(CNN) Imagine as a homeowner, being told where you can and cannot plant your vegetable garden. That's the exact battle a Florida couple faced for six years.

The City of Miami Shores told Hermine Ricketts and her husband Tom Carroll that the garden they maintained for almost twenty years was illegal, according to CNN affiliate WPLG

Miami Shores Village code enforcement department served the couple with a notice saying they were in violation of an ordinance that banned front-yard vegetable gardens. They would be fined $50 per day if they didn't remove their garden, according to the In 2013, theMiami Shores Village code enforcement department served the couple with a notice saying they were in violation of an ordinance that banned front-yard vegetable gardens. They would be fined $50 per day if they didn't remove their gardenaccording to the Institute for Justice . The national advocacy group "litigates to limit the size and scope of government power and to ensure that all Americans have the right to control their own destinies as free and responsible members of society," according to its website

Six months after Ricketts and Carroll were given notice, they filed a lawsuit for the right to have a front-yard vegetable garden but Florida's Third District Court of Appeals ruled in favor of Miami Shores Village.

"I love gardening," Ricketts told WPLG. "I love being able to kneel down in the ground, to touch the soil."

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