Hints for the home: 'Is there anything wrong with right-of-way gardening?"

Ottawa Citizen

27-06-2025

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Has your garden been breaking the law? Until very recently, mine did. That's because I grow flowers and food in my front garden, including on that hard-to-garden 'hell strip' that borders the road.
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You see, a big strip of my front garden, including the hell strip, doesn't belong to me. Like all homes, the front few metres belong to the city. This Right of Way (ROW) is reserved for access to utilities, and for civil engineering projects such as adding a sidewalk or widening the road.
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Ottawa bylaws used to reflect federal regulations that required rights of way to be planted with turf grass. If a utility company needs to access its service lines under the ROW, turf is the easiest thing to remove and replace.
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From an environmental perspective, grass is not a great choice. You can't eat grass. It doesn't help pollinators, doesn't store much carbon, and other soft surfaces soak up much more rainwater. New research is making gardeners increasingly aware of all we can do to help the environment. Look around your neighbourhood. You may have already noticed front yards sprouting beds of native plants to help pollinators, or perhaps a small veggie patch.
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As inoffensive as these landscaping changes seemed, they violated city bylaws. When someone complained, bylaw officers had no choice but to issue warnings and, if no action was taken, fines. Since all bylaw enforcement is complaint driven, some gardeners, like me, got away with law-breaking for years. Meanwhile, others had the heartbreak of having to tear out a carefully designed and beautifully planted front garden. In a time of climate change and biodiversity in crisis, this bylaw enforcement didn't make sense.
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In 2023, several high-profile bylaw violations and lobbying by local community groups prompted a rethink. The updated bylaw tried to balance gardeners' interests with road safety and the ongoing need to access utilities. Gardeners could now grow wildflowers and herbaceous perennials, but not invasive species, to a maximum height of one metre.
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Trees and shrubs were still not permitted, as was any food growing and any kind of hardscaping, including containers. Grass was still required around some infrastructure, such as fire hydrants and mailboxes.
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While these changes were welcomed, they didn't go far enough. The ban on growing food was seen as a step backwards. Advocates were especially concerned for people living in poverty. The Ottawa Food Bank's 2024 Hunger Report found hunger to be a growing problem in our city, affecting one in four households. Food price inflation has been hitting all of us, so it makes sense to try growing at least some of our own food. For people living in poverty, ROWs are often the only land they can access.