Beautiful garden. Keep up the good work. In this day and age, with the economy being what it is and the environment being even worse, I think that it is wonderful that you are trying to provide for yourself by growing a garden. I think more people should. Maybe those city officials should go through some rough times and the garden they grow be the only thing they have to eat. Then they would change their mind.
Janet Sheridan-McCree Jul 13, 2011 @ 21:28:08
You go girl!! My husband and I turned our front yard into a garden this year and we are feeding the neighborhood. Only one phone call from city hall, and that turned out to be a hoax from our friend trying to get me excited. I cried and asked for his badge number and told him to stop harassing us. Luckily for me he invited us over for drinks that night and we are still laughing about it. Request me as a friend to see our garden photos from start till about 3 weeks ago when my daughter broke my camera, it has been sent for repair. When I figure how to use my smart phone i will post more. Good luck to you, I’m on your side.
Janet Sheridan McCree
Andrea Jul 13, 2011 @ 21:28:09
I don’t understand what the big deal is. This should be something everyone does. It promotes healthy eating, organic eating and working together.
What are we teaching our kids by saying that Julie is doing something wrong? they are plants, just edible ones.
Lookin’ good!! Whoever said the raised bed lumber is ugly is sooooo wrong! It’s way better looking than our faded grey plywood!. I think it looks fantastic, and the veggies are looking great. Well done Julie!
That looks great! People NEED to learn to do what your doing, and anyone against it is severely short sighted and ignorant.
Jana Jul 13, 2011 @ 21:47:15
From the picture, I’d say the garden is considerably prettier than the “approved lawn” – since that’s mud with a few scattered tufts of wimpy grass. Could always apply a stain to the plain wood of the beds, I suppose, make it blend with the mulch and the brick. Or be fun and paint it to resemble tufts of grass and little flowers, with some random flowering veggies scattered through the pics.
ok so my zucchinis have just lots of stems and flowers..(i think those are the boys) and then fruits and flowers..but just 2 or 3. (I guess those are the girls.) So anything you can do to increase the number of girls…get them pollinated, short of bringing in bees? (I bet bee hives are not allowed…tee hee..) maybe i should play soft music?
DIANNA LOFTIS Jul 13, 2011 @ 21:51:41
EVERYTHING LOOKS SCRUMPTIOUS. WE LIVE IN THE DESERT OF WEST TEXAS. WE HAVE NO DIRT. I GREW UP NEAR THE GULF SOUTH OF HOUSTON AND WE HAD GREAT DIRT. WE GREW EVERYTHING.
Something similar happened to me 20 years ago. The story (posted on the site) will give you a chuckle. I fully endorse the right of anyone to grow food anywhere. We will soon find out that it may be absolutely essential to grow our own food.
placidair Jul 13, 2011 @ 23:06:39
Beautiful!
Bear Jul 14, 2011 @ 00:15:54
Wow. I wish my garden looked half as neat and tidy as yours.
Really? I just can’t see why the big stink over such a super-tidy garden. I called the mayor and planner and told them they were being silly; if i’d seen these pics beforehand I probably would have used stronger language.
We support you and your lovely garden.
Joyce Pennington Jul 14, 2011 @ 00:51:42
Hang in there – mean people are like weeds – they are who they are and they sit amoung us ..even in church. Sorry about your troubles. YOU are getting your 15 minutes of fame for sure. Best of luck from Heber SPrings, Ar. Hang in there.
Meghan Jul 14, 2011 @ 00:53:44
Looks very nice! I hope you win this battle; this is ridiculous.
Love the garden girl! I harvested some pole beans last week and ate them this week. They were delish!!! did you know most flowers are edible too? http://whatscookingamerica.net/EdibleFlowers/EdibleFlowersMain.htm Just one source but I’m sure you can find edible’s in other neighbors yards…
Beautiful, healthy garden! Much more productive than my ‘freshman’ effort 20 years ago. (Rowdy dogs are tough on tomatoes…wish I had though of the FRONT yard all those years ago!)
