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biradarcm

Grow Food not Lawns

biradarcm
11 years ago

I just saw this picture in FB, thought to share here. How nice it would be if my HOA allowed me to plant edibles in front yard!

{{gwi:1110613}}

Happy gardening and greening the planet -Chandra

Comments (12)

  • jessaka
    11 years ago

    i love it. but what is there for the rest of the year? noting.

    i grow a lot of herbs in my flower garden, well, mostly herbs, and while they are edible i never eat any of them. strange.

  • Lisa_H OK
    11 years ago

    ohh, that is pretty.

  • slowpoke_gardener
    11 years ago

    I have veggies in my front yard in the summer, grain rye and deer poop in the winter.

  • OklaMoni
    11 years ago

    I just put pansies in the areas that feel to nekkid. :)

    Moni

  • Adella Bedella
    11 years ago

    I live in an HOA neighborhood also. People complain about visible gardens so I plant edibles in my flower beds. Last night, I planted a couple more blueberry bushes. I have ferns (asparagus) near the street. I planted the required trees and then planted several fruit and nut trees. I have caged tomatoes in back and herbs and onions more visible. Last year, I grew cabbage and broccoli in the front flower bed. So far, no one has complained about me. They did complain about some other neighbors who grew rows of corn. IMO, those people need to get a life.

  • helenh
    11 years ago

    Powell Garden near Kansas City has an area called the Harvest Garden that uses edible plants as ornamentals.

  • okievegan
    11 years ago

    I have a couple of herbs in my front flower garden (I dug up the lawn) but I never eat from them. I also don't eat any of the edible flowers. Why not? Well, lots of dogs run loose in my neighborhood. I prefer to grow my food in the back where I can control what gets peed on.

  • biradarcm
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    one more nice front yard grocery from fafardetfreres
    {{gwi:1110615}}

  • mulberryknob
    11 years ago

    Beautiful. And I love the idea, but I know that in practice it doesn't always work so well. When my daugher lived in Denver she and I planted a small veggie plot in an open streetside yard. I think it was just pole beans and cucumbers on a trellis, but she picked very little of the harvest. She knew where it was going, but what do you say to little boys who love fresh cucumbers and beans. Those must have been hungry kiddies. We planted the tomatoes inside a fenced yard just for that reason, but thought cucs and beans would make it outside.

  • Okiedawn OK Zone 7
    11 years ago

    I love the front-yard gardens in the photos.

    I think people should be able to grow whatever they want (as long as it isn't something illegal that falls under the Controlled Substance Act) on their property. Unfortunately, with HOAs running amok (only some of them, others are more reasonable) and with some city codes legislating what can be grown where, I know that is not possible for everyone.

    My whole garden is in front of my house, although we do have a now-shaded lawn grass type area between us and that garden. I have fruit and nut trees in that lawn area. We put the garden there in front because it was the best soil available for a veggie garden. I've never regretted putting it there. It is well-fenced to keep out deer, but people certainly could help themselves to our veggies at night and likely I'd never know it. We're out in the country though, so no neighbors are going to complain about the vegetable garden being in the front instead of it being in the back yard.

    It makes more sense to me to raise fruits, veggies, herbs and flowers you can enjoy and use than to spend money on water and fertilizer growing lawn grass you have to mow regularly. What is the lawn grass for? To look nice? To walk on? I'd rather have veggies! Lawn grasses are essentially a monoculture that do not attract or support much wildlife either, but mixed plantings of flowers, veggies, fruits and herbs support a huge wildlife population, including butterflies, dragonflies, bees, other insects, birds, re reptiles and amphibians. Add a little water garden pond and you'll have fish too. With careful succession planting, you can have veggies in your beds almost year-round, and when the veggies aren't growing much, you can fill in the space with annual flowers or cover crops.

    I also mix in fruits, veggies and herbs amongst ornamental plantings. Like everyone else, I don't use herbs for eating if they're out in an unfenced area where the dogs or cats could spray them or urinate on them. In the garden proper, most of the edible herbs are in clay pots to elevate them higher than the cats can pee. Dogs are not allowed in or near the fenced garden for the same reason.

    I think everyone should grow what they like where they want to grow it. In this country, we have freedom of speech. What about the freedom to grow your own plants where you want them? It seems ridiculous to me this is even an issue.

    I read a story about an HOA in Texas a few years back that made someone take down their sunflowers because the flowers were taller than the 6' tall wooden stockade fence. How can anyone be opposed to something as lovely and as useful as sunflowers?

    Dawn

  • slowpoke_gardener
    11 years ago

    Would it be child abuse if you caught a child in a live trap and took it across town and set it free? I have been in neighborhoods where that would sound nice.

  • cowgirl_kitkatt
    11 years ago

    id never even think about having issues with wher/what got planted