from the last post a lot last night.
i was thinking about it because it really bothered me.
i was thinking about it because, unless someone is doing something they have a reason to suspect is shady or somehow wrong, they probably wouldn’t be in doubt about doing something as simple and beautiful as planting a plant.
as i said, unless they are doing something shady or wrong… which is pretty self-explanatory, so let’s just be clear that is not what i am talking about…
but i think that a normal person, under normal circumstances, would and should, safely assume, that planting an innocent plant would be an innocent activity.
so, why would you be in doubt?
why would you think you have to ask?
and who the heck should you ask?
if i want to put a tomato plant in my own yard- be it in the front or in the back- why is that anyone else’s concern?
if i think squash has particularly lovely flowers, then who are you to judge that they aren’t?
i happen to think that most roses are quite ugly, and most people would agree that their thorns are extremely unpleasant, but if you want them in your yard then i think that is pretty much your own darn business.
and most other people would too.
so why the double standard when it comes to cucumbers?
nobody would really think to say with a straight face, “before you think about planting tulips, you’d better check with the city council and make sure they are allowed near your driveway!”
so why do we think that is acceptable when it comes to onions?
if i have an evergreen bush near my front door and i want to prune it, i don’t need to poll my neighbors and make sure it meets with their approval, so why do i feel like i need to do that if i want to put in some raspberry bushes?
i am feeling so done with that non-logic.
forgive me, but i am needing to decompress right now from all of the garden hate in the world.
but now i’m feeling better. i’m dreaming about tearing up some bushes out front and growing some more useful crops. i plan to pitch it *h over the weekend.
wish me luck!
Jan 25, 2013 @ 19:52:55
The most upsetting thing, to me, as that everyone is up in arms over whether or not they can have a gun, but OH NO, she can’t have a vegetable garden in her front lawn!
It’s is complete and utter bullshit. Sorry, but if people can own guns, then we can plant gardens for fucks sake.
We should never have to ask the city to plant on our own property.
Perhaps if you were using harsh pesticides that were getting into the neighbors yard, that might be different, but most front yard gardeners (these days) don’t do that.
Don’t stop growing on your property. This is a constitutional issue.
Did you sign a contract before moving into the neighborhood saying you couldn’t plant vegetables? I bet you did not.
They have no legal right to tell you that you can’t do this. Fight it. Fight like hell.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but aren’t you close to Detroit? Hasn’t Detroit been trying to welcome gardeners and artists into the community to help revitalize the city? Detroit should care about this issue.
Fuck those guys. Sitting at their desk.
They are power hungry. They think they can get away with it, because they usually do.
Don’t ask for permission to do something you know is right. Just do it.
I wish I was your neighbor.
Is there any possibility that you can start a vegetable garden at your children’s school? or a community garden? there has to be community members who are supporting you?
Jan 25, 2013 @ 20:01:22
Good luck I spent years an hours gardening and planted four gardens….it’s a great way to spend your time ……..
Jan 25, 2013 @ 20:03:09
I was wondering the same thing earlier this week after a conversation with the zoning administrator in which he mentioned that gardening was not listed as an allowed use for a vacant lot without a house on it.
My thoughts ran along the same line. Growing grass isn’t listed as an allowed use, neither is having a vacant house, neither is not doing anything with the property.
But somehow gardening is so offensive as to be looked at differently – somehow growing flowers because they are pretty is different than growing them to eat, growing grass for yard is different than growing it to feed to animals, and even though the letter of the law treats both the same one draws comments about not being allowed (if someone complains) while the other is assumed to be fine.
Jan 25, 2013 @ 20:10:16
heaps of luck & some xtra luv 2
Jan 25, 2013 @ 20:12:06
heaps of luck & some luv 2
Jan 25, 2013 @ 21:28:00
heaps of luck & a little xtra luv
Jan 25, 2013 @ 22:14:17
Squash blossoms are certainly very beautiful (and very tasty) but surely the prettiest flower in the vegetable is the eggplant blossom?
Jan 26, 2013 @ 00:44:16
I’m in agreement with you, bu you already know that I have a front yard veggie garden (and a back yard one, too). I am lucky to live in Seattle where this is all OK. It still floors me that in so many parts of the country is isn’t…I’ll never forget how flabbergasted I was when I first stumbled upon your predicament in Oak Park..could not wrap my brain around why anyone would give a hoot what you planted as long as you weren’t blocking a sidewalk or getting into a neighbor’s “face” (meaning growing something that invaded their yard or caused them not to be able to move around easily) or making it difficult for emergency responders to access your and the neighbors’ homes easily…NONE OF WHICH you were ever doing.
Jan 26, 2013 @ 01:59:29
Agreed!
Jan 26, 2013 @ 04:04:57
So done with it too. It’s not limited to veggies. I planted wildflowers on my steep front hill because mowing was near impossible. I was threatened with fines for “overgrown vegetation” after a neighbor called the zoning board and had to till it all up. I have since moved but I can tell you that I never scrutinized and read through restrictions as much as I did in my new place. Unreal! Kudos to all the growing revolutionaries out there!
Jan 26, 2013 @ 15:32:42
Seems our *julie has had a bad or somewhat upsidedown day eh?
I declare today to be the official turn the world and julie’s world upsidedown day! Because why?
Well, cuz we are poised to acknowledge that we have a choice to either “decompress right now from all of the garden hate in the world” or perhaps expand on “all the garden love in the world.” It’s just really a matter of how we look at things… right?
For example, I see this amazing woman who a while back fought the evil vegitable hate gods and won, she showed me the love, I saw it, now live it and forever embrace it, she is in this view, my (and our) garden love godess.
