Illegal Tomato Plants?

Last summer Husband and I accidentally planted a front yard vegetable garden. It wasn’t our plan. We built a new raised garden bed and needed something to fill in the gaps between the transplanted chives and lavender . We threw down some free seeds we got in the front yard instead of doing a container garden on the back patio – where I prefer my food plants to live.

The plants grew. Yay! It was covert. Our neighbors didn’t realize our landscape was edible. Double yay!

 Our neighborhood doesn't have rules against growing food in our front flower beds. It's that I'm not fond of the Little House on the Prairie garden front yard look.

The cucumber and squash vines filled in the bare spots and made our landscape look lush and like we spent more than $162 to do the frontyard and porch project. This Old House liked it so much they featured it on the This Old House website and later in This Old House magazine.

I'm flattered!

Husband and I are now hooked on vegetable gardening. This year we are determined to grow more than six tomatoes from four plants.  We bought packages of roma and pink barelywine tomato seeds and chucked them into the garden. 

All Condo Blues photos courtesy of me and my green DIY blog Condo Blues

Boom!

Tomato plants.

Lots of tomato plants.

Our covert front yard vegetable garden isn’t so covert this year. 

Oopsie.

No big deal until the police decided to check it out.

The week before I went to BlogHer, I started a DIY project (like you do.) I painted an accent wall in the kitchen and living room. As I tossed something in the trash can in the backyard (even with our low waste ways, it happens) I hear something. I looked up and saw a low flying police helicopter circling my neighborhood. He did a couple of flyovers of the house. Strange. I bet the Fashion Police are out to get me because I wore my paint clothes outside.

No. I’m not showing you a photo of me in my paint clothes in case the Fashion Police are still out there. I will show you my accent wall instead.

This is a good step in the right direction for these rooms.

A few days later, as I’m walking to the mailbox, I see a police wagon drive slowly up the hill of our neighborhood. Weird, but my Homeowners Association asked the police to do a drive bys when they are in the neighborhood to curb break ins. I figured the paddy wagon was in the area and wanted to do some community service.

Two seconds later, a police car drives up the hill too.

Uh oh! Somebody’s gonna get in trouuuuuu-ble!

I fight the urge to follow them, do a Mrs. Kravitz, and find out who’s being busted. Instead, I grab the mail and walk home.

Um. I think I'm the potential bustee.

Instead of doing the typical police car patrol loop around the neighborhood, the paddy wagon and police car drives down my street and slows down as they pass my house.

Mr. Policeman, these are tomato plants not something-extremely-illegal- and-stupid-if-you-are-growing-it-in-your-front-yard-for-all-to-see plants.

  

See?

Maters.

That’s it.

Oh and some basil too.

I guess I am a sneaky sneak after all.

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