For 17 years, Tom and Hermine Carroll used their front yard to grow food for their own personal consumption, and for 17 years nobody had a problem with it…….until 2013. That’s when Miami Shores Village, Fla., amended its ordinance to make it clear that front-yard vegetable gardens were prohibited. Trees, fruit, and garden gnomes are just fine, but not vegetables. A few days later, the Carrolls were served a notice informing them that they were in violation of the front-yard vegetable ban. They were threatened with fines of $50 per day if they didn’t destroy their beautiful garden. Unable to bear the cost of such hefty fines, the couple had no option but to surrender to the government’s demands and uproot the garden. Six months later, they joined with the Institute for Justice to challenge Miami Shores’ senseless front-yard vegetable garden ban, but they were unsuccessful. They appealed the decision, but in 2017 Florida’s Third District Court of Appeals upheld the ruling. The Carrolls continued to fight, asking state legislators to pass legislation protecting the right of all Floridians to grow vegetables and fruit on their own property. On June 24, 2019 Gov. Ron DeSantis signed SB-82 and when the law went into effect on July 1, 2019, Tom and Hermine began replanting their garden.
