Passed along from a Slow Food newsletter, how cool is this!?!
-Kim
Some good news from Sacramento:
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Sacramento's - Front yard ordinance NOW includes vegetables !
last night the city council approved 8-1 our grass roots effort to revise the front yard landscape code from 1941 that only allowed turf and low growing ground cover it now allows vegetables in the front yard (without any restrictions - they orig. wanted to limit veggies to 30% of the front yard)
this final approval was a 3 year effort to get this passed !
in the hours before the vote....
a local talk-radio show hosted a 1 hour segment on the code 2 hours before the hearing,
green arm bands were worn by 75 supporters that packed the meeting room,
our group made an 8 minute powerpoint presentation to the council and had supplied a large packet of information last week to the council
a number of residents spoke on the item and
2 kids came in a tomato and a carrot costume (from our local food co-op) and addressed the council...
the carrot testified that the council needed to eat more of him to improve their vision :) on the code...
and the tomato joked about how the city was nicknamed after a "Sac-of-tomatoes"
it was a great night.. one we deserved after such a long fight ! WE DID IT !
"Be the Change!"
bill maynard
sacgc@ulink.net
Sacramento can now plant veggies in the front yard!
There goes the neighborhood. The Tomatoes are moving in. And the Radish family. Mr. and Mrs. Broccoli will be next. Pretty soon they'll have little Tubers everywhere.
Congratulations to Sacramento gardners on the sucessful effort! Zoning changes can be (well...always are in my experience) frustrating. Knew California had tight zoning but didn't know about this. I just tore up a 30x40' section of a lawn which has been a lawn since at least the 1880s and didn't give zoning a second thought. On the main road a block from the village center too. Neighbors are all supportive.
So far....
This message was edited Apr 5, 2007 7:17 PM
I love gardening tid bits like this, even when I'm not in the area. Sounds really cool and was a lot of fun. Thank you so much for sharing!!!
Megan
I live in a Homeowner Association free zone but I know lots do not. We can plow the whole front lawn and no one could say a thing! Hmmmm, plow/till front lawn, nice fall cover crop, more room for veggies and TOMATOES next year! Maybe a pick-your-own crop with a sign out front.... No stranger than the rest of the neighborhood:)
-Kim
I think it is kind of crazy that an entire city has an ordinance about what you can grow in your front yard.
I have yard with a raised bed vegetable garden, it looks like a community garden, right in the front yard. Passers by really enjoy it. I like to hand out samples, it encourages others to grow.
I'm so glad someone did something about such a silly ordinance.
We refused to live in a community with any kind of covenants or ordinances as to what you can grow on your own property. I don't want to pay for a yard full of grass when I can have a no water front garden!
GGG
That's clever David_Paul!
Front yard vegi gardens are not uncommon around here either. Most people live on 5 acre plots. But we've seen developers buy of 2 or 3 of of those plots and put 8 houses on an acre. I can't understand why those houses keep selling. Anyway, the only place to put any garden is in the front yard.
My mother grew a HUGE garden and still liked to put vegis in her flower beds. Everyone always wanted to know what that tropical looking vine was . . . Watermelon!
The only lawn I need is 15yd by 7yds. Big enough for a Badminton court.
I have just over an acre. I just could not imagine, haveing 8 houses on it. That would be every bit as close as some trailer courts. Most towns deter trailer courts!
8 houses on an acre is rather spacious compared to some of the developments out here! The two houses and adjoining lots nextdoor to me were just turned into 17 townhomes last year. The guy with the end unit uses a gigantic (and noisy) electric blower to keep his 10'x12' patio clean. Guess there's not enough room there to swing a broom.
I have a hobby of attending open houses and attended one a couple of miles from me where 25 houses were constructed on one acre lots. They had an Association you had to join and I asked if someone could have a veggie garden...answer was no! Then I asked if the kids could set up a lemonade stand and yep, you guessed it ..no! I can't imagine not being able to grow my own veggies especially when there is more than enough room! I think these people are missing out on a great opportunity, spending quality time with the kids showing them the wonder of where their food comes from. Ok, I'll step off my soapbox! :)
Bless you, saanansandy, for visiting open houses! As a former Realtor, I know how miserable it is to plan and hold open houses only to sit there for hours with no one showing up.
Hooray for Sacramento! I'm in an HOA here that has rigid rules. I chose this house because the front lawn area is small with most of the growing space in back.
