Portland embraces front-yard farming

[kpete]

Portland embraces front-yard farming: Portland City Hall roundup
Published: Tuesday, August 30, 2011, 10:06 AM Updated: Tuesday, August 30, 2011, 11:52 AM

Starting soon, you could see more planter boxes springing up in parking strips between sidewalks and city streets.

And folks who embrace this form of urban farming will have Jordan Benner to thank in part.

In 2009, Benner built the planter box pictured at left. But after a neighbor complained, city officials with the Bureau of Transportation ordered Benner to demolish the box, calling it an obstruction of the public right of way. Had he refused, Benner would have faced a hefty fine.

Benner explains now that he put the box in the parking strip -- rather than his front yard -- because he thought his plants would get better light near the street. He also imagined it would be difficult to mow the front lawn with a wooden box running perpendicular through it. "It seemed like I was killing two birds with one stone," Benner said Tuesday. "Turns out, I was shooting myself in the foot."

more:
http://blog.oregonlive.com/portlandcityhall/2011/08/portland_embraces_front-yard_f.html

[Supply Side Jesus]

1. and so the petty produce theft begins

it's great to see this though

[Elad]

2. I live in Portland and have 60ft. of garden beds that I built in my parking strips

I avoided the planter box controversy by just putting a small fence around the beds to keep dogs off and planting directly in the ground. It has worked out well, and most of the neighbors love seeing vegetables growing. The only problem I've had so far is my squash and melons climbing into the street. :)

[izquierdista]

9. Try growing your squash and melons UP

I had some extra steel concrete mesh, so I cut it into 5'x5' sections and bent them to form a tower. Quite a bit bigger than the tomato cages that are sold in garden stores and a whole lot sturdier. They make great supports for squashes, cucumbers and small melons. It also seems to improve the yield.

Those parking strips look better suited for ground cover type plants -- thyme, strawberries, nasturtiums, etc.

[formercia]

13. I use Tomato cages for Cukes and Squash

Works great.

[MuseRider]

3. YAY!

This is great!

[myrna minx]

4. I love this - K&R n/t

[Bluenorthwest]

5. Food not lawns

Grow, don't mow.

[uppityperson]

6. Family's neighbor in Fargo got in trouble for planting veggies in the strip

Some neighbor's complained that it looked "unsightly", that flowers would have been ok but growing vegetables made it look like they were farmers, or so poor they "had" to grow their own food. Of course, other neighbors, and my family, thought it looked great.

I can see a height restriction, and most places this strip does not belong to the person whose home is in front of it (and who is responsible for mowing the grass), but why the hell not grow veggies along with grass and flowers?

[eShirl]

7. That's brave, growing food right next to the road like that.

[izquierdista]

8. Not quite there yet

Growing spuds in a box next to where you put the garbage can once a week is pretty tacky. There are lots of things that would look better there. How about some kales? They look good AND make a nice slaw. Artichokes? Cardoons would probably get too big. Strawberries make a good ground cover, but good luck getting to them before the birds/slugs/neighbor kids.

Could replace those ugly bushes under the windows with some blueberries or put a raised bed or box there. If you mix in nasturtiums or marigolds with your vegetables, they protect the veggies and it looks like a regular flower box. I've got a nice planter with marigolds and eggplants in it -- seems to be a good combination. Okra and hot peppers is another good combination, but they probably won't do so well in Portland.

There is an art to putting in edible landscaping. If he keeps at it for a while, someday he'll get it right.

[Major Hogwash]

10. That would be kind of cool. Too many cars' exhaust would ruin most plants I would think.

I wonder if tomatoes would thrive in something like that.
That's a nice planter box.

[rug]

11. The dogs will love this.

[kestrel91316]

12. My jaded prediction is that, once certain types of people catch on,

100% of food produced in parking strip gardens will be stolen. Most of it BEFORE it's perfectly ripe.

I live in Los Angeles, where for years I suffered major theft from my gardens, both inside fencing at the community garden center, and in my fenced (but minus a gate) back yard at the rental house. Sigh. They even stripped my lemon tree annually.

