Communities

Writing
Writing
Codidact Meta
Codidact Meta
The Great Outdoors
The Great Outdoors
Photography & Video
Photography & Video
Scientific Speculation
Scientific Speculation
Cooking
Cooking
Electrical Engineering
Electrical Engineering
Judaism
Judaism
Languages & Linguistics
Languages & Linguistics
Software Development
Software Development
Mathematics
Mathematics
Christianity
Christianity
Code Golf
Code Golf
Music
Music
Physics
Physics
Linux Systems
Linux Systems
Power Users
Power Users
Tabletop RPGs
Tabletop RPGs
Community Proposals
Community Proposals
tag:snake search within a tag
answers:0 unanswered questions
user:xxxx search by author id
score:0.5 posts with 0.5+ score
"snake oil" exact phrase
votes:4 posts with 4+ votes
created:<1w created < 1 week ago
post_type:xxxx type of post
Search help
Notifications
Mark all as read See all your notifications »
Q&A

Welcome to the Judaism community on Codidact!

Will you help us build our community of learners? Drop into our study hall, ask questions, help others with answers to their questions, share a d'var torah if you're so inclined, invite your friends, and join us in building this community together. Not an ask-the-rabbi service, just people at all levels learning together.

Sh'mita and the home garden: what if anything is permitted?

+0
−0

I live in the diaspora and this doesn't affect me personally, but in thinking about the sh'mita cycle while tending my small garden, I found myself wondering about some details. Does the law to not plant and let fields lie fallow for the year apply only to "crops" (to be defined), or to anything you plant in the ground? Can you plant flowers? Can you plant herbs (a kitchen garden)? Can you plant something in a pot? (I know that hydroponic crops are permitted; I don't know if that's because they are, necessarily, not connected to the ground, or because there is no soil.) Is there some minimum amount, below which sh'mita doesn't apply, like there is a minimum volume of bread before we take challah?

Thinking about a homeowner with a personal garden (or perhaps just a pot of basil on the porch), and not someone doing larger-scale agriculture, what limitations apply during the sh'mita year if you live in the land of Israel?

History
Why does this post require moderator attention?
You might want to add some details to your flag.
Why should this post be closed?

0 comment threads

1 answer

+1
−0

In general, whatever applies to crop farming applies to the home garden. Exceptions (like planting indoors, or not attached to soil, or on non-Jewish-owned land, or others) apply to both equally. That said, there are some leniencies relied upon for crop farming because otherwise the economy would falter, which are not relied upon for home gardens.

Precisely what rules apply? There've been entire books written on the topic; I'm not going to go through all the rules here (if even I could).

History
Why does this post require moderator attention?
You might want to add some details to your flag.

1 comment thread

Otzar Beis Din? (1 comment)

Sign up to answer this question »