A lot of people who move to Leisure Village are leaving a house with a big yard. Some are glad to be done with mowing. Others can’t picture a spring without tomatoes. Both kinds of people do fine here, because the community gives you a choice about how much gardening you want to take on.

I pulled everything below from the Association’s own papers: the Rules and Regulations (Update November 2025), the Maintenance Responsibility Matrix, and the Landscape Permit Application (revised June 2026). Rules change, so check with the Association Office before you plant, dig, or hire anyone.

How the Leisure Village Garden Plots Work

The Farmer’s Garden is a shared growing area with individual patches. It sits alongside the other Leisure Village amenities, and it’s one of the quieter ways to meet neighbors, since the people in the next patch over are out there on the same mornings you are. Article XIV of the rules sets it up like this:

One thing I like about that “away for a while” rule: it fits real life after 60. A knee replacement or a long visit with the grandkids doesn’t have to cost you a patch you waited for, as long as someone is keeping it up and the office knows who.

Raised Beds, Trellises, and Bug Spray in the Farmer’s Garden

Rule 14.12 gets specific about raised beds, so read it before you buy lumber. Here’s the checklist I’d keep on the fridge:

• ✓Raised beds use the same material: brown toned wood, treated but safe for growing vegetables.
• ✓Attach the wood with flat metal stakes. A bed drawing is available at the Recreation Office.
• ✓Wood trellises can be up to four feet tall, or you can use tomato cages for climbing plants.
• ✓No chicken wire.
• ✓Any change to your basic bed needs Recreation Office approval and a $75 deposit, which comes back when you remove the change and the base bed isn’t damaged.
• ✓Bug and weed sprays are discouraged. If you do use one, keep it from drifting onto the next garden. The Association encourages organic products, and the Recreation Office has a list of materials.

Would you have guessed the bed color is in the rules? Most people wouldn’t. That’s why I tell new residents to stop by the Recreation Office first, then shop.

The Garden Beds Around Your Home: Who Takes Care of What

This is the part that surprises buyers. In Leisure Village, your yard isn’t all yours to maintain, and it isn’t all the Association’s either. The Maintenance Responsibility Matrix on the Association’s site splits it by bed, and the beds are marked with stakes:

If you’re not sure which beds at a home are which, ask the Association Office before you buy. I’d rather a buyer know on day one that the side bed is theirs to weed than find out from a violation letter. For the bigger picture on repairs, my post on Leisure Village HOA maintenance covers roofs, plumbing, and the rest of the chart, and the Leisure Village HOA fees page shows what the monthly dues cost by model.

Changing a Bed: The Landscape Permit

Rule 6.01 says any exterior change to structures or plantings on your lot needs the Architectural Committee’s approval first, and rule 6.14 includes significant changes to the plantings. For garden beds, the form to use is the Landscape Permit Application on the Association’s forms page. It lets you ask to:

• ✓Switch a bed from Leisure Village maintained to homeowner maintained, or back again.
• ✓Add a semi-dwarf citrus tree to a garden bed.
• ✓Add pavers, stone, or rock to a garden bed.
• ✓Remove a tree from a garden bed.
• ✓Make another change you describe, with a garden plan drawing attached.

A few conditions come with it. All changes are at the homeowner’s expense, and so is switching a bed back to Association care later. The Landscape Committee inspects the work, and it has to be finished according to the approved plan within 60 days. The sprinkler system, trees, and shrubs can’t be changed without further approval, and unauthorized removal or changes to trees or tree roots is on the Association’s health and safety violation list. If you hire a gardener or a crew to put in new plants, they count as contractors under Article XXIII, so they need a contractor pass and can’t start before 8 AM. If you’re planning bigger work than a garden bed, read my guide to the Leisure Village remodeling rules too.

Small Rules That Touch Your Leisure Village Garden

These come up more often than you’d think, so here they are in one place:

• ✓Green waste. When the gardening crews are in your Village with their large dumpsters, you can put your green waste in, green waste only (rule 19.03). That helps a lot during a clean-out before a sale.
• ✓Painting days. When the Association repaints your home or trim, you need to move pots, vines, planter boxes, and ornaments out of the way. If you don’t, the Association does it and bills you (rule 6.11).
• ✓The lawn. Nothing goes on the lawn or common area without Board approval (rule 19.06), and no vehicles on lawns or landscaped areas.
• ✓Pets. Pets can’t damage lawns, planted areas, or trees (rule 16.03). My Leisure Village pet rules post has the rest.
• ✓Holiday displays. They can go in front of flower or shrub beds, within two feet of the bed’s edge, but not on the common area lawn or on trees in the common areas.
• ✓Signs. Noncommercial signs, flags, or banners are allowed on your private property, including a red staked garden bed, within the size limits in rule 19.13.

Selling a Home With a Garden in Leisure Village

When I help a family get a home ready to sell, I look at the yard the way a buyer will. The first thing to do is cut everything back and… no, wait. The first thing is to find out which beds are yours. You only have to fix up the beds you’re responsible for, and a buyer will want to know which ones those are.

• ✓Ask the Association Office which beds at the home are owner maintained and which are Association maintained, and keep that in writing for the buyer.
• ✓Gather any approved Landscape Permits, especially for trees, pavers, or rock you added. Your agent can share them with the buyer.
• ✓Weed and tidy the owner maintained beds before photos. A neat bed tells a buyer the home was cared for.
• ✓Don’t tell a buyer your Farmer’s Garden patch comes with the house. Patches are assigned from a waiting list. Ask the Recreation Office how it handles a patch when a home sells.
• ✓If you’re handling a parent’s home from out of town, the Association’s crews still care for the beds on their side of the chart, so the place won’t look abandoned while you decide.

For the rest of the steps, from disclosures to the Association’s paperwork, start with my guide to selling your home in Leisure Village. And if you’re on the buying side and love to garden, ask about the Farmer’s Garden waiting list early. It’s also a good way into the clubs and activities here, since gardeners tend to know everyone.

Frequently Asked Questions

Thinking About Buying or Selling in Leisure Village?

Rules quoted from the Leisure Village Association’s Rules and Regulations (Update November 2025), Maintenance Responsibility Matrix, and Landscape Permit Application (revised 6/2026). Photos are stock images, not Leisure Village homes. Always confirm current rules with the Association Office.