Garden in Front Yard

[Hattie the Hen]

What looks very nice is a real old-fashioned English Cottage Garden & not the modern version of it which is all flowers & shrubs. The old cottagers had large families to feed so they grew their peas & beans & cucumbers up decorative teepees or rural arches. These often ran up either side of the path to the front door so it looked rather neat & impressive. Then they had all their cooking & medicinal herbs at the base & their tomatoes beyond that trained up neat stakes with cross bars. Between these they would tuck in lots of roses for their lovely perfume. You could also tuck in all those flowers with edible petals. Oh don't forget fruit trees, preferably ones trained into interesting shapes (on the smaller rootstock. I don't think anyone could complain about a front garden like that...........do you?


:rose Hattie :rose

 

[simple life]

I am doing it this year in the sides of the house, the front yard is just going to be a strip of lawn now and the sides will be gardens.
I already did the right side last year, I planted alot of perrenial herbs, they look beautiful and are useful as well and I plan to squeeze some pretty vegetables in there as well.
I bought lots of various runner/pole beans this year and will have some growing up the lamp post and around the edges of the carriage house.
On the left side, we took all the grass out this past fall when my husband wanted to redo the front lawn with grass seed.
He rototilled everything but then we only seeded the front so I could grow more vegetables.
I also worried about people swiping my veggies on that side of the house because its close to the street but I am going to plant some berry bushes and flowers all around so that most people would not be able to tell.
If you intersperse the vegetables throughout and make it look pretty I doubt your husband will have any complaints.
If you like herbs you could plant some of those, they are beautiful and then mix in various veggies.
Cabbage, chard, runner beans on a teepee and some colorful lettuce are all things just off the top of my head that will look really nice in any yard.
I love when the beans are grown in and the teepees look so nice, you can plant cabbage or swiss chard around the base of it too.
There is alot you can do, just don't be afraid to try new things.

 

[lupinfarm]

I hate mowing grass, with a firey passion lol, so I'm slowly trying to rid the front yard of all grass. I've convinced my mum we need to put in 4 - 4ftx4ft raised beds for strawberries. One bed per person in our family. That'll eat about a lot of grass space, and leave me some tiny strips to mow with the push mower instead of having to use the big ride on + push mower.

 

[simple life]

You could even just get rid of all the grass and use slates in the pathways, pea gravel or stepping stones with ground cover growing in between, the last one is what I have in my garden.

 

[AngieChick]

You need to follow where the sun is. Veggie gardens can rival ornamental gardens in beauty.

It's becoming more and more common for veggie gardens to be in the front, many people around here have them. We are rural, so my neighbors don't care if my veggies are in the front. But, when we were in town the response was always positive as well. Tell him not to worry so much what people think, all they will be thinking anyway is "hmm, I wonder if they are going to share those tomatoes? They sure do look yummy!"

 

[PotterWatch]

Half of my front yard is slated to be garden... just as soon as I can get the rest of the grass out! I am also growing peas on either side of my front walk, last year it was corn. I have garlic growing in the tree ring on my easement. I have two fruit trees in my front yard and strawberries growing in between the roses that line the front of my house. I think it can look great and have a good community impact. In fact there is a whole movement dedicated to it. Check out Food Not Lawns .

My corn from last summer:

My salsa garden occupying the space I have managed so far to completely clear of grass in the front, it has tomatoes, jalapenos, and garlic:

My peas that are currently very small, but will soon be very pretty:

The plum and nectarine trees I have out front:

 

[desertgirl]

I was contemplating the front garden, too. I love the asthetics-my worry is people with thinking it is a salad bar. So for the first year, I was thinking of planting only freakishly hot chili peppers. That should let me grow some for my BIL (who can't seem to get a pepper hot enough for his tatses), and scare away some sticky fingers next year!

 

[PotterWatch]

I was contemplating the front garden, too. I love the asthetics-my worry is people with thinking it is a salad bar. So for the first year, I was thinking of planting only freakishly hot chili peppers. That should let me grow some for my BIL (who can't seem to get a pepper hot enough for his tatses), and scare away some sticky fingers next year!

I was worried about that as well, but last year, I had corn, tomatoes, and plums in my front yard and not a one ever got picked by someone other than us. I am even in the kind of neighborhood where I would expect a little bit of that to happen but it didn't. I don't know how it will go this year, but I don't think it will be too big of a problem.

 

[Hattie the Hen]

I think the fact you have vegetables growing in your front garden prompts a lot of interest from your neighbours & promotes friendliness. More people stop to comment on the progress of the veg & fruit. They ask for information on varieties or types that they have never tried & opens up a way of us passing on information. It will probably lead to the passing around of seeds & spare young plants & surplus crops at harvest time: before you know it you will have a much nicer community around you.

Go to it everyone......!! :happy_flower


:tools Hattie :tools

 

[mandieg4]

Half of my front yard is slated to be garden... just as soon as I can get the rest of the grass out! I am also growing peas on either side of my front walk, last year it was corn. I have garlic growing in the tree ring on my easement. I have two fruit trees in my front yard and strawberries growing in between the roses that line the front of my house. I think it can look great and have a good community impact. In fact there is a whole movement dedicated to it. Check out Food Not Lawns .

My corn from last summer:

http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h45/IanTavisMom/DSCN0323.jpg


My salsa garden occupying the space I have managed so far to completely clear of grass in the front, it has tomatoes, jalapenos, and garlic:

http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h45/IanTavisMom/Gardening/004.jpg


My peas that are currently very small, but will soon be very pretty:

http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h45/IanTavisMom/Gardening/DSCN1382.jpg


The plum and nectarine trees I have out front:

http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h45/IanTavisMom/Gardening/003.jpg

http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h45/IanTavisMom/Gardening/DSCN1384.jpg

Beautiful!!