I know what you need in front of those beds – blueberries! 3 on each side, with a path between them and the front beds. In a few years, you’ll have yummy fruit, and a kind of ‘secert garden’ vibe going on…The bushes are probably on clearance now, if you can find some.
Just a thought… Happy Gardening!
Sharon Moskowitz Jul 14, 2011 @ 10:02:30
Love it! What a gorgeous garden. So hard to understand why anyone would have a problem with this. Once the flowers grow a bit and the zucchini fills in and starts draping over the edges of your planting boxes, they’ll look like any other ornamental raised planting beds.
+1 on the blueberry idea, though. Those little shrubs would make a beautiful addition.
Get the book, _Square Foot Gardening_. It’s great. One modification I make is to buy a cheap roll-down plastic blind–one like you’d put on your porch screen–and I use a desk stapler and ruler to make the one-foot squares. I use the first one as a model and can make scores out of one blind. They are not “permanent” but are just as good as the big things the book recommends.
The dirt-making is the key. Do it like he says. But do a compost operation. A little scooper full on each plant does miracles. I do urban chickens, three of them. Their manure is saved and kept for tea which I brew in a plastic garbage can. Tea Partiers wouldn’t like it, but plants certainly do. And I get sometimes three eggs per day, in spite of neighbors and the chicken police. You just have to keep them on a leash when not in the pen. Gardening is “illegal” in my gated community, but my neighbors tolerate me. I sometimes bribe them with a fresh pepper or a small bear of honey (I also keep four hives of bees).
It’s never too late (in the season). Start now!
Christy R. Jul 14, 2011 @ 10:43:46
Looks great and I am suddenly craving stir-fry. I would love to have fresh veggies in my yard but I have managed to kill every plant I have ever come in contact with. We have a small flower bed in front of our house and the only reason they are alive is because my husband won’t let me go near them. LOL!
CO supporter Jul 14, 2011 @ 14:27:13
If you’re worried, you can always take a qtip and pollenate the female flowers with the pollen from the male flowers. If there are any bees around though they should be fine and get the job done themselves. Good luck and your garden is beautiful! Too bad government is so ridiculous!
BlatantDisregard Jul 14, 2011 @ 15:03:28
Geeze what an eyesore!!! I’m calling all the city officials because theres no lawn or normal trees you hooligan! /endsarcasm
Marc Jul 14, 2011 @ 15:49:37
Your garden looks good. It’s clean and well organized and green, with flowers to boot. Why your city would have a gripe against this healthy garden is beyond me.
Your garden is looking good. Growing lawn grass is wasteful for energy, mowing and fertilizing grass is wasting money and we’re wishing your Victory garden the best. Growing and Strong!
thank you- i will let you know if any of our neighbors decide to move!
Shewolf1 Jul 15, 2011 @ 16:16:57
Thanks for the visual…..Just Beautiful! ! !
cedar Jul 15, 2011 @ 18:52:38
Beautiful garden, but as an amateur landscape designer, i’d like to recommend one small addition — putting in a small row of dwarf boxwood (Buxus sempervirens ‘Suffruticosa’) on your property line between your property and the sidewalk or street. They are very drought-tolerant and the dwarf type seldom need pruning — trim once a year into the shape you want, usually to form a tiny 1′-2′ high hedge “border.” You can also do a border of strawberries or herbs, of course, but an evergreen plant will not get shabby over winter. It was a Roman tradition to surround vegetable and herb gardens with boxwood and is still done in many places today. They are very pest-proof too. Good luck!!
Jeff Jul 15, 2011 @ 22:24:48
Perhaps your neighbors would prefer if you left an old riding lawn mower running on the corner of the property. Would that be normal?
not in my neighborhood, but your point is well taken 😉 in my neighborhood, we are really all friends, and we forgive each other our shortcomings… i think this was not one of my neighbors who complained about anything. still a mystery what started it all, but as far as i know, my neighbors have my back…
mike Jul 18, 2011 @ 01:01:19
hey,I’m sorry,but if you lived next to me or on my street,I’d be really upset at the garden in the front yard.If everyone did that in town,town would look like a mess.I hate code and hate govt,and want them out of my life for sure,but in this case they are protecting the rest of the residents from you because you insist on imposing your lifestyle on everyone else who has to look at it.
