The answer is they were a wealthy European concept brought to the colonies as a status symbol. They are still associated with wealthier people which raises property values, so are enshrined in local ordinances and HOA rules.
Probably need a permit and license
Wait…
You think we own shit? Lawns are the landlord’s landscaping equivalent of white paint: inoffensive but dull and useless
Canadian here, that’s getting more and more common over here. There’s a ton of HOA bullshit here too but I’ve been seeing more and more food gardening in Vancouver, but that might also be because food is expensive as fuuuck here.
We have grass in the front and a backyard with fruits and veggies.
too busy eating avocado toast
Grass is nice. It’s nice to lay on. It’s nice to walk barefoot in. It’s soft and cushiony. It’s cool on a hot summer day.
I have zero grass though. Just rocks and fruit trees.
Because this is illegal in most of America. You would be fined and the city would probably send a crew out to rip it all up and give you the invoice if you defied it and left it that way.
That’s a bit extreme? I think that you are correct that this may be the case in front yards depending on location, but backyards are usually fine for whatever barring some HOA BS or unusual local rules.
I’ve seen this happen before in real life so extreme or not, it’s definitely the norm in upstate New York at the very least. Had the city called on us while we were out of the country and we came back to all 6 of our small fruit trees dug up and tracks all over the front lawn from an excavator and a $2500 bill from the city.
So front yard? Yeah, not super surprised at that. I’ve heard plenty of stories about front yard cultivators running into problems with the city. I live in a more rural/urban mixed area so it’s a lot more forgiving. Plenty of people here have apples or other fruit trees in the front yard - not aggressively farming the yard, just as part of the plantings.
Ya front yard. We didn’t aggressively plant either. We had 4 or 5 fruit trees planted with beds around them
That really sucks.
Shoulda gotten a tree lawyer. Tree law is not to be fucked with.
6? What are you trying to make an orchard? That’s pretty aggressive. How big is your front yard? How long were you gone for to make the city take action? You wouldn’t get one notice, then a day later, they tear up your yard. You had to have been gone for a long time.
I have a fairly large front yard, and if I planted that many trees, yeah I’d get sited.
It doesn’t matter if you had fruit trees or not. That’s not a “you can’t plant trees in your front yard”, thats, “this many trees in a relatively small area can cause safety issues”
Wow haha you must have been the city bylaw officer with the way you are so gallantly siding with the city and telling me off for planting 6 fruit tree saplings on 1+ acres of front yard. You must have been to some very small orchards! You sound very intelligent. I am truly humbled.
Why aren’t people everywhere?
Trees (e.g. apple trees or others) provide great shade and help lower the temperature. They are beneficial if you feel that summer heat is getting worse due to climate change. Additionally, if you have issues with heavy rainfall, trees can help by absorbing large amounts of water through their roots. This approach can be applied in most countries.
They’re all golf players wannabe.
And it’s always greener than your neibours one
It’s a stupid reason. Historically, if you were a peasant and had been granted access to land, you grew food or herbs. If however you were a lord, you got your food from your peasants. You had no need to grow your own food. So they could afford to grow lawns as a sign of wealth.
This has transferred across into the modern psyche. Lawns are a way of saying “i’m so rich, i don’t have to worry about sustenance. In fact i’ll throw money at it to maintain this slab of green rather than have it provide food, or shade.”
This is the correct answer. So many US’isms are bourgeois / aristocratic imitation.
Cars / wasteful transportation, lawns, sprawled out cities, high amounts of meat consumption, vacation homes / timeshares / exotic vacations, having servants, etc. These are things that are only possible for countries with huge amounts of land and resources, and not sustainable or doable for most of the world.
It could also be seen as rising standards of living, and aristocrats were optimizing their advantage before the standards rose for everyone due to cheap energy availability.
Saying people consume meat to mimic the rich is a little silly.
It’s funny how this has come full circle - many people garden (in their back yards) to show they have the free time to do so.
@Turturtley @Confidant6198 Its worse, because, actually, even if they wanted to, most Americans are under the tyrannical rule of a Homeowners Association (talk about liberty huh) that forces them to plant grass, and can fine them a shit ton of money if they do otherwise
It’s a matter of keeping the plants contained. I have witnessed cut down bushes and trees multiply than how they originally were before they were cut down. Try managing that in a home or somewhere smaller.
Zoning laws in a lot of places.
Bugs, pests, and animals, at least where I live. Unless you build a green house, clear the yard of all other foliage, or somehow fortify your garden, only produce with natural defenses like peppers will make it to harvest. However, I am jealous of my friends on the west coast, who don’t really have to worry about bugs or other critters eating from their fruit trees just passively growing in their yard.
If you’re East Coast, I think you’ve just given up too early. Plenty of pests on the West Coast, too. There are also plenty of organic ways to keep them in check. Will you have perfect harvest? Never, but that doesn’t mean you can’t have anything at all.