[formercia]

14. I have the same problem

The Deer must think I grow it for them.

[closeupready]

15. Yep. That's how people are.

:(

[Glimmer of Hope]

18. Portlanders are very cool people. If it can't work there, I doubt it will work elsewhere.

[Retrograde]

20. Believe it or not, there are people who don't steal everything that's not nailed down

just because they can. Maybe I'm just lucky since there are some front yard gardens and a community garden nearby and people seem to leave them alone.

The raccoons, OTOH, just wait for the day before something is going to be ripe so they can eat half of it.

[kestrel91316]

31. Oh, I know there are people who don't steal all morning, noon and night.

I just know from decades of sad experience that few of them reside in Los Angeles.

[LeftyMom]

16. If everybody puts those in street parking is going to be a bear.

You can't park close enough to the curb to be legal and still open the curbside door(s) with a big planter box right up to the curb. I suspect they'd likely get tagged/stickered right away too.

[stevedeshazer]

21. The new rules say the planter has to be two feet from the curb.n/t

[LeftyMom]

23. That's good- the box in the picture sure isn't.

[kelly1mm]

17. How are people supposed to get out of the passenger side of a vehicle?

Sorry but I don't want my kids to have to get out of a vehicle in the street rather than the PUBLIC RIGHT OF WAY because someone wants to block it.

[Retrograde]

19. The same way they get out now when there are plantings near the curb

My front strip is planted with a rosemary hedge, 3-4' high. There's a paved area in the middle of it so passengers can get out. Or drivers can drop off passengers at a driveway. Of course, not every town is designed with a front strip between the street and sidewalk, so in some cases it just won't make a bit of difference.

[Owl]

25. My thoughts exactly. That area needs to be free for vehicle doors and passengers.

[Dreamer Tatum]

22. To complement their, um, bedroom farming.

Heh.

[sarcasmo]

24. Right on Portland.

[Boxerfan]

26. Them's my "hunting" grounds...Thanks to right of way laws

I'm a amatuer metal detector. I started for health reasons & darn glad I did.

I live in Portland & while we have a great many parks that are legal to metal detect in the pickin can be slim at best. The local hunters have pounded the parks with high dollar detectors...Whats a nube who wants to find old coins to do?..

Parking strips...In Portland you can tell the older strips-they have HORSE ties imbeded in them. It is also legal to hunt there-providing the owner doesn't complain. If they do I move on. But I make a point to be very neat & it is almost impossible to tell when I've excavated a coin.

I pulled a 1910 penny today but no silver. It is the luck of the draw but also very good excercise so I'll take what I get & like it.

I have found a Morgan 1/2 dollar & some old silver dimes. I also have a large collection of formerly burried toy cars etc...

If you see me don't fret-I always make a neat plug & respect the area. If it's planted or overly manicured I'll just get the next one...

[Shagbark Hickory]

27. that's really great.

Especially in that pic. Grass doesn't do well in those strips and too narrow for a tree. Farming in it is the best possible use for the space.

[TwilightGardener]

28. I can only imagine the temptation that ripe juicy tomatoes would pose--

particularly to bored kids with good throwing arms.

[LWolf]

29. The last time I lived in town

(in CA 7 yrs ago) I had a fence around the entire perimeter of my small lot, front and back. To get to my front door, once you came through the gate, you had to go through a grape arbor. There were roses, lilac, lavender, iris, jasmine, honeysuckle, tulips, glads, trumpet, and hollyhocks everywhere.

There were also rosemary, several mints, thyme, lemon balm, onions, garlic, basil, catnip, and hops. And a pepper tree. Some years there would be runner beans pepper plants, and even a lone tomato plant. Oh, and strawberries. And colorful spring and summer annuals in season. And that was just the front yard.

Maybe I got away with it because the ornamentals made the front yard look like a planned cottage garden. Nobody ever complained.

[Arugula Latte]

30. Yep. Our neighbors here in Portland have giant garden boxes like that.

:thumbsup: