Sarah Laskow notes the latest battlefronts in the growing 'war on gardens' being perpetrated by cities across North America.
Following on the recent demolition of a Tulsa resident's edible garden, and similar episodes in Georgia, Michigan, and New Jersey, a recent battle in Quebec has Laskow seeing an all out assault on our right to bear veggies.
"Across the country and even in Canada, cities' thinking about front
lawns is more than a little bit antiquated," writes Laskow. "It comes down to this simple
formulation: Grass good! Vegetables bad...If
building a few bike lanes counts as a war on cars, this is definitely a war on gardens."
And Laskow is out to the marshal the troops: "It's not the 1950s anymore: Not everyone needs to grow a perfectly
manicured lawn, especially when vegetable gardens can look just as
attractive, improve the soil (instead of requiring tons of pesticides),
and provide fresh food. If the problem is that these types of front
yards are illegal in current city codes, then the codes need to change,
along with people's assumptions that a burnt-out, water-sucking lawn is
better than a few patches of thriving tomato plants and string bean
vines."
FULL STORY: City officials are waging a war on gardens

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