I photoshopped the first pic to highlight the garden, straightened it, corrected the blue tone… find it on my Flickr page – feel free to use it to remind Oak Park that “Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction.”
complicatedwaltz Jul 18, 2011 @ 12:41:00
Your garden is beautiful! Greetings from Los Angeles, where my neighbors regularly rotate their garbage pickings, boats, cars on blocks, and menacing dogs in their front yards. I’m originally from Livonia (grew up there, then had my own place in Redford).
I know it’s hard to deal with the migraines when you have skull-crushing stress going on. From an outsider’s perspective, you are in the right, and the city is nuts. This will all blow over, and you’ll go back to your regular old life in no time at all. But what you’re doing is standing up for your rights. Good for you! BTW, have you tried muscle manipulation/chiropractic for the migraines? It might help!
Power to you! Rock on!
i have tried just about everything… there is a whole load of health history behind the migraines, so it’s not simple, but oh, well. nothing in life really is, is it? and i will try my best to rock on!!
the problem is really that there was no code in place that prevented what i am doing. i’m not trying to impose anything on anyone- similar to folks who put up christmas lights. they are not trying to impose their lifestyle- they are trying to express their joy and to share it by doing something they consider beautiful. i don’t think our garden is messy, and if everyone in town had a garden, there would be a lot less hungry people and kids with too much time on their hands to get into trouble. i have no problem with the government making reasonable restrictions. but i’m not sure exactly what your probelm is with my garden…
julie morris Jul 21, 2011 @ 09:48:52
EXCELLENT pix !!!!!!! I was going through this blog to catch up, wondering how I could request new pix, and lo and behold, there they are! Awesome!
I started my garden in April and have 4-5″ German Johnson Pink tomatoes reddening, and have taken out over 8 10″-14″ long zucchinis! The winter squash are ripening to a light orange (about 25 of those), and the peppers are still growing up – would love to share pix, but can’t but it’s been a beautiful growing season. Anyway, glad to see things progressing on ALL fronts! You rock!
oh, wow- you are right up there with ryan as a garden guru, it sounds like. keep it up- maybe you’ll have some left to share with a poor gardeing family whose vegetables are still babies and whose tomatoes are still green 😉
Jul 13, 2011 @ 21:24:50
Just beautiful! It must live!
Jul 13, 2011 @ 21:26:53
Beautiful garden. Keep up the good work. In this day and age, with the economy being what it is and the environment being even worse, I think that it is wonderful that you are trying to provide for yourself by growing a garden. I think more people should. Maybe those city officials should go through some rough times and the garden they grow be the only thing they have to eat. Then they would change their mind.
Jul 13, 2011 @ 21:28:08
You go girl!! My husband and I turned our front yard into a garden this year and we are feeding the neighborhood. Only one phone call from city hall, and that turned out to be a hoax from our friend trying to get me excited. I cried and asked for his badge number and told him to stop harassing us. Luckily for me he invited us over for drinks that night and we are still laughing about it. Request me as a friend to see our garden photos from start till about 3 weeks ago when my daughter broke my camera, it has been sent for repair. When I figure how to use my smart phone i will post more. Good luck to you, I’m on your side.
Janet Sheridan McCree
Jul 13, 2011 @ 21:28:09
I don’t understand what the big deal is. This should be something everyone does. It promotes healthy eating, organic eating and working together.
What are we teaching our kids by saying that Julie is doing something wrong? they are plants, just edible ones.
Jul 13, 2011 @ 21:28:28
my veggies look the same,this year is my first garden:) Amanda Fr Nova Scotia
http://www.amandamackay.com/handmade-blog/2011/06/vegetable-garden-radish-recipe-vegetable-contest/ look at my veggies, I had a contest
Jul 13, 2011 @ 21:28:50
Great! See my comment on facebook.