One caution should be considered when planting food crops in front of homes....not too close to the curb. The exhaust from vehicles has heavy metals such as cadmium that can take up permanent residence in soil.
Congrats to the folks in Sacramento. All the US needs to amend its zoning laws (HOAs, too) to allow for edible landscaping. People in Gilbert, AZ gave Dan Thompson a hard time even though his house WASN'T subject to an HOA.
http://lists.ibiblio.org/pipermail/permaculture/2005-October/022214.html
Here's a parking strip my ex-bf's housemate landscaped http://walkingberkeley.wordpress.com/2006/06/30/front-yard-and-parking-strip-gardens/
The picture doesn't do it justice. It's beautiful.
And I just discovered another thread on DG about someone whose ability to grow food in the front yard is threatened:
http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/677647/
This is good news. It's a good reminder to me to be proactive in questioning strange ordinances, even when it seems a lost cause.
Cerritos, CA - nicknamed "The Beige City"
You cannot park on the street in front of your house nor in the driveway. Cars must be parked in the garage. You cannot park an RV on your property, even if it's in the back yard behind a six-foot fence. You must paint your house beige, and the color of beige you choose has to be approved by the Cerritos Building Department. I was working for a building contractor with a job in Cerritos and stood in line behind a lady who was almost in tears -- it was the sixth time she had been there, and she still didn't have an acceptable color of beige picked out. There is a list of plants you can plant in your front yard, a list of plants you can put in the parkway, and a list of grasses you can have in your lawn -- these are all very short lists. You cannot have a basketball hoop or anything similar in the front yard or attached to the garage. When/if you reroof your house, it must be Mission red tile. These are all City of Cerritos laws/restrictions. There are probably more that I'm unaware of.
A chain of restaurants in Southern CA called The Big Yellow House -- the one in Cerritos is painted beige.
It's a mystery to me why ANYONE would want to live in Cerritos. It was a pretty nice place when it was Dairy Valley.
Karen
Way off the subject, but I need help. I don't know what to use for mulch. I cannot find straw........believe it or not, I'm not sure if hay would work just as well. I have LOTS of pine needles, (28 trees worth), but they have fleas and ticks. I am starting a compost heap, but it won't be ready for several weeks at the earliest, and it's promising to be another long, hot, dry summer here in MS. Won't grass clippings sprout weeds in the veggies? Any help will be very much appreciated.
Jswords
jswords, the soil and composting forum is probably your best bet. Can you spread the pine needles out to dry, so the bugs will get out of them? Only seeds will sprout, so if your grass has not gone to seed it should be OK. Hay is almost the same as straw, but it DOES have seeds.
The Beige City thing is totally bizarre! I mean, that's just plain nazi crazy. Why would anyone move there voluntarily? I guess there must be some people who like everything to look completely the same, but gee whiz. Not me!
People once wrote a song about sameness -- Little Boxes -- but even in his song the little boxes were all different colors. The song goes:
Little boxes, little boxes, all dressed up in ticky tacky.
There's a green one, and a blue one and a yellow one and a purple one
But the boxes, little boxes, all look just the same.
It is also about how the people in the houses were all the same. It is a funny song about the excessive need for sameness and is very funny.
Now Cerritos, CA goes his song one better. They can't even be different colors! I wonder if they all buy the same sofas and coffee tables!
Talk about the HOA from H-E-double hockey sticks!
Re Cerritos - I forgot about the "no fast food" rule - No Wendy's, Burger King, McDonald's, Pizza Hut, etc. And it still amazes me that ANYONE would actually want to live there.
I love the song "Little Boxes" - I think the need to conform to strict unnecessary rules is a need to "fit in" as well as doing away with having to make decisions. Personally, it's not my bag. I suspect it's not the bag of most people at DG - which is GOOD!
I know a family who live in UT who grow all their fruits and vegetables for their family of four. They freeze and can for the winter. They have a 1/2 acre lot and every foot of front, back, and side yards is planted with "food stuff". I can't remember the name of the town, but it's a suburb of SLC. I was surprised that Sacramento had a law against front yard veggies. Glad it's been overturned.
Karen
There was a famous Italian immigrant chef who lived in California near San Francisco. Alas, I can't remember his name, but he was the guy who started the whole movement carried on by Alice Waters and others for fresh home grown food. He wrote a book which is now out of print and not likely to be reprinted but it describes how to make wonderful and unusual dishes out of home grown veggies. But he was a gourmet, not a guy trying to make save money.
