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Comment by Karto | Hacker News Reader

I'm a bit out of the subject, but are you telling that in the US you're not free to grow vegetation on your yard however you like ?

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Most cities will enforce fines/issue warnings if you don't mow your lawn and the wild grass on it gets taller than a couple inches.

I don't know if this is done to curb the spreading of ticks (and Lyme disease) in urban areas or to avoid "lowering your neighbour's properties value", but it's terrible for bio-diversity... Insects have it already pretty hard in cities and on top of that they've got nothing to eat in the tiny patch of grasses people call "gardens."

Ticks spread when there are host mammals, nearly regardless of vegetation height.

I'm with you on the dead ecosystem thing. Besides the vegetable patch, my garden is deliberately a happy self-regulated mess of grass and wild strawberries, trees and bushes, planted flowers and all sorts of plants and mushrooms. I only remove the thorns, and walk though with a scythe twice a year (one tough enough to cut the smaller saplings). It's quite rewarding to watch the birds, small mammals and amphibians that thrive there, and a delight for my young daughter. It is quite a surprise to hear that I'd have trouble doing that in the land of the free. Thank you for the insight !

It really depends on the area. The "US" is quite diverse in many ways. As another commenter mentioned, cities are more likely to have problems with that than the suburbs.

Some cities ban it, or you're an idiot for doing so because of the runoff water that soaks up the soil can include chemicals that people dump in the street such as oil from a car rinsed off on a driveway, round up still being used, paints, litter, construction waste runoff, etc.

9/10 you'll be fine, but knowing that, is it honestly worth doing?

It'll vary heavily by state and local law. In most cases they expect you to groom or otherwise manage your outdoor space, but no one will protest if you put several raised beds full of veggies or flowers. Plenty of folks in New Mexico or Arazona who only have cacti and stones in front of their place, etc.

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