City of Green Bay waging battle over man's lawn garden

GREEN BAY (WITI) -- A Green Bay homeowner says grass in his front yard does him no good, so he planted a garden instead. However, the city of Green Bay is waging a battle over Patrick Farrell's garden.

70-year-old Farrell says he doesn't like grass because he can't eat it.

Farrell is a green-thumbed, retired construction worker who is proud of his garden, which consists of okra, eggplant, yukon gold tomatoes, red tomatoes, pole peas, pole beans, green peppers, tomato plants, and corn -- to name a few. His garden consists of six plots.

They say this is called "yardening."

Farrell gives much of the food he grows to people in the neighborhood.

The city of Green Bay says Farrell's lawn garden is a problem. Kail Decker, an attorney for the city of Green Bay says Farrell put a garden in an area the city owns -- pointing to the area between the street and the sidewalk.

"Just like if someone built a garden on someone else's property, you can ask that person to remove it. I doubt we'll go the citation route, but that is always an option," Decker said.

The city has asked Farrell to remove the garden by the end of June -- a request Farrell says he will not comply with.

"Because I don't want to," Farrell said.

The city says it is within its right to remove the garden at any time. However, it doesn't plan to spend a lot of resources on this.