Jul 13, 2011 @ 21:28:54
I see some beautiful pink flowers…..isn’t that allowed according to state law? LOL. I think it looks gorgeous and delicious. I say keep growing!!
Jul 13, 2011 @ 21:28:56
Looks great!! All the *BS* you’re going thru, that garden ought to be overflowing with veggies by harvest time! Keep on gardening, girl!!!
Jul 13, 2011 @ 21:29:46
Ahem, that is not a vegetable, that is (gasp) a petunia! Is that not common in Oak Park either????
Jul 13, 2011 @ 21:30:25
Lookin’ good!! Whoever said the raised bed lumber is ugly is sooooo wrong! It’s way better looking than our faded grey plywood!. I think it looks fantastic, and the veggies are looking great. Well done Julie!
Jul 13, 2011 @ 21:31:07
SO cute! i love my veggie garden! ❤
Jul 13, 2011 @ 21:32:13
oh, grace- i wish i knew!
Jul 13, 2011 @ 21:33:18
oh dear, i think i may have alluded to the fact that i am facebook impaired. is there a way you could post it here?
Jul 13, 2011 @ 21:34:08
um, ok- will you be my friend?
Jul 13, 2011 @ 21:35:40
That looks great! People NEED to learn to do what your doing, and anyone against it is severely short sighted and ignorant.
Jul 13, 2011 @ 21:47:15
From the picture, I’d say the garden is considerably prettier than the “approved lawn” – since that’s mud with a few scattered tufts of wimpy grass. Could always apply a stain to the plain wood of the beds, I suppose, make it blend with the mulch and the brick. Or be fun and paint it to resemble tufts of grass and little flowers, with some random flowering veggies scattered through the pics.
Jul 13, 2011 @ 21:50:04
ok so my zucchinis have just lots of stems and flowers..(i think those are the boys) and then fruits and flowers..but just 2 or 3. (I guess those are the girls.) So anything you can do to increase the number of girls…get them pollinated, short of bringing in bees? (I bet bee hives are not allowed…tee hee..) maybe i should play soft music?
Jul 13, 2011 @ 21:51:41
EVERYTHING LOOKS SCRUMPTIOUS. WE LIVE IN THE DESERT OF WEST TEXAS. WE HAVE NO DIRT. I GREW UP NEAR THE GULF SOUTH OF HOUSTON AND WE HAD GREAT DIRT. WE GREW EVERYTHING.
Jul 13, 2011 @ 22:03:49
oh boy, i hope you are not asking me a gardening question! but i will post it here and maybe someone will answer… 🙂 -julie
Jul 13, 2011 @ 22:24:03
Great looking garden. I am sorry you are being harassed over it.
Jul 13, 2011 @ 22:46:10
http://deadleavessociety.com/
Something similar happened to me 20 years ago. The story (posted on the site) will give you a chuckle. I fully endorse the right of anyone to grow food anywhere. We will soon find out that it may be absolutely essential to grow our own food.
Jul 13, 2011 @ 23:06:39
Beautiful!
Jul 14, 2011 @ 00:15:54
Wow. I wish my garden looked half as neat and tidy as yours.
Really? I just can’t see why the big stink over such a super-tidy garden. I called the mayor and planner and told them they were being silly; if i’d seen these pics beforehand I probably would have used stronger language.
We support you and your lovely garden.
Jul 14, 2011 @ 00:51:42
Hang in there – mean people are like weeds – they are who they are and they sit amoung us ..even in church. Sorry about your troubles. YOU are getting your 15 minutes of fame for sure. Best of luck from Heber SPrings, Ar. Hang in there.
Jul 14, 2011 @ 00:53:44
Looks very nice! I hope you win this battle; this is ridiculous.
Jul 14, 2011 @ 01:25:57
Very nice! Keep up the good work!
Jul 14, 2011 @ 08:18:54
LOVE! Your garden photos, Garden on !!! Keep at it.
Love MICHA , IN NM , Mother of 5 , Grandmother of 4.
