Poll: Vegetables in the front yard?

[Selkie]

Wow, never knew that veggie theft is such a common and widespread problem! It makes me glad we live out in the middle of nowhere. I would be so ticked off!

[mellifera33]

I hadn't thought of local ordinances. We're in unincorporated ____ county, technically suburban because it's not in town and not rural, but our neighborhood is between an industrial area and the boonies. We're not in one of the "nice" suburbs.  :lol:  After a quick check, it doesn't look like there are any rules for front lawns. We can have chickens if they're far enough from neighbors' houses, which is interesting to know. Although if dh thinks veggies in the front is weird, he's not going to go for chickens. ha! The neighborhood doesn't seem too full of itself--our street is mostly middle-class type 2 story and split level houses ranging from rather nice to somewhat shabby. The next street over is mostly double-wide manufactured houses on average suburban lots.

 

I thought I'd put the sun-loving summer veggies in front, brassicas, peas, and greens in back, then plant overwintering type things in front so they can get the winter sun. That way the front garden bed would always have something in it, even if it's favas or something. I'm going to feel tempted now to plant 400 lb pumpkins in front--they would be difficult to steal, at least. 

[mellifera33]

Wow, never knew that veggie theft is such a common and widespread problem! It makes me glad we live out in the middle of nowhere. I would be so ticked off!

 

When we lived in the city someone came into our yard and cut down our sunflowers. The kids were so upset!

[happi duck]

I know a family who hated that a neighbor had some corn in a front flowerbed. It was quite the gossip topic and some teens finally tore out the plants. People were happy. *glares*

 

I wonder if some of the theft is people being passive aggressive about thinking a front yard garden is "wrong"?

[NorthwestMom]

Rude? Nonsense. Being a gossipping busybody with nothing better to do than to talk badly about your neighbors is rude. Giving the jerks something to talk about isn't.

 

But you may find you need to put up a fence of some sort - people or raccoons will steal vegetables, and if they're very close to the sidewalk you might end up with, um, dogs. Never eat anything without washing it first that is grown lower than a male dog's "spray range".

:)

[SamanthaCarter]

I think front yard vegetable gardens are cool. I think that in our area we'd see theft, because when we tried the community garden I got next to nothing due to theft. We didn't do that again, I don't like gardening for other people. 

[Rosie_0801]

It's a funny old world if politeness requires hiding evidence that veggies grow in the ground!

 

[SamanthaCarter]

 

I wonder if some of the theft is people being passive aggressive about thinking a front yard garden is "wrong"?

 

I think it's more that people believe that a visible vegetable garden means "help yourself."

[Rosie_0801]

I think it's more that people believe that a visible vegetable garden means "help yourself."

 

If someone's tree is hanging over their fence into yours or public land, sure. But if it is inside someone's fence line, keep your dirty mitts off! Or, be a civilised person, and bring some of your lemons to the door and ask to swap for some tomatoes. Barter is nice.

[MercyA]

Not if you keep it well-maintained. I say go for it! 

[KrissiK]

I've thought about doing that. I probably wouldn't plant a "traditional vegetable" garden, like with rows, but I would probably tuck some peppers in and amongst the shrubs, or grow some bush beans here and there. There's lots of things you can incorporate in your landscape.

[Mergath]

It's a funny old world if politeness requires hiding evidence that veggies grow in the ground!

Like!

 

I think people who live in wealthier suburbs must think that food falls from the clouds and is gathered up for grocery stores. I can't get my brain around being mad about a garden. Sprawling, useless lawns that use way too much water and barrels of pesticides are much more offensive.

[Tanaqui]

Incidentally, flower theft (tulips, in our case - and they had to climb stairs to get to them!) is why I planted stinging nettle in my yard. It's medicinal! And if I choose to have my medicinal nettles next to my tulips, surely that's nobody's business but my own.

 

If someone's tree is hanging over their fence into yours or public land, sure.

 

I think that's actually the law around here - if it's leaning over the sidewalk, the part over the sidewalk is no longer private property. But if you want to have good relations with your neighbors, you have to use common sense. If the tree is well tended and cared for, you should ask!

 

As for me, except for mulberries that hang over the sidewalk, I ask before doing so much as pulling up a bit of purslane in a flower bed. (Nobody wants the mulberries but me, and they're usually thrilled to see me taking them away.) I would never go into somebody's yard to get something, even if I was convinced it was a weed to the owner (mint, sorrel, dandelions, the aforementioned purslane).

