May 4, 2026
Most people would be thrilled to have a neighbor that regularly gives them fresh-grown fruits and vegetables. But for some of Michael Sherman's neighbors in Chino, California, fresh fruit doesn't make up for living next to a front-yard "food forest."
As CBS News reports, Sherman replaced his front lawn's grass more than seven years ago with edible plants, including banana trees, radishes and pumpkins (1). He says he started growing his own food to combat rising food costs and ensures the plants are grown without pesticides or other chemicals.
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Since then, the city has received multiple complaints about Sherman's property, with many focused on how the garden looks. Recently, the city issued Sherman a $750 fine and asked him to make changes to his garden to avoid further penalties.
While Sherman has already appealed the city's decision, this story seems to have ignited a debate about whether the city should be able to decide what he does with his own yard in the first place.
Could home vegetable gardens lead to rat problems?
One of Sherman's neighbors, Monica Siepert, told CBS News that she's "worried about rodents" (2). Siepert also complained that the garden was not always trimmed and kept up.
Home gardens can attract rats and other rodents because they give the animals access to food and shelter they wouldn't get from a traditional grass lawn. Sherman's lawn could potentially draw more rodents to the area because he lets fallen fruit stay where it lands, enriching the soil (3).
The Los Angeles Department of Public Health says that "rats and mice feed on a variety of fruits," and that "all fallen fruit and nuts should be regularly removed and discarded in the trash." Sherman not doing so could lead to an increased chance that rodents make their home to his garden.
The Department says that ground covers should be trimmed and thinned, shrubbery should be trimmed to allow for a foot of open area near the base, and dead palm fronds should be removed. It also says to make sure that tree limbs are at least four feet away from any buildings or homes so that rats aren't able to use them to gain access to the indoors.
While all of those could cause rodents to take up shop in Sherman's garden, there's no proof that he's actually dealing with a rodent issue. A YouTube channel that appears to belong to Sherman also shows he has at least one outdoor cat (4), and while cats can be harmful to local wildlife populations, they're also effective at pest management (5).
Sherman's direct next-door neighbors, who are supportive of his yard, say they've "never had issues."
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What local laws say about food gardens
Chino city officials reportedly say that, in order to not receive any further fines, Sherman needs to:
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- Remove all overgrown vegetation
- Maintain a line of sight on his property
- Keep crops from growing within 15 feet of his neighbor's yards
Removing overgrown vegetation would help prevent any possible pests from sheltering in his yard, and keeping crops away from neighboring yards would help keep potential pests from spreading.
But some of these requirements seem more concerned with aesthetics than pest prevention. A gap of 15 feet is significantly more than LA county's recommended six feet to prevent the spread of rats, and maintaining a line of sight wouldn't do anything to keep rodents in check.
Making matters worse for Sherman is the fact that following all of the city's rules would make it significantly harder for him to continue to grow fruits and vegetables like he does now.
Other California laws that put limits on how people can garden have faced heavy pushback — even when the laws have nobler intentions. A 2020 law meant to prevent the spread of wildfires, called Zone Zero, would have required residents in high-risk areas to keep a five-foot area around their houses free of combustible materials, such as plants (6).
Because of disagreements on how strict the law should be, work on that law was pushed back to March 2026. Actual implementation of the law, however, could take years.
Article Sources
We rely only on vetted sources and credible third-party reporting. For details, see our ethics and guidelines.
CBS News (1); YouTube (2),(4); Los Angeles County Department of Public Health (3); National Institutes of Health (5); Bloomberg (6).
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Kit Pulliam is a DC-based financial journalist with over five years of experience writing, editing, and fact-checking financial content.
