tggfisk is right. If you mix veggies with flowers, nobody will catch on. I think every neighborhood has some people who are secret yard police. I always have one. One moves away, another one soon arrives.
Some people just think there is a "right" way to do things and a "wrong" way to do things and in their minds all kinds of really good ideas, like front yard gardens, are horrific. I have had 2 neighbors object horribly to my compost piles at different times. Luckily the city supported me. They don't want that stuff in the land fill.
Alas, the more upscale the neighborhood, the more the neighbors care about appearances and the more the neighbors have a sense of entitlement to imposing their views on others. I have found the city pretty good about not taking sides.
Some people really need to take up a hobby -- knitting or crosswords or something -- because they just don't have enough to do to keep them from poking their noses in other peoples' business.
A decision each person has to make is how important the neighbors' opinion is to them. It is my opinion however that a vegetable garden front yard can be quite lovely. Vining squash is a great ground cover with interesting fruit in the fall and great flowers in the summer. Tomatoes are lovely when fruiting. I rather enjoy the double flowers on Cherokee Purple and Carolyn Male in her book on tomatoes waxes poetic about the flowers in the cherry tomato Reisentraube.
If you are worried about neighbors' opinions try planting your veggies in borders as if they were flowers. Stick in some nasturtiums among them ( wonderful in salads.) Grow Bright Lights Chard. Few annuals are as beautiful. When they landscaped our state capitol they made beds for the bushes and trees but until it all filled in, they grew rhubarb as a leafy green shrub. It was very attractive. Don't forget that few people recognize any flowers at all! What do they know if you landscape it nicely with veggies instead of bushes.
How many of you have vegetable gardens in your front yard?
Hi,
I don't have a front yard veggie garden - yet.
We moved here less than two years ago, and we are still busy getting the raised beds done in the back yard. One day though, when I get short on space in the back, the front will be next. I like so many of the ideas offered here, like the thai basil, rainbow chard, "decorative" kale and even pumpkins, along with nasturtiums, borage and calendula which I already have mixed in among my vegetables in the back.
For now I have a wildflower garden in the front, and I love it.
It's not so much whether the neighbors will like you as whether the neighbors will sue! HOAs have created woe for a lot of folks.
I think the pretty vegetable border is a fantastic idea. Kind of eases it into being, you know?
My brother once paid my son $50 to eat tripe, pajarito. It was the one and only time he ate the stuff. I ate it accidentally once (had to be polite and as it was the highly overrated Nouvelle Cuisine it was the only thing on the plate) and nearly gagged. I'm glad to hear it can be edible, but it will be a very cold day before I try it again!
I second Pajaritomt's motion (several posts above) to add eggplant to your front yard garden. We grew "Orient Express" (available from Johnny's Select Seed among other places, I'm sure) for several years and the foliage is absolutely beautiful. Big, tropical-looking leaves, dark green with purple colored veins. Wish I had a photo of the plant. Anyway, as nice as any Hosta (no offense intended to Hosta lovers) and would be an attractive addition to any landscape, front or back. Plus you get nice, long Asian style eggplants out of the deal.
Okay, I have a list! I will try the eggplant (and I do like the look of Orient Express) next year and someone recommended okra because of the wonderful flowers. But I probably won't be eating tripe anytime soon!
I'll be trying lettuce, swiss chard "Bright Lights", cauliflower in purple and orange, snap peas, ornamental Kale for the appearance, kale, and carrots for this fall.
Sounds delicious, Mobi. Be SURE and take "work in progress" pictures.
And be careful of the okra. Somebody will see that growing and call the cops, swearing you're growing marijuana right there in the front yard. Yes, WE can all tell the difference, but some non-gardening cop may confiscate your crop if you have a neighbor with a grudge.
;}
Just got back from a U-pick place yesterday, and I'll be definitely trying okra and eggplant just for how pretty they are! I also love the idea of red or purple beans, I've got an ugly iron fence that needs "beautification"--and if it just happens to be edible, well, cool!
Love all the ideas, and the recommendations, too!
Does anyone have a source for the cauliflower seeds in bright colors? I'm new to seed planting, but so far haven't been able to find those.
Johnny's Select Seed has purple, yellow (ish) and orange
http://www.johnnyseeds.com/catalog/search.aspx?scommand=search&search=cauliflower
I'm so glad that we have new converts to the front yard gardening fellowship! To me, it's a great icebreaker in getting to know the folks in our neighborhood. And I love coming home and seeing all the lushness right out on the curb. Sounds like some wonderful experimentation is getting ready to take place. Keep us up on the progress:-))
"Lushness" is perhaps a lot to ask for here, I'm just going for the "not-dead-and-barren" look. LOL
And, Mobi, thanks for the seed ref. I'll check them out ASAP, since I'm thinking trying cauliflower this fall. Should be fun! I have family/friends in Denver, next time I'm there and driving around I'll know which garden--oops, I mean front yard--is yours! :)
I have a small lot with a large house footprint so I am very land deprived and until this year I have use every possible inch I can to grow the veggies that my family loves. I use lettuce as a wonderful bed edge right behind the radishes and in front of the carrots. Peas and beans are planted along side of my snail vine and twine up the trellis's that support the front eves. Intermixed with these I had basil, thyme, lemon balm and chocolate mint in containers. 95% of my back yard is pool, decking and concrete so I grew the peppers and tomatoes in containers on the back patio edge.
