California man’s front-yard food forest was approved by his HOA; a new board later fined him $750 for the same garden

For Michael Sherman, the front yard of his Chino, California, home is not simply landscaping.

It is a “food forest” filled with plants that produce food for his family and, at times, for his neighbours.

But after years of maintaining the garden, Sherman found himself facing complaints and fines over the same landscape he said had previously been approved.Sherman had replaced his front lawn with edible plants including passionfruit, radishes, calendulas, sunflowers, aloe vera, Swiss chard and banana trees.

He began the garden about seven years earlier, saying rising food prices and concerns about what is sprayed on produce motivated him to grow more of his own food.The dispute has since moved beyond a disagreement over what a front yard should look like.

It has become a question of how much control neighbourhood rules and local codes should have over a homeowner's attempt to grow food on their own property.How Sherman turned his conventional lawn into a productive gardenSherman's garden began in 2019, when he removed the grass from his front yard and started replacing it with edible plants.