Front yard garden controversy revelation: front lawns are useless

[BridgeTheGap]

The fact that so many people are up in arms about a Michigan woman facing jail time for planting a garden in her front yard is an obvious indictment of meddling local code officials gone off the deep end. The case also serves as a reminder of a rather obvious truth: Vegetables are edible and good for people, and no matter how pretty the grass, shrubbery, and flowers in your front yard, you’re not going to eat them.

For most American homeowners, the groomed, watered, and chemically modified lawn is the only option for a front yard. But why is this? Sure, it’s aesthetically pleasing. But there are many ways to landscape a yard—and almost anything else is more useful than a lawn.

Many of the weeds homeowners spend hours and many dollars eliminating are entirely edible, giving homeowners ample justification to let the lawn get overrun with dandelions and feel good about it. But taking the heretical homeowner step of disavowing the front lawn doesn’t necessarily mean simply sanctioning the mower and weed killer to the back of the garage. By following the vision of people such as Rosalind Creasy, author of Edible Landscaping, it’s possible to create a front lawn than is both beautiful and productive. On Creasy’s 2,000-square-foot front yard, where nothing but grass might otherwise be, a field of neatly arranged figs, peppers, lemon trees, radishes, blackberries, and spices burst with life.

Read more: http://moneyland.time.com/2011/07/11/vegetable-garden-controversy-revelation-front-lawns-are-useless/#ixzz1Rtn4uRdq

[CrossChris]

1. I'm starting to think they're being so aggressive to stop the slippery slope-gardening over shopping

I bet there's no small amount of pressure from local grocers, big box, big ag, etc. to prevent the idea of people using their yards to grow their own food, and saving their dollars they would be spending at their stores.

[InvisibleTouch]

2. That's it exactly.

They don't want people to be self-sufficient. There are areas where it's illegal to collect rainwater, even! And gods forbid we grow medicinal herbs and free ourselves of dependency from Big Pharma.

Lawns are terrible, and useful only if you actually have kids or pets who need the space to run and play. A front lawn is purely ornamental, and could be put to much better use. I definitely encourage dandelions, plantain, and clover in mine (since I'm not able to remove it entirely in favor of a veggie garden), but I'm always vaguely horrified when I walk past the neighbors' artificially enhanced monocultures of shorn grass. I know what kind of chemical soup goes into keeping it that way.

[BridgeTheGap]

5. The polution generated by mowing lawns is also a huge problem - far worse than vehicle exhaust. n.t

[The Croquist]

22. No it's not

The polution generated by mowing lawns is also a huge problem - far worse than vehicle exhaust. n.t

I'll grant you that the pollution put out by my mower is more per gallon then my car but I go through allot more gas in my car.

I've also got friends who grow gardens in their front yard. Not all places ban them.

Lawns are also useful for other things. I play croquet in my side yard. My back yard, garden and all is a flood plain. The deer don't seem to mind. They like my weeds. I had to put a fence up to keep the deer and rabbits out of the garden. It's tough to build in a flood plain unless you live in New Orleans where the government subsidizes you.

Front yards act as buffers to other homes. Many people move out of apartments and condos for peace and quite. Economically you are correct but most homeowners don't dump huge amounts of pesticides or fertilizers on their lawns.

[CrispyQ]

3. And having a veggie garden might lead to . . .

bartering!

[stuntcat]

10. and saving seeds. saving them AND sharing them

free foooooods! I wonder how long we'll be allowed to keep and trade seeds.

[txlibdem]

4. Many flowers are also edible

It's best to study which varieties are ok to eat. Some flowers are poisonous, some may act as a laxative. Read before you eat!

More info here: http://homecooking.about.com/library/weekly/blflowers.htm

[felix_numinous]

6. K&R Sometimes the only place to have a garden is in the front--

because it gets the best Sun!

Just wait, in 10 years gardens will be the norm, these people getting harassed are just the first ones doing it.

[CrossChris]

7. Can you imagine how retail grocers would feel if it became the norm in 10 yrs? Thus, the harassment.

Front yard gardens are to retail grocers as homegrown MMJ is to big pharma.

