Couple re-plants garden after legislative win

By Marcus Lim
Associated Press

MIAMI SHORES, Fla. (AP) — All Hermine Ricketts wanted to do was plant vegetables on her front yard, but her local government considered them unsightly and threatened her with fines. That sparked a 6-year legal battle that was resolved with new legislation to legalize such gardens statewide.

Ricketts, 63, and her husband Tom Carroll, 60, celebrated as the bill took effect Monday by planting jalapenos, green bell peppers and other vegetables at their home in Miami Shores.

“I am eager to get back and grow my healthy food,” Ricketts said, adding that the new legislation is an even better result than a victory in the courts would have been.

“More people can benefit from this,” she said.

The Miami Shores Village Council amended its zoning code to prohibit front-yard vegetable gardens in 2013 and sent Ricketts a notice saying she would have to uproot the garden or face $50 in daily fines.

The council said the new rule was for aesthetic reasons and that only back-yard gardens would be allowed. That was a problem for the couple because their back yard was too shady.

The couple filed a lawsuit that eventually reached Florida’s Third District Court of Appeal, which ruled in favor of the village. The Florida Supreme Court declined to hear the case.

Then, a Republican state senator from north-central Florida, Rob Bradley, took up the cause by sponsoring a bill to legalize such gardens statewide. The bill passed the Legislature this year, and Gov. Ron DeSantis signed it into law last week.

Ari Bargil, an attorney at the Miami branch of the libertarian public interest law firm Institute for Justice, had helped the couple press their case and was on hand Monday to help with the planting.

“The bill symbolizes the restoration of sanity, people can plant without fear of ordinances,” Bargil said. “This should not have been complicated or even have happened.”

Bradley called the garden ban ridiculous and noted that many state residents have difficulties in getting fresh and affordable food. He turned to puns in a Twitter direct message celebrating the new law.

“When I learned that the bill was signed, I got artichoked up,” Bradley said. “Local governments will no longer be able to squash our freedom to grow vegetables on our land.”

On Monday, Carroll and Bargil did the planting while Ricketts watched from a wheelchair. She suffers lung, heart and kidney trouble. She said she hoped to regain her strength this week so she could “touch the soil” once again.

“Not bad to take us into the Fourth of July weekend,” Bargil said while planting jalapeno seeds. “A little bit of freedom for everyone.”