Reddit users were appalled when an aspiring gardener posted to ask for tips to get around their homeowners association's rules. Commenters bashed the HOA's restriction and offered advice on how to garden without breaking the rule.
The original poster wrote that they're moving into an HOA-deed-restricted community and want to start a garden at their new home, intending to plant vegetables, herbs, and flowers.
"I'm sure the HOA will not allow me to dig up the back yard for a garden," wrote the user. "So I'm looking for alternative methods that the HOA wouldn't have a problem with or a method in which I could hide it."
Readers raced to the comments to share their feelings about the restriction.
"I'd never live in a neighborhood where some arbitrary body can tell me what I may or may not do on my little slice of the American Dream™ that I signed away 30 years [of] my life for," wrote one user.
HOAs have certainly gained a reputation for restricting what homeowners can do on their own properties. Organizations across the United States have been caught preventing homeowners from making money-saving, eco-friendly upgrades, from gardening to installing heat pumps to drying laundry outdoors.
Gardening has great benefits, both for gardeners and the environment. Besides saving people money while providing fresh, better-tasting produce, gardens also help pollinators thrive and protect larger food supplies. Native plant gardens create shelter and a food source for native animal species, allowing the whole ecosystem to flourish.
While many people choose to avoid moving into HOA neighborhoods at all costs, others find themselves having to cope with the limitations they set. Some people work to change HOA bylaws to support property upgrades. Others find ways to work around the restrictions.
Commenters came through with solutions that would not require the original poster to dig up their yard.
"Grow bags are wonderful things. I use the five gallon and ten gallon for vegetables and the one and two gallon for herbs and flowers," wrote one user. "My garden has been the most productive this year because with a grow bag you start with excellent soil and 100% control the watering."
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"Where there's a will, there's a way my friend," wrote another commenter. "Where there's a gardener, there's a garden."
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