One neighbor down the street grows potatoes and asparagus in her side garden that is visable from the street. There are two rosemary bushes on either side of her front window and a bay tree that she uses as anchors in the garden. I honestly dont think that most people have a clue that these are veggies and herbs and not ornamental plantings.
In the area around my SC home I have seen many front yard gardens. It is in a more rural area so neighborhood governments are not a real issue. I think you should be able to plant a veggie garden where it's in the best possible place to have a bumper crop. There are plenty of fall crops that you can plant so it wouldn't be so barren during the fall and under the winter snow.
Just remembered, scarlet runner beans and hyacinth beans make lovely vines for a garden and great edibles! Okra is actually related to Rose of Sharon and Hibiscus. It has nice big flowers like a hollyhock and some varieties have red okra pods. In the south everyone would recognize them, but I bet few would in Denver!
I have a small flower bed down near the road and mailbox....out in the open country. On the backside of some hibiscus, daylillies, and rudbekias I have 4 cantaloupes....looks really neat to me.
Plant some Hollyhocks behind the okra and when folks ask, tell them they're (the okra) a special ornamental "southern mallow" or "tall rose of sharon". Most folks will never notice.
I'm lucky enough not to have a HOA, but I love the deviousness! Out here, I think most people will applaud just about anything that's green and growing, and especially if it has flowers!
This year I didn't have enough room for all the tomatoes I wanted to plant. I decided that whether people thought I was crazy or not I was going to plant some tomatoes and sweet peppers in the front. I bought some nice-looking green tomato cages and planted orange marigold around each cage with some blue Lobelia. I think it looks great. My friends say it looks nice. I don't know what people think when they drive by. I guess when they start paying my taxes they can comment on my landscaping.
I'm going to do it next year, too.
You could use one of those cool bamboo tent trellises for runner beans, or small cucumbers. Very cottage garden.
Hear! Hear! on the taxes:-)
The sad thing about it (although this may actually be to your advantage in growing a vegetable garden in the front yard) is that to many people, "plants are plants". Unless you tell them what you have are greens, runner beans, and summer squash they might not even know the difference. The type of person you are concerned about, of course, probably does make it their business to snoop around and check up on the "forbidden fruit" of unacceptable vegetation but the average passerby will be oblivious. By analogy, my musician friends often complain that their live music at a gathering is treated like "background noise". So it is with plants to many of our non-gardening friends. I imagine if you mix in some flowers with whatever else you plant (as has been suggested in some of the above posts) you will be fine. I hope so, since it does seem like a huge violation of your rights to be denied a vegetable garden. Life, liberty, and the pursuit of prize winning tomatoes!! :)
I think I'm gonna inscribe that last bit above my front door as a family motto!
Hey, T-Jill, glad you were inspired! I regret that I have but one vegetable quote to give on behalf of my country.
LOL! That's a good one BDale!
I have a friend in Utah whose house is on a quarter acre. Every single plant in his front and back yards, side yards, and the street parkway are edible plants -- vegetables, fruit trees, and berry bushes -- no lawn. He grows all the fruits and vegetables for his family for the entire year. What they do not eat fresh, they can or freeze for later. Personally, I think it's terrific!
I feel that it's your property and you should be able to grow whatever you want on it. If you want flowers and ornamentals, you should have them. If you want fruits and vegetables, you should have them. A combination of both is just fine, too. I really appreciate it when I see people doing different things. It makes the world far more interesting.
Karen
You said it, Karen! Too bad too many people in this world think there's only one "right" way, and everything else is "wrong". No shades of gray (or green, pink, yellow, orange, purple...--hey, we're talking plants here!) :)
Hi Karen,
Is your friends property very open and sunny? I have about 1/3 of an acre, but neighboring trees create a lot of shade that makes it difficult to utilize many areas of yard for food production.
He lives in a regular subdivision-type house near Salt Lake City. So, I expect he doesn't have many large trees around in the area. If there were to start with, they probably got mowed down in the neatness aspect of building the subdivision. He told me that he could have bought a house with a half-acre at the time and now wishes he had.
A couple of years ago, a late frost was predicted and his fruit trees had already started to bloom. He got all the extra blankets in the house and wrapped and tied them around the trunks. He saved every one of them. He also said that his neighbors all thought he was nuts. But, like me, he didn't care about that. LOL.
Jill - there is one kind of plant I can't stand, although I know they are considered perfect by many. Square bushes!! However, for those who do like them, it is fine with me, and I will support them in their choice.
Karen
Hey, Karen, I never said we had to *like* everything.... LOL I have my own personal peeve plants, too! And, I suspect the square bushes would rather not be square themselves, either :)
Jill,
I know you didn't -- my comment is meant to be in full agreement with you -- we all have our likes and dislikes -- there is no right or wrong in plants, which is why, although, I dislike square bushes, I consider them to be a fine choice for others.
Karen
Sorry, Karen--I was teasing you--didn't mean it to come across as grumpy! I know you're fully supportive of anyone growing anything, and I truly appreciate that.
Jill
Jill,
No apology needed. We're cool, both of us!
Karen
I'm cool with most anything, as long as it's not poison ivy!!!