1. Not that long ago,
milkmen delivered
locally-grown dairy
products to our
doorsteps.
The milk, eggs, and
other foods we ate
probably came from
farms close to home. Nowadays, our food usually
comes from far distant factory farms. What happened?
And why is impossible to buy a tasty peach?
Suburban Sprawl? In the 50’s and 60’s, people migrated from cities into
subdivisions in rural areas. Productive farmland gave way to housing and
shopping malls. To pay for new roads, schools, and other services for the
suburbanites, property taxes rose so high that dairies and family farms went
bankrupt or sold their land to developers. Ironically, the same people who
participated in suburban sprawl now miss the availability of local food.
Today, many neighborhoods,
especially in Homeowner
Associations (HOAs), forbid
agricultural activities in or
near their residential zones.
No pig farms, please!
In fact, just try to grow
tomatoes in a typical HOA.
No way! The only permitted
plants are velvety-green
lawns and botanical bric-a-
brac, such as the ubiquitous
crepe myrtle & other non-
edible, non-native plants. 1

2. Only mow where we often go:
the parking area, walkways to the
small gardens and barn. Less
traveled land will be mowed
once a year, as botany guru
Charles Allen recommends.
Mowing actually spreads
unwanted Bahia and Johnson
grasses by flinging their seeds
onto ground where we want
broomsedge to grow.
Only grow edible and native
plants (especially perennial
edible natives like maypops,
which are ripening on trellises).
Lots of flowers, every month if
possible.
Lots of B’s:
Birds, Butterflies, Bumblebees and
other Beneficial Wildlife.
Avoid chemicals and gas-
powered equipment as much as
possible; increase use of
cardboard and plastic sheet
mulches to kill weeds; pine straw
top mulch, NEVER cypress mulch.
Personalized, natural-looking,
no straight lines or rows of the
same plant, never standardized,
never generic.
2

3. Plum, our
Catahoula cur,
is smart enough
enough to stay
out of the sun on
hot ol’ summer
days.
We agree with
her that it’s
pleasanter to
walk in shady
woods, where
the ground is
always carpeted
with leaf litter
and shade loving
plants like
the evergreen
Christmas Fern
(Polystichum
acrostichoides)
and low-growing
Basketgrass
(Oplismenus hirtellus,
subspecies setarius).
We frequently hear that people prefer
lawns because they’re afraid of
“snakes in the grass.” A water snake
ate several koi in the small ponds in our
front yard this month. LJ killed it with a
hoe. There were too many fish, anyhow,
and they keep making babies.
3

4. Grow
flowers
__not
lawns!
Maypop Hill Nursery & Publications
Betty and LJ Miley, specializing in native plants & sustainable land use
web: maypophill.com email: maypophill@wildblue.net 4