I offer this special “upsidedown” *julie garden day recognition and indicator of universal appeal however, you must read the full article to catch both the upsidedown aspect and I think you will see the tide is turning and there will soon be very much much much more “garden love” in the world and in all the right “spaces.”
With every instance of garen growing controversy we encounter there is an “each one teach one” opportunity especially when the simple human ideal of growing food clashes with the law, police and fundamental logic.
Read this short cut from the article linked below and see just how upsidedown things in the garden and food growing universe can actually get:
“Outside the police station in the small Victorian mill town of Todmorden, West Yorkshire, there are three large raised flower beds. If you’d visited a few months ago, you’d have found them overflowing with curly kale, carrot plants, lettuces, spring onions — all manner of vegetables and salad leaves. Today the beds are bare. Why? Because people have been wandering up to the police station forecourt in broad daylight and digging up the vegetables. And what are the cops doing about this brazen theft from right under their noses? Nothing.”
OMG, what? You wont believe how upsidedown this is until you really decide to take a good look at it,,, can you see the garden love logic here?
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2072383/Eccentric-town-Todmorden-growing-ALL-veg.html
Because of the bravery and love of the *julie and others, we can AND WILL overcome the garden hate in the world, I just know it.
Jan 26, 2013 @ 22:06:32
aw, dave- welcome back!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ((((((((((((((hugs))))))))))))))))))))) and with such a great and sweet post, too- sheesh…
Jan 26, 2013 @ 22:10:27
thank you- and kudos to you for moving!
Jan 26, 2013 @ 22:14:52
yep- and i remember how people from seattle kept asking me on the blog, ” but what is the problem? like, what are they actually ticketing you for?” and when i would say, “well, i have this vegetable garden in my front yard…” they would say, “i know, but what are you doing wrong???” and i didn’t fully get why they were so confused until i moved here and saw that literally about every third house has veggies in front- hahahaha- what a culture shock! we seriously spent about the first 6 months giggling and wondering if we should take photos and send them to the oak park city planner… crazy world we live in …
Jan 26, 2013 @ 22:21:52
well look at you, ya big softy!
Jan 26, 2013 @ 22:23:08
so THIS is what i had to do to get some extra love from you, huh???? (hahahahahahahaha
)
Jan 26, 2013 @ 22:24:30
ugh, YES! thank you for saying it so well!!! so many good points i wish i had brought up…
Jan 26, 2013 @ 22:24:57
sigh… it sure is…
Jan 26, 2013 @ 22:29:43
i have actually moved away from detroit since this all happened to me, but it is still happening all over the country. and no, i never signed any type of non-gardening contract and never was part of any HOA… i certainly did fight it- and i won, as have all the other front yard gardeners- but cities all across america continue to cite and harass people over their front yard gardens (most recently jason helvenston in orlando, florida who still has a pending case). maybe i should have planted some guns, huh? hahahahaha… funny, but not…i wish you were my neighbor too
Jan 27, 2013 @ 15:23:49
You *should* have taken photos of our perfectly respectable neighborhoods with their squash and parsley plants in the front yard, and sent them back to Michigan. We have very nice front gardens in Seattle, and the place has not yet gone to the dogs, even with such outlandish actions as planting gardens with front veggies or mixed veggies & flowers.
But I do want to put a plug in for when you *should* check before you plant. I do not think one should take the point of view that as a property owner, *all* plants are your choice alone. I agree that asking for permission to plant a tomato or cucumber plant is ridiculous, and nobody should be able to tell you that marigolds are legal for your garden while lettuces are not. But plants that require a big hole can be a different matter. This may be more so here in Seattle than in the midwest for a couple of reasons. Because our frost line is very shallow, utilities (gas, electricity, water, etc.) are not buried terribly deep. They are only ~1.5 feet deep (compared to the 4 feet deep that was the case when I lived in Madison, WI). So if you decide to plant a tree or bush (or even, possibly, one of those unpleasant roses), you really need to know where the utility lines run. That means a call to the city. If you dig without checking and in doing so, break a line, you will be fined. Even worse, if you hit a gas line, you could create an explosive hazard for your neighborhood. Also, especially on the front strip (the tree lawn) where all those utilities run, but also any place that has right-of-way for the utilities, it is important to pick trees and bushes that are not going to create a problem for those utilities, either above or below ground. An agreement for right-of-way for the utilities companies is typically part of what you sign when you buy a house, if it is an issue for your lot, so if you signed that contract, you did agree to abide by those rules. So if you want to plant something (big) in that section of your garden, you do need to check with the city to find out if the proposed plants are going to be ok.
Jan 27, 2013 @ 16:42:42
fair enough!
Feb 03, 2013 @ 12:00:28
You might be interested in knowing that yet another family business, MorningLand Dairy, was raided by over-zealous local officials “just doing what they were told” – a raw milk family farm in business for 30 years with no complaints about quality, known to provide food for people with auto-immune deficiencies and free food for those struggling families in their community. Their products were not confiscated properly, and the initial 99 test swabs that the FDA did were negative – no bacteria. The only supposed positive test was done months later after the products were left to spoil in unrefrigerated containers (they were confiscated prior to the raid). Interesting story and a blatant abuse of power.
Here is an article: http://www.inquisitr.com/505262/morningland-dairy-raided-by-missouri-milk-board/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Inquisitr+%28Inquisitr%3A+All%29
Here is a video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=di_7aBLVn3Q&feature=youtu.be
Feb 03, 2013 @ 14:11:20
sadly, this doesn’t surprise me at all… thanks for the info…