Edited January 9, 2017 by Tanaqui

[Calm37]

Well, it would be rude in my neighborhood. It is a simple neighborhood with simple ranches, but everyone is fussy about their houses and lawns. We are one of the last houses needing updating on our street (siding, new windows, real grass instead of mowed weeds, etc.) and I feel rude about that, lol.

 

 

[Rosie_0801]

Incidentally, flower theft (tulips, in our case - and they had to climb stairs to get to them!) is why I planted stinging nettle in my yard. It's medicinal! And if I choose to have my medicinal nettles next to my tulips, surely that's nobody's business but my own.

 

I really think nettle is a very nice looking plant too. :D

 

As for me, except for mulberries that hang over the sidewalk, I ask before doing so much as pulling up a bit of purslane in a flower bed. (Nobody wants the mulberries but me, and they're usually thrilled to see me taking them away.) I would never go into somebody's yard to get something, even if I was convinced it was a weed to the owner (mint, sorrel, dandelions, the aforementioned purslane).

 

How can people not want mulberries? My aunt and son used to have a sneaky rivalry about her mulberries.  :001_wub:

[frugalmamatx]

No issues IMO. I just ripped out a hedge in the front to hopefully plant blueberries in it's place :) And possibly asparagus. 

[trulycrabby]

I would plant vegetables in the front yard especially if it annoyed the neighbors. Sorry, grumpy today. :zombie:

[theelfqueen]

I want a big Irish hedge... which are mostly blackberry bushes growing on stone walls!

 

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[mamaraby]

We do. It's the only part of the yard that gets enough sun. I never gave a thought to the neighbors.

[KungFuPanda]

We have recently moved, and it seems that our front yard gets the best light. I mentioned this to my dh, and he was hesitant about planting vegetables in the front yard--he seems to think that it is rude? There is no HOA, so I won't have official busybodies critiquing my yard, but if I plant tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants in the front, will the neighbors be gossiping about me behind my back?  :lol: Would companion-planting with flowers be a more "polite" option? I guess I'm not really up to date on yard etiquette...

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Foodscaping is a thing!  Lots of books on beautiful and practical front yard gardens.  

 

 

https://www.amazon.com/Foodscaping-Practical-Innovative-Create-Landscape/dp/1591866278/ref=pd_sim_14_3?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=NXS599796VCX556CN7TM

[raptor_dad]

If I walk around our block; There are 3 front yard gardens, 1 garden in the curb strip, 3 front yard rain gardens/butteryfly gardens/ restored prairie, and one neighbor who grows 6 foot high sun flowers in the curb strip.

[Tanaqui]

I think they don't realize the mulberries are edible. Even when they see us eating them, they still seem half convinced that we're just one bite away from death. Year after year, munching our way to death.

[Rosie_0801]

I think they don't realize the mulberries are edible. Even when they see us eating them, they still seem half convinced that we're just one bite away from death. Year after year, munching our way to death.

 

That is the saddest food story I have heard all week.  :crying:

[Tanaqui]

Meanwhile, you can make a mint drying those things and selling them at whole foods, apparently. (Also, barberries. That's a thing now? Who knew!? And we just ripped out all ours a few years ago, too!)

[SamanthaCarter]

If I walk around our block; There are 3 front yard gardens, 1 garden in the curb strip, 3 front yard rain gardens/butteryfly gardens/ restored prairie, and one neighbor who grows 6 foot high sun flowers in the curb strip.

You live in a very forward thinking neighborhood!

 

 

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[Zinnia]

We live in a flood plain, and our back yard floods regularly. It makes the dirt iffy for growing. We have our garden in the front. It's not uncommon in our neighborhood. We are a 1950s inner ring suburb, no HOA, code enforcement with more pressing matters than us.

[BlsdMama]

We have recently moved, and it seems that our front yard gets the best light. I mentioned this to my dh, and he was hesitant about planting vegetables in the front yard--he seems to think that it is rude? There is no HOA, so I won't have official busybodies critiquing my yard, but if I plant tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants in the front, will the neighbors be gossiping about me behind my back?  :lol: Would companion-planting with flowers be a more "polite" option? I guess I'm not really up to date on yard etiquette...

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What the heck has society come to???  

 

Yes, its totally acceptable for you to grow food on your land.  More than that, I think its wonderful and encouraging and more people should in order to encourage still more people to do it!

