Patriot Garden

I went to the home of Jennifer and Jason Helvenston in College Park on a small dead end road that stops at I-4. Walking through the suburban neighborhood, I saw many blue yard signs that promote “Patriot Gardens“. I was at City Hall the day before at a demonstration where people demanded the right to keep their vegetable gardens. The Helvenston’s grow dozens of vegetables organically in their front yard in Orlando. But in November, the city—which aspires to be the “Greenest City in America”, notified them that their harmless garden violates city code, and they have to tear it up and replace it with grass or face fines of $500 a day.

I looked up their home with a Google map street view and the photos showed a barren yard before the lush garden was planted. The garden is now bursting with an abundance of vegetables and herbs. Jennifer backed her car out of the driveway as I was sketching. She recognized me from the protest at City Hall and she explained that many of the citizens that went to the City Counsel Meeting got up and spoke eloquently for the right to grow food. She felt the meeting went well but the battle wasn’t yet won. City government is a slow moving beast upholding decades old landscaping codes drafted before homeowners recognized the advantages of using native plants, creating natural habitats for butterflies and birds and sustainable organic gardens that put food on the table.

Sketching, I was surprised by the deep trenches between rows of vegetables. I assumed this was extreme raised bed gardening. Jason came out and explained that the soil had developed plant parasitic nematodes, or round worms. They had dug the ditches extra deep to try and eliminate this garden pest. Next week the garden will be completely overturned and replanted, He plans to plant the rows in rainbow arcs radiating away from the home so that the rows will no longer be noticed from the street.

All the Helvenston’s want to do is use their property peacefully to grow their own food. Their front yard garden has become a battleground in a national debate.  Planting the garden changed the couples life because they now interact regularly with their neighbors. They spend most of their time in the garden stopping to talk to
all the people coming by, which they love.  Who stops to talk to someone
mowing a lawn? Having sketched the lush garden, I can say it is far more interesting than a lawn of grass. Americans spend an estimated $30 billion annually on lawn care with huge amounts of water and fertilizer wasted. If you have a sunny spot on your front lawn, consider planting your own Patriot Garden. Plant a seed, change the law.

As of September 2013, the couple has won the lawsuit and can keep their front yard garden.

Let Them Grow

Jennifer and Jason Helvenston planted a lush vegetable garden organically in their front yard in Orlando.  
But in November, the city, which aspires to be the “Greenest City in
America”, notified them that their harmless garden violates city code, and they
have to tear it up and replace it with grass, or face fines of $500 a
day.

On January 8th of 2013 a new City Vegetable Garden Proposal was written. Most of the garden would have to be eliminated and now the city started regulating the back and side yards as well.

 This is a summary of the restrictions of the City’s Proposal.

1.  The government shouldn’t be telling gardeners what they can or can’t do with
the land they own as long as there are no quantifiable impacts.

2.  The Proposal is a conviction
against edible annuals while all other annuals are unrestricted.

3.  The Proposal is a clear strategy against edible gardens by pushing
them under the roof line of the building or in its shadow while at the same
time requiring year round success.

4.  The Proposal is an assault against the financially less fortunate that
cannot afford expensive fences and raised bed structures by pushing their
edible gardens even further into the shadows of the building.

5.  The Proposal is discriminating against ALL edible plants by requiring
higher standards and special definitions than any other plant in the City’s
Landscape Code.  By discriminating against the plants that we eat, they are
discriminating against gardeners.

6.  The Proposal is a discredit against sustainability.  The City’s
code will allow max. 60% environment crushing grass but only max. 25% edible
annuals with no impacts. 

The best and fare solution for the City is the
simplest.  Edible plants meet the same standards and requirements as all
other plants.  An edible ground cover gets treated the same as any other
ground cover, an edible annual gets treated the same as any other annual. 
Each yard in the City of Orlando must be “kept and maintained” to the
same levels as any other yard.  There should be no higher standards for food. 

 On February 28th there was a crucial City Counsel meeting on the proposal. I went to City Hall where there was a peaceful demonstration for the right to have a garden. Many protesters wore green as a sign of solidarity. Ryan Price was there holding a yellow pepper from his garden. He has a small garden in his front yard and luckily he has not yet been bothered. College students Jonathan, Adam and Troy were with Ryan. The college students are studying the medical benefits of plants. Jennifer Helvenston showed up with a basket full of vegetables from her garden. Protesters talked about their gardens with pride. Julie Norris was their with her daughter Maya holding a sign that said, Mommy, why can’t we grow vegetables? She has a gorgeous garden on her Thornton Park property.

A spokesman said that the City Proposal had once again been rewritten so the meeting would just consist of a reading of the new proposal with no vote. All the protesters went inside city hall to watch their city government at work. The Helveston’s small home garden has suddenly become the flash point for a national debate. Orlando leaders moved closer at the February 26th meeting to allow residents to plant
vegetables in their front yards, but gardeners remain worried that City
Hall’s benevolence will come with too many rules.