He grew vegetables and grapevines and fruits in every square inch of his yard, front and back yards. I read something by his son about how he never really thought about why they had vegetables in their yard while everone else had lawn. Nevertheless, he was much loved by neighbors and dignitaries alike. Next time I see his name in one of my Gourmet magazines, I will post it.
What has happened to California since then? -- WWII approximately. Of course, Cerritos is not all of California. And apparently it isn't even Sacramento.
Thank goodness.
I agree. Most DGrs would not be happy in "Little Boxes" if they couldn't decorate the front yard with whatever they see fit.
LOL! "Little Boxes" was made famous by Pete Seeger.
Here's a link to a music clip with part of the song:
http://tinyurl.com/25gqr8
Here are the full lyrics, inspired by the housing in Daly City, just south of San Francisco:
http://www.wku.edu/~smithch/MALVINA/mr094.htm
Here's the image that inspired it:
http://www.affordablehousinginstitute.org/blogs/us/daly_city_california_small.jpg
If you have ever seen Edward Scissors Hands, there is one early scene were everyone drives in and out of their suburban "boxes" at the same time. It's hillarious!
Someone in a community near here protested when their community decided to control how people painted their houses. He painted HUGE polka dots on the house!
I like a community to foster community living, not to quelch. That said, you then must be willing to put up with people like me who paint their house purple and lime-green, or like my neighbors who scream and yell constantly and drink all day and night out on their "swept" front lawn. At least they are no longer dealing drugs!
GGG
GGG: I LOVE the polka dot idea. When my daughter was living in base housing at 29 Palms, the new general sent out a memo "no pink flamingos". Fellow up the street went and got a can of paint at the store. Now the flamingos are blue! General's next memo said "no plastic lawn ornaments." I guess generals have no sense of humor.
Lime green and purple - good for you! -- but I would probably get grumpy about the screaming and yelling. You are looking on the bright side though, no more drug dealing. = - )
garden_mermaid - thanks for the info on "Little Boxes". I knew it was up by San Francisco, but didn't know it was Daly City.
It doesn't help community to foster sameness. Community is much to be sought after, but sameness is suffocating. Real community comes when all different kinds of people communicate and work together.
As for the screaming neighbors, I could handle it as long as they didn't keep me awake at night. I might have a problem with drug dealing because it is hard for drug dealers to participate in community life -- at least that is my understanding.
Anyhow, I am all for diversity and get very nervous when people try to enforce sameness.
Lucky here ....... so far ..... two 4x16 beds in the front yard (the only place w/good sun) for veggies and no one has complained, however if I was one creek father south on the Lake I am sure this would not be allowed or tolerated. Can't we all just get along?
LOL! I rented in Cerritos for a year - never realized we had such restrictions! Just the "no parking on the streets" rules. Everything was neat and clean and pretty, and everyone had fenced in yards, so I'm sure we all had "bad stuff" back there that Big Brother wouldn't have liked! Who knew?
Glendalekid, Hmmm....Does anyone make metal Flamingos! or perhaps fiberglass!! Opps! I'd probably end up in the brig!!
So...who has a story to tell about how they have a great vegetable garden in a small urban or suburban setting?
I'm working on a project to profile a few of our creative vegetable gardeners and your techniques for squeezing the most into (and out) of a small space garden.
Terry, I have built 2 beds 4 x 16 foot each, right in the middle of my front yard (it is the only place I can get some good sun). My problem is keeping them watered, Last year I got a few good tomatoes. and a couple of good heads of broccoli.
I will endeavor to persevere till my last breath no matter how unsuccessful.
I only have 1 acre, and if someone wants to tell me what to do with it - they better be ready to pay the taxes on it.
Dyson, that's a good example - I'll send you a dmail with some questions and details.
Anyone else have a good story to tell?
I have peppers and a tomato plant growing beside our house.
Our back garden turned out to have a lot more shade once the tree leafed out, so I put the peppers in with some poppies I had winter-sown.
I figured what the hey, and tossed in a tomato plant as well.
I'm setting up 12 2x6 raised beds. I have five of them planted (hopefully all will be planted come fall) and the companion-planted beds are very productive. It's all in a little corner of the back yard:
Nice little bit of information to share - makes me feel good that grassroots is alive, well, and successful a little a a time! (be the change!)
Thanks for sharing.