[felix_numinous]

12. Good point, but

not everyone can grow bananas, oranges and grains, or grow produce in the winter. I don't think home growers would hurt grocers. They have enough other products, including soaps and medicines to make a living, IMHO.

[CrossChris]

13. I certainly agree they'd coexist, but I think the grocers want to protect every penny.

Unfortunately.

[felix_numinous]

23. I agree

the system is set up against private citizens going off the grid :hi: but we gotta do it anyway!!

[stuntcat]

9. my front's like that!

gets hours of straight sun every day. We're replacing the grass in the front with big flower beds and two figs which will hopefully splay out and take up most of the grass space. I think I'll plant perennial herbs under the figs!

[CrossChris]

8. If you solve problems in a capitalist society, you are preventing someone from capitalizing on them.

That's why we have full blown disaster capitalism. Someone figured it out--the more problems, the more things there are to capitalize on! That's why we see this widespread discouragement of people solving their own problems, and becoming self-sufficient.

The self-sufficient person is the enemy of capitalism.

[Terry in Austin]

15. +1000 - nicely put!

And something I hadn't thought of quite like that -- thanks!

:toast:

[Nihil]

18. Sad but true.

> Someone figured it out--the more problems, the more things there are
> to capitalize on! That's why we see this widespread discouragement
> of people solving their own problems, and becoming self-sufficient.

That certainly explains the increasing number of petty by-laws that
arise to frustrate the ordinary citizen's attempts to do the right thing.

[hatrack]

11. Lawns - the outdoor equivalent of the formal parlor or dining room . . .

An accidental import from England, where plenty of rain generally helped make green lawns make sense. A little less sensible, however, in Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nevada, Utah . . .

Most Americans don't use their formal dining rooms more than five or six times a year. And it's not like we're out in our perfectly mowed front yards playing lawn tennis, or croquet, or sipping tea.

What a collective waste of space, money and energy!

[XemaSab]

16. It's not an accidental import

Lawns were a symbol of the aristocracy that the middle class adopted.

It's a form of conspicuous consumption.

[The Croquist]

25. And it's not like we're out in our perfectly mowed front yards playing lawn tennis, or croquet...

Not playing croquet? Speak for yourself!

[Terry in Austin]

14. Lawns - as big a waste as golf courses

Actually, bigger, but not quite as elitist.

[XemaSab]

17. I have a small front lawn

but I also have food for myself, hummingbirds, bees, and butterflies.

I am currently researching a way to ditch the grass while maintaining the look.

[Nihil]

19. I find moss works for me ...

... green, flat, low-maintenance (just pull out the odd tall intruders
whether rosebay willow-herb or grass) and comfortable to lie on for
humans, dogs and the birds in the bushes nearby that use it to pad out
their nests.

Most people don't realise that it's moss until they're right up to it
and I defend it by pointing out that moss pre-dates grass anyway.

Now, your problem is to find a native species of it that can survive
your climate ...

:evilgrin:

[Delphinus]

20. Hmm ...

moss. That would actually work better than clover. Thanks for the idea.

[Nihil]

21. You're welcome!

I use clover, buttercups, daisies, whatever, to supplement the
kind of grass that can survive on its own - sans chemicals - in
the back garden as they are hard wearing and can put up with being
run over by visiting kids & dogs (and feed the bees, etc., in the
intervening quiet periods) but the front doesn't need anything
more resilient than a nice comfy layer of moss.

:hi:

[XemaSab]

24. I don't put chemicals on the lawn

but it does take water. :(

[Nihil]

26. As a sweeping generalisation ...

... that really isn't a problem in England ...

:P

On the other hand ...

Although moss requires moisture, said Christine Cook, who owns Mossaics, a moss gardening business in Easton, Conn., and who lectures at the New York Botanical Garden, a moss lawn needs “a fraction, one percent or less” of the 10,000 gallons (beyond rainwater) that the E.P.A. estimates a suburban grass lawn drinks annually.

(http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/01/garden/01moss.html)

(... but yes, I do understand that your climate is different! :hi: )

[AtheistCrusader]

27. Water is made up of two chemicals.

Hydrogen and Oxygen. ;)