Vegetable gardens
 

Just wondering if there are any rules about having vegetable gardens in the villages.

You're not supposed to have them. I believe there are community gardens you can garden at.

You can have a "container garden" in flower pots. We grow tomatoes and herbs in pots placed at the back of our house.

The community garden is not for your own vegetables - they grow them and give them to charity.

We saw an interesting concept in British Columbia. You would rent a small plot of land, it would have access to water, for the year for a nominal fee. People were growing vegetables and beautiful flowers. I wish they would do something like that here.

I know people who have a few vegetables planted at the side or back of their homes. I never heard that they were not allowed.
The Twice on Tuesdays gardening class teaches about incorporating vegetable plants among your flowers also.

Right now, I'm eating (and neighbors too) some great tomatoes I've grown in back yard. Yummy

Some years ago, a local land owner came to the Garden Club North and offered a piece of land for people to rent and cultivate, he was prepared to bring water to the site and to turn over the ground, but there were no takers. I cannot remember how much he wanted per "piece". In Europe this type of gardening is known as Allotment gardening, people rent an area and plant their garden for the year.

My backyard neighbor grows veggies on the south side of his house all year.

I had a planter put in my lanai for veggies and herbs.

By now, I am sure many have read the "Flavorful Food" article on the front page of Lifestyles in today's Sun. Looks like veggie gardening is alive and well in TV!

I did grow tomatoes one year, but the Mocking Birds got into every tomato before I did! I also tried Blueberries and the birds loved them - they would eat them before they were ripe.

keep them more or less out of sight and no one will complain. incorporate them into the flower beds. did you know that fruit trees (citrus included) are not allowed to be planted in the front yards? yet I see them all of the time.

I heard the reason they don't want citrus trees is because they attract rats. I don't know if it's true or not. Maybe it's just the mess they would make.

And Palm Seed Pods Too...
 

I work in the horticulture business, so here's a news flash regarding rats being attracted to citrus...they will also travel miles to feed on the large seed pods on queen palms, sylvesters and pindos....so if you see a seed pod form, cut it off or be prepared for the "rat buffet.".

Good for you! Grow what you want as long as it's not an eye sore from the street or for your neighbors and you won't have a problem. Now if you want to grow tobacco next to your driveway then maybe.

My mom years ago had berries and tomatoes in Palatka Fla in a screen house something like your birdcages but with a dirt floor and a brick patio in the middle. That was so the birds couldn't get at the fruit. She had flowering shrubs growing along the back edge that faced the neighbors outside the screen and a little patio with tables in the middle. Soaker hoses were attached somehow to the sprinkler system so they always got water. I can remember playing in there as a kid and stuffing myself with berries don't remember the exact setup as I was 6 at the time. I just remember it because it was the only place I could play and not worry about being stung.

A lot of people in The County used to get an extra Tobacco plant from a farmer and plant it for its pretty flowers.

How the heck do you grow a good tomato here in TV??? We have tried it 2 years in a row and can't seem to get a good tasting one to save our souls.

Last years mine were pretty tasty, and this year not so much. I agree with your question.

I guess the answer is to move the plant to Ohio or New Jersey.

What do you say, NJBchbum?

grew up on the tobacco farm....ever seen a tobacco worm....ewwwww

Back in the 50's or 60's or so I remember my father growing delicious beefsteak tomatoes in Miami. He used if I remember correctly what was called a Japanese Circle. It was a round area about 4 feet in dia. encircled with chicken wire and maybe 4 feet tall. It was filled with compost and soil and the tomatoes grew out of the side. It produced more tomatoes than we or our neighbors could eat. Try doing a Google search as it was very successful every year and took up very little space.

i say amen to that! but even the tomatoes in jersey are late this year. don't know what's up with that! we are picking corn and peaches at the u-pick farms which we rarely used to do until august! i can hardly wait for my first fresh over-the-sink tomato sandwich! grower told me 2 to 3 weeks more...sheesh!

husband had a uncle who lived in florida and each time he came to visit family here he drove home with a trunk filled with bags of n.j. garden dirt for his tomato beds back there! since then i have always believed that there is a market for selling one product called just that - n.j. garden dirt and another called 'old fashioned n.j. water' in various size bottles; cause we all know how hard it is to find/make good italian bread and rolls in florida! thank goodness for brooklyn water bagels!

I use to grow some nice tomatoes in that rich Central Illinois black soil. In TV, the Farmer's Market is just too convenient for all our vegetable needs!

Which Village covenants prohibit gardens and/or fruit trees in the front yard. This must be south of Lake Sumter?

Susan, thanks for that information .... very helpful.

Most of the soil in FL is NOT good for growing tomato.

You may wish to start with real "bagged topsoil" ..Or... "Black Kow" products
from a garden center. Lowes and Home Depot carry them."
( Black Kow soil products are produced right around the corner in Oxford, Fl )

Then follow the "rules" as described on the following website.

Gardening Tomatoes Organically (VIDEOS) | TheSleuthJournal

Soil is really the "whole deal" with tomatoes and plenty of water.

.........

As far as I know it's in everyone's deed restrictions and covenants. About 10-11 years ago I was talking to a Daily Sun reporter (can't remember her name). Her most "devastating story" was one she ran in the paper about a resident with a green thumb growing all kinds of fruits and vegetables in a very neat backyard garden. The next day, the developer's henchmen came to that person's house and told the owner she had 48 hours to get rid of her garden that violates the rules here. Both the reporter (who felt so bad after the incident) and the owner didn't know the rules.

Can anyone find the wording in their restrictions?

Skip

Skip, I just read my restrictions twice, and found NO restrictions prohibiting vegetable gardens anywhere on my property. Section 155 (Tamarind Grove).

I know a few people who have pretty big backyard gardens. Maybe the secret is sharing with neighbors so they don't get mad and report you.

I know you have to have a certain percent of grass on your lot. Don't know if a garden would count. I wouldn't want a garden unless it were raised and I could put in new soil. Surely you realize there's oodles of pesticides in this soil!

Here is what I was talking about. It got me interested and may try it myself.

What is a Japanese Tomato Ring? - Yahoo! Voices - voices.yahoo.com