Front Yard Vegetable Gardens

[Sherri, Sophie, Winston, & Kitty]

woo hoo! tulips are finally coming along and I can't wait to get back into gardening. I'm not going to let last year's container gardening disaster hold me down.

Vegetables are the new grass.

I've decided to build a planter in my front yard where the vegetables will get more sun. Maybe the squirrels and rabbits will eat it all but a girl's gotta try. If it works, I'll expand next year, if not, well, I will just plant some flowers in it instead.

here's some inspirtion:

http://www.pinterest.com/alisakterry/edible-front-yard-garden/

http://www.houzz.com/front-yard-vegetable-garden

Say it with me: Sow it! Don't Mow it!

[F, Calla & Luca]

Well, the only cure that worked for my NJ garden was deer fencing. In front of the house I mainly have plants like Hellebores, Achilllea and other plants the deer won't eat. They do eat my Euonymus but it comes back in spring. Some things deer will eat no matter what, like tulips and daylilies. They don't eat my rhododendrons but they eat my neighbor's. Spraying is too much work and doesn't always work. Barriers are the only sure thing.

[Gail and Bailey]

Funny...the deer in my neck of the woods eat my daylilies if I do not spray them!

[Gail and Bailey]

I use a spray called Deer Stopper and have great success with it.  We live in the woods and have tons of hostas and other goodies that the deer eat like candy and the Deer Stopper really works!!  I used to use Liquid Fence but the smell is awful so I switched to Deer Stopper which has a fairly pleasant odor ....sort of "minty" (at least to my nose).  I am in Indiana so I don't know how different our deer are to yours in California.....but it is worth a try.  Good luck!

[Sherri, Sophie, Winston, & Kitty]

I doubt deer will be an issue. But I don't think I would mind to see some deer hanging around. :)

[Gail and Bailey]

Yes, deer are fun to watch until their heads lower and they start eating your plants!  If only they would just eat the abundance of green stuff in the woods!!

[F, Calla & Luca]

Right, I hate to see them in the neighborhood.

[F, Calla & Luca]

What an inspiration. I have lots of grass and weeds mixed together. I do mow but I really don't do any of the rest : ) The front yard garden sounds great. Some, well maybe all, vegetables are beautiful. Some in your links were wow. What happened with the garden last year? Good luck with this one.

[Sherri, Sophie, Winston, & Kitty]

Last year's container garden was a flop. Not much grew, the tomato plants all got some sort of disease and died, the zucchini was useless, peppers and eggplant died as soon as they started.  I spent well over $100 on organic seedlings and soil and put in countless ours of work and got one teensy weensy little eggplant, one bean, and 4 cherry tomatos. The only thing that did well was the romaine lettuce.

 

I hate maintaining my lawn. I don't bother watering, weeding, or anything. It's lucky if it gets mowed once every few weeks.

[F, Calla & Luca]

h, so sorry to hear this. I confess this is part of the reason I limit myself to a few tomato plants, parsley and loads of flowers : )

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I think this is a great idea, Sherri, and can't wait to hear how your garden grows and see pictures! 

[Sherri, Sophie, Winston, & Kitty]

Thanks Karen. There will definitely be pictures!

[Rose Coward]

I love the idea, front yards are pretty much wasted space, who's only use is to showcase the home.  Well, I guess they help keep your house off the street too but...    :)
A house down the road from us did a really nice job of turning their front yard into raised bed boxes.  But I noticed last time I passed by that they had disassembled all the boxes.  Perhaps they found it more work to maintain than they had anticipated.  I hope it wasn't because they had contravened some city property ordinances.  It is a good idea to check with your city to be sure that they allow front yard gardens  I recall reading a series of articles about some people who were fighting their city to maintain their front yard gardens. 
I would do it in a minute if I could come up with a creative looking garden that would double as a showcase for our house at all of a garden's stages, (IE. Winter resting, Spring start and Autumn die back).