Jul 14, 2011 @ 09:21:25
Your garden is so pretty! I hope a lot of your neighbors will copy what you have done and reap the yummy benefits…
Jul 14, 2011 @ 09:39:45
Love the garden girl! I harvested some pole beans last week and ate them this week. They were delish!!! did you know most flowers are edible too? http://whatscookingamerica.net/EdibleFlowers/EdibleFlowersMain.htm Just one source but I’m sure you can find edible’s in other neighbors yards…
Jul 14, 2011 @ 09:41:33
Beautiful, healthy garden! Much more productive than my ‘freshman’ effort 20 years ago. (Rowdy dogs are tough on tomatoes…wish I had though of the FRONT yard all those years ago!)
I know what you need in front of those beds – blueberries! 3 on each side, with a path between them and the front beds. In a few years, you’ll have yummy fruit, and a kind of ‘secert garden’ vibe going on…The bushes are probably on clearance now, if you can find some.
Just a thought… Happy Gardening!
Jul 14, 2011 @ 10:02:30
Love it! What a gorgeous garden. So hard to understand why anyone would have a problem with this. Once the flowers grow a bit and the zucchini fills in and starts draping over the edges of your planting boxes, they’ll look like any other ornamental raised planting beds.
+1 on the blueberry idea, though. Those little shrubs would make a beautiful addition.
Jul 14, 2011 @ 10:07:15
Get the book, _Square Foot Gardening_. It’s great. One modification I make is to buy a cheap roll-down plastic blind–one like you’d put on your porch screen–and I use a desk stapler and ruler to make the one-foot squares. I use the first one as a model and can make scores out of one blind. They are not “permanent” but are just as good as the big things the book recommends.
The dirt-making is the key. Do it like he says. But do a compost operation. A little scooper full on each plant does miracles. I do urban chickens, three of them. Their manure is saved and kept for tea which I brew in a plastic garbage can. Tea Partiers wouldn’t like it, but plants certainly do. And I get sometimes three eggs per day, in spite of neighbors and the chicken police. You just have to keep them on a leash when not in the pen. Gardening is “illegal” in my gated community, but my neighbors tolerate me. I sometimes bribe them with a fresh pepper or a small bear of honey (I also keep four hives of bees).
It’s never too late (in the season). Start now!
Jul 14, 2011 @ 10:43:46
Looks great and I am suddenly craving stir-fry. I would love to have fresh veggies in my yard but I have managed to kill every plant I have ever come in contact with. We have a small flower bed in front of our house and the only reason they are alive is because my husband won’t let me go near them. LOL!
Jul 14, 2011 @ 14:27:13
If you’re worried, you can always take a qtip and pollenate the female flowers with the pollen from the male flowers. If there are any bees around though they should be fine and get the job done themselves. Good luck and your garden is beautiful! Too bad government is so ridiculous!
Jul 14, 2011 @ 15:03:28
Geeze what an eyesore!!! I’m calling all the city officials because theres no lawn or normal trees you hooligan! /endsarcasm
Jul 14, 2011 @ 15:49:37
Your garden looks good. It’s clean and well organized and green, with flowers to boot. Why your city would have a gripe against this healthy garden is beyond me.
Jul 14, 2011 @ 16:25:27
If that were next door to me, I’d marvel at it. I can’t grow more than container plants, and the most successful so far have been tomatoes.
Jul 14, 2011 @ 17:55:13
Looks great! Are your peas almost ready? I just harvested all my peas here in Iowa.
Jul 14, 2011 @ 18:54:37
Your garden is looking good. Growing lawn grass is wasteful for energy, mowing and fertilizing grass is wasting money and we’re wishing your Victory garden the best. Growing and Strong!
Jul 14, 2011 @ 19:25:58
my friend quotes me from the book all the time. and pepper bribes sound like a great idea!
Jul 14, 2011 @ 19:39:18
yuck about the 15 minutes of fame- i’d rather get an extra 15 minutes of sleep! 😉
Jul 15, 2011 @ 15:15:24
What a beautiful garden! I would be proud to have you as a neighbor!
