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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Recent changes to ROW gardening
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.
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.
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.
Late fall in a rain garden on Sunnyside built by the City of Ottawa long before the new ROW bylaws came into effect.
But planting food next to roads in potentially contaminated soil poses risks. Gardeners need clean soil in containers or raised beds that protect the food they are growing from road salt, litter, dog droppings and other hazards to food safety.
Recently, city Council directed its staff to re-examine the bylaws around ROW plantings to see if more could be done. Further revisions were made. The current bylaw now includes growing food. Containers can be either seasonal or permanent. The setbacks for fire hydrants, city trees, hydro transformers and other infrastructure remain the same except grass can be replaced with ground covers, provided they are not invasive species. There is still a one-metre height limit but that can now include containers, to a maximum height of 45 centimetres, which means food plants in containers must be shorter than 55 centimetres. Homeowners who want a tree in their ROW can apply to the city Trees in Trust program.
What to grow
You can create a beautiful pollinator garden in your hell strip. Native plants are a great choice because they can take tough conditions. My spring flowers include bloodroot, Canadian ginger, Canadian anemone and hardy native geraniums.
Later in the season, black-eyed Susan, hoary vervain, blanket flower, sedums and echinacea provide ongoing colour. Herbs are also a good choice. My neighbours know they are welcome to help themselves to mint growing in a large cloth bag that prevents it from spreading too aggressively. Bees and other pollinators flock to the mint flowers.
Even with the height limits, there are many food plant choices. If you live in an area where food theft is an issue, consider root veggies like radishes, beets and carrots, which can grow in a container. Sadly, potato foliage would likely exceed the height limit. Lettuce, herbs and shorter varieties of kale work well, even in a shady spot.
If you have sun, consider growing bush beans, bush peas, strawberries or one of the compact varieties of tomato, such as tumbling tom, which cascades downwards. Nasturtiums are a fun addition and are both attractive and edible.
You can find out more about the City of Ottawa’s ROW rules here: https://ottawa.ca/en/planning-development-and-construction/residential-property-regulations/all-about-your-property/right-way#.
(Rebecca Last is a volunteer with Master Gardeners of Ottawa-Carleton.)