Drummondville's Front Yard Vegetable Garden

Drummondville's Front Yard Vegetable Garden. We were a bit overweight and wanted to get in shape Michel was starting to have health problems. We decided to go on a diet to lose weight the idea was to eat a lot more vegetables and completely change the way we ate. That's where the idea of the garden came from. We had to figure out where to put it since the backyard wasn't very sunny. Michel came to me and said look, we don't have any sun in the back what if we planted a few tomatoes in the front with your flowers? I admit that I wasn't very keen at first. It was intimidating to put the garden in the front yard but we thought there was a reasonable way to do it. 

Before thinking about the aesthetics we considered the practical aspects and aesthetics came naturally. We didn't want to deal with weeds so we made sure it wouldn't be an issue but we also wanted to make it as eco-friendly as possible. We realized that by making raised garden beds we could fill them with good soil and create beds that were perfect, that were controlled. 

We didn't want to bring mud indoors when going out to pick veggies so we used crushed stone covered with river pebbles so water drains easily and it stays clean. We chose eastern white cedar instead of wood coming all the way from British Columbia. Which means that in years, that initial investment that seemed large we paid it back with what we harvested. 

Drummondville's Front Yard Vegetable Garden

Drummondville's Front Yard Vegetable Garden

Socially as well we get a lot out of it because now we know our neighbors really well we made a lot of great relationships Gardening in the front yard allows you to meet people where before we just kept to ourselves. We realized that this vegetable garden had so many benefits Michel lost a ton of weight, he lost pounds. He had high blood pressure and now, when we go for a walk and stop at the pharmacy it's almost become a joke, we check our blood pressure - times We're proud of it because we've retaken control and became responsible for our health, for our choices. In the garden, there are beds that we installed on a space of feet by feet. The beds are feet wide to make sure we have access all the way to the center. When we started gardening, some of the veggies we had never seen grow. 

Some of the veggies we chose this year we'd never seen them grow so you can imagine the neighbors' reactions when they see the little eggplants growing. People are curious so they come by and it starts conversations. The other thing is that we have such abundance so we share with people. It's easy to give when you have so much and it doesn't take away from you. Once we'd finished building the garden it was all done and veggies were starting to grow. An inspector from the city drove by a few times and Michel stopped her to have a chat. We asked her a few questions and she said there had been a complaint. She said she'd get back in touch with us. 

A few weeks later, around mid-June we received a letter asking us to free up the edge of the yard to put back lawn and to have at least of vegetation coverage. So we went to the city and we realized that we still fell under the St-Charles bylaws even though St-Charles had been merged with Drummondville since the bylaws were still separate and different, and in St-Charles frontyard gardens were allowed. But the problem was that the city wanted to change the bylaw and from now on, prohibit front yard gardens. So that's why we fought. We knew that we were in the right so we left it as is. But we fought so that people wouldn't lose the right to have a front yard garden. 

Everyone was confused, they thought we were fighting just for our own garden. The city also thought we were confused but we knew exactly what we were doing. At some point they passed a bylaw that made our garden illegal. We saw that in the U.S. there were a few cases similar to ours where people were being attacked. But these people had been defended by Kitchen Gardeners International which was founded by Roger Doiron. We wrote Roger and asked him if he could help us he offered to start an international petition and then it started. In days, , names came in, , we stopped after days when the city said ok we'll change the bylaw , names a day, and countries were represented. 

Drummondville's Front Yard Vegetable Garden

With the pressure, they made it legal everywhere in Drummondville it's now allowed to have front yard vegetable gardens. We also have to say that every time a signature came in an email was sent to every member of the city council. We could say they were under siege. What they did is they consulted with us to build the new bylaw they took our garden and used it as a model to build the new bylaw. If it was in the backyard it wouldn't have the same impact because people wouldn't see it it wouldn't have this social and educative aspect That's what we realized through this and it's great that we're able to do it but we felt a responsibility with our front yard garden it's there, and some people need a little help to promote urban farming There was a momentum around our garden so we thought we had to use this momentum we wrote a book to help the cities who lack the tools to change their bylaws. 

You no longer have a reason not to change your bylaws we're giving you a guide on how to do things right. We present ourselves as an example, we're not making any money from this we have our -hour a week jobs we're ordinary people who two years ago knew nothing about urban farming we're showing that it's within anyone's reach You just have to roll up your sleeves and decide to do it. That's where we're at as a society we need to do things that make us feel good we no longer need to convince people that some things need to change We just need to give them examples, tools, and a bit of education. I think people are ready for this.

Drummondville's Front Yard Vegetable Garden, Vegetable Garden, vegetable garden tips, vegetable garden design, vegetable garden plants, vegetable garden for beginners, vegetable garden layout, raised bed vegetable garden, vegetable garden planner, vegetable garden plans