I am excited to announce that my front yard veggie garden fence has passed inspection! It was a tense situation to be under the Evil Eye of Mordor. Just kidding. The city building inspectors were very nice and just doing their jobs.

Learn from my experience and check your city codes BEFORE you start to build your front yard garden.  Any fence in my neighborhood requires a permit if it is over 2 and 1/2 ft tall. Funny my solution came down to where they measured from. If you pay  close attention to the exact wording of the law you will find out that the city inspector measures from” the inside natural grade.” So I had a tree trimming company dump a big pile of wood chips near by and I raised the grade on the inside of my fence. Now I have found that the very same law leaves room for interpretation. I say this because they could have said that the wood chips inside of the fence was not the “natural grade.” I am sure if they get any complaints they will do just that. There are several other ordinances in the code that are open to interpretation. For instance; The fence must be decorative. Who is the judge of that? They finally decided that my style of decor was shabby chic. O.K. by me. The fence also has to match the surrounding neighborhood. Meaning that there has to be someone near you that has a front yard fence. Not sure how they got passed that one because I am for sure the only one outside of the thirsty lawn box! If I am going to water something I want it to be something I can eat. Can I get an Amen!

The most wonderful exciting thing that came out of this is that all my neighbors came to my support. Four of them even wrote letters in support of my garden, asking that the city allow me to keep it. That is love and community at it’s best! As bad as it felt to be under city scrutiny it felt even better to have people in my corner cheering for me. This situation reminds me how important community is. We have to be intentional about coming out of our homes, meeting people and forming friendships. It doesn’t just happen on it’s own.  I plan to have a block party to celebrate but I think I will wait for it to cool down a bit before I do.

NOW I AM AN OFFICIAL FRONT YARD GARDENER! WOO HOO!!!