Jul 15, 2011 @ 15:48:39
thank you- i will let you know if any of our neighbors decide to move!
Jul 15, 2011 @ 16:16:57
Thanks for the visual…..Just Beautiful! ! !
Jul 15, 2011 @ 18:52:38
Beautiful garden, but as an amateur landscape designer, i’d like to recommend one small addition — putting in a small row of dwarf boxwood (Buxus sempervirens ‘Suffruticosa’) on your property line between your property and the sidewalk or street. They are very drought-tolerant and the dwarf type seldom need pruning — trim once a year into the shape you want, usually to form a tiny 1′-2′ high hedge “border.” You can also do a border of strawberries or herbs, of course, but an evergreen plant will not get shabby over winter. It was a Roman tradition to surround vegetable and herb gardens with boxwood and is still done in many places today. They are very pest-proof too. Good luck!!
Jul 15, 2011 @ 22:24:48
Perhaps your neighbors would prefer if you left an old riding lawn mower running on the corner of the property. Would that be normal?
Jul 16, 2011 @ 23:39:22
not in my neighborhood, but your point is well taken 😉 in my neighborhood, we are really all friends, and we forgive each other our shortcomings… i think this was not one of my neighbors who complained about anything. still a mystery what started it all, but as far as i know, my neighbors have my back…
Jul 18, 2011 @ 01:01:19
hey,I’m sorry,but if you lived next to me or on my street,I’d be really upset at the garden in the front yard.If everyone did that in town,town would look like a mess.I hate code and hate govt,and want them out of my life for sure,but in this case they are protecting the rest of the residents from you because you insist on imposing your lifestyle on everyone else who has to look at it.
Jul 18, 2011 @ 05:45:23
I photoshopped the first pic to highlight the garden, straightened it, corrected the blue tone… find it on my Flickr page – feel free to use it to remind Oak Park that “Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction.”
Jul 18, 2011 @ 12:41:00
Your garden is beautiful! Greetings from Los Angeles, where my neighbors regularly rotate their garbage pickings, boats, cars on blocks, and menacing dogs in their front yards. I’m originally from Livonia (grew up there, then had my own place in Redford).
I know it’s hard to deal with the migraines when you have skull-crushing stress going on. From an outsider’s perspective, you are in the right, and the city is nuts. This will all blow over, and you’ll go back to your regular old life in no time at all. But what you’re doing is standing up for your rights. Good for you! BTW, have you tried muscle manipulation/chiropractic for the migraines? It might help!
Power to you! Rock on!
Jul 18, 2011 @ 17:07:24
i have tried just about everything… there is a whole load of health history behind the migraines, so it’s not simple, but oh, well. nothing in life really is, is it? and i will try my best to rock on!!
Jul 18, 2011 @ 17:12:43
the problem is really that there was no code in place that prevented what i am doing. i’m not trying to impose anything on anyone- similar to folks who put up christmas lights. they are not trying to impose their lifestyle- they are trying to express their joy and to share it by doing something they consider beautiful. i don’t think our garden is messy, and if everyone in town had a garden, there would be a lot less hungry people and kids with too much time on their hands to get into trouble. i have no problem with the government making reasonable restrictions. but i’m not sure exactly what your probelm is with my garden…
Jul 21, 2011 @ 09:48:52
EXCELLENT pix !!!!!!! I was going through this blog to catch up, wondering how I could request new pix, and lo and behold, there they are! Awesome!
I started my garden in April and have 4-5″ German Johnson Pink tomatoes reddening, and have taken out over 8 10″-14″ long zucchinis! The winter squash are ripening to a light orange (about 25 of those), and the peppers are still growing up – would love to share pix, but can’t but it’s been a beautiful growing season. Anyway, glad to see things progressing on ALL fronts! You rock!
Jul 21, 2011 @ 11:16:02
oh, wow- you are right up there with ryan as a garden guru, it sounds like. keep it up- maybe you’ll have some left to share with a poor gardeing family whose vegetables are still babies and whose tomatoes are still green 😉