Front yard vegetable gardens: Yes? No?

Are front-yard vegetable gardens a jailable offense? An Oak Park, Mich., woman may find out. Her garden of tomatoes, zucchinis and other edibles apparently didn't sit well with a neighbor, and officials have filed criminal charges of violating landscaping regulations that require "suitable" plants. The woman has requested a jury trial in the case of "vegetable garden in front yard space." You can read more about that situation here, including a link to a video: abcnews.go.com/US/vegetable-garden-brings-criminal-charges-oak-park-michigan/story

In my area of Minneapolis, front-yard vegetable gardens aren't usual, but they're certainly not unheard of, and not likely to trigger jail time. Lots of mature trees can mean limited back-yard sun, so you'll see the occasional staked-up tomatoes on a sun-baked boulevard space, and I noticed someone has a stand of rhubarb going in a raised bed along the boulevard farther down.

I'm not aware if those deviations from the usual pristine green turf raise eyebrows among neighbors here, but I know opinions about proper use of front-yard space aren't confined to suburban cul-de-sacs with strict covenants and manicured lawns.

I haven't made any vegetable gardening forays into the front yard, unless sweet potato vines incorporated into pots count. But I have been known to sneak a few extra tomato seedlings in the back row of my alley garden, which I guess is also on public view. I say "sneak," because I planted them even after I had heard a former cross-alley neighbor say he thought tomato plants were unsightly. (Admittedly, they can get pretty scraggly by late season unless you prune them ruthlessly.) I don't know if the tall phlox and lilies hid the offending tomatoes from view, but those Cherokee tomatoes were delicious.