 

When we lived in Oregon, we lived in a tiny cul de sac.  Our neighbors across had a beautiful home and yard - and nicely landscaped raised beds in their front yard.  I loved looking at them - inspiring! :)

[Desert Strawberry]

My friend did this and it looked great not to mention her tomatoes were fantastic. Don't think they had an issue with theft. She had her plot closer to the house and a would-be thief would have had to walk up the driveway to harvest.

This is what I did as well. I alternated tomatoes and flowers in my flower bed. No one bothered them but the bugs. 

[KarenC]

I don't have a problem with it, but dh thinks it's very rude.

[Reefgazer]

We're in the same situation - front yard is sunny and backyard is shady.  I don't think planting in the front yard is rude; it is just aesthetically unappealing to me, and so we just have flowers/shrubs in our front yard.  We instead built 2 raised beds that are in the driveway and grow whatever veggies we can in there instead (so in the side/front of the house, but not in the yard, exactly).  We grow tomatoes, peppers, lettuce, and onions in our raised beds.  Not as much as we would like, but that's what fits in the bed space we have.

Edited January 9, 2017 by reefgazer

[umsami]

We have an evil HOA, but honestly I'm for anything that helps people utilize their yards better.

 

Florida finally came out with a thing that prevents HOAs from requiring us to have a full lawn.  We can now use "Florida friendly" plants which are better with regards to water usage, thankfully.  

[shawthorne44]

If anyone says anything to you, call it a Victory Garden.  

 

I think a bonus would be weeding out the neighbors that you DON'T want to be friends with.  If there is anyone that looks down on a front veggie garden, they won't be friendly with you.  You don't want those people in your life.  Win-Win.  

 

In my neighborhood, this wouldn't even be noticed.   We have to drive slowly because one neighbor has very free-range chickens.  

 

We went to a outdoor museum/display farm, it had the house of one of the founders of the city.  They recreated the front yard as it had been in a certain year a long time ago.   It was filled with flowers.  They said that it was quite the status symbol at the time.   It meant that a) the wife had enough spare time to tend a garden and b) they were rich enough that it didn't have to be veggies.  

 

[lailasmum]

Front garden veggies is pretty common here but often houses don't have a front door that points toward the road so the visible garden may actually be on the side of the house.

 

There was a BBC gardening series several years ago about mixing more traditional garden plants and vegetables. Edible landscaping I think they called it. Maybe there's a similar resource around for your climate.

 

 

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[KarenNC]

We don't mind it a bit but my MIL is annoyed every time she sees it and has a mini rant when we dive by. But to h*** with her, I think you should do whatever you want. It wouldn't be worse than the former neighbors who had a real toilet with flowers planted in the bowl in their front yard.  :sad:

 

LOL, that reminds me of a flower bed I used to pass in a rural area around here, maybe 25 years ago. The edge was a tractor trailer truck tire painted white (which is not terribly uncommon in some areas around here). Inside was a ring of flowers (petunias, maybe begonias, I don't really remember). Inside the ring of flowers was the bottom part of a toilet (so no seat, no tank) painted red, with flowers planted in the bowl. Where the tank should be was instead a statue of a peeing cherub, painted metallic gold. It was quite a memorable sight!

[TammyS]

http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2014/08/the-beautyhappiness-connection/375678/

 

This article explains why I think the look of the thing matters.  I didn't use to think that looks mattered, until we moved 3 years ago, and our new surroundings are so much nicer than our old ones (where we had been for 15 years).  I am SO much happier in our newer, more attractive surroundings.  And if I hadn't experienced the difference it makes, I wouldn't have believed it, either.  It also helps explain why droopy clotheslines with laundry dragging the ground depress me.

[MEmama]

If I walk around our block; There are 3 front yard gardens, 1 garden in the curb strip, 3 front yard rain gardens/butteryfly gardens/ restored prairie, and one neighbor who grows 6 foot high sun flowers in the curb strip.

Yep. Nearly every house in our neighbourhood has a (food) garden somewhere on their plot--usually in the front or side yard since those areas are least likely to have big trees and shade. Many houses have fruit trees, lawns replaced by or improved with raised veggie beds, berry bushes, chicken houses...and we live in town, where the lots are tiny. Like line drying, it's just how it's always been done here. Certainly nothing progressive about it, just practical. I honestly don't understand why "the neighbors would care", or why that would matter.