growing veg in a front garden

[barefootlinzi]

We are in the middle of reamping our garden (huge pond that filled the smallish garden is filled in and replaced by grass for ollie to play on, big shed going to go on ebay and veg plot instead) and i want some space for veg and space for ollie to play. i was wondering about growing veg on our front garden so i can keep some grass in the back. our front garden is open (no fence or hedge) and an alleyway goes down one side. has anyone had any experience of growing veg in a front garden? i am worried about it becoming a target for vandals. and how to convince my mum (we live with her) to let me do this, as she is very fond of her front lawn.

[red]

I imagine you might have some theft or hassle if you are unlucky - dpends on your area I guess..

the key might be to grow stuff that is not obviously veg - so they look pretty to keep mum happy and not obvious veg for nicking.
think about herbs.. oregano, bay, thyme sage rosemary all look nice and perenial. Then there are veg like ruby chard that are pretty. i think courgettes are nice looking plants with nice flowers, J.artichokes have tall sun flower tops.. the bit you eat hidden in the ground (although they can take over a bit) if you mix in with flowers (even edible ones like nasturtiams!) it is less obvious there is veg and herbs there, and more pleasing to the eye

[Amaranth]

You can make the front garden look mostly like a regular front garden by putting the vegetables and fruit in a flower bed type design. For example, you can edge a bed with strawberries. it's possible some of it may get taken, but it helps to have the more difficult to harvest items nearer where people walk.

Here's an example of a very pretty front garden where the family grows 6000+ pounds/2700+ kg of food a year on 1/10 acre/.04 hectare of growing space. This is the equivalent space of a little over 1 and a half standard 10 pole allotments.
http://urbanhomestead.org/journal/

One thing that helps is to look for prettier vegetables. For example instead of growing sweet pea flowers grow the edible peas that have the pretty purple blossoms.

Elderberries, black currants, and blueberries are very attractive.

[Jobi1canobi]

Here's an example of a very pretty front garden where the family grows 6000+ pounds/2700+ kg of food a year on 1/10 acre/.04 hectare of growing space. This is the equivalent space of a little over 1 and a half standard 10 pole allotments.
http://urbanhomestead.org/journal/

That website looks good - thanks Amaranth.

[hamster]

Avoid pumpkins, according to a friend of mine! They had trouble on their allotments with people vandalising pumpkins in particular - they basically sit on the plant brimming with comic potential, ripening for ages before you can harvest them and as such are quite tempting to unscrupulous passers-by... I wouldn't have thought things like potatoes, lettuces etc would present quite the same temptation, unless people generally vandalise gardens in your area regardless of whether there's veg in there or not. Could you have some space round the back for some of the veg and have the boring-looking ones out front?

Agree with all the suggestions about making it attractive and 'front garden-like'. Could you maybe also put some bushes or something along the front edge of the garden to make it more enclosed and private?

[Mullein]

I don't have a garden anymore so grow what I can in pots on the pavement. Its a busyish street where all the kids walk past to go to school and we've never had a problem with anyone nicking veg. There's even been a nice juicy red strawberry in one pot since last week and no-one took it - same with tomatoes in previous years. They might've taken broad beans or peas and I havn't noticed but i doubt it. I'd imagine if someone was into trashing other peoples gardens they probably wouldn't be searching for healthy snacks...

No possibility of putting up a wee fence?

[moogie]

As suggested up there I am personally going for artichokes and Swiss chard. I have a few pepper plants that I had no space for in the real nice backyard and put them there as well, more surrounded by other plants. Although I don't think people picked them when I did that last year too as it was in the "middle" of the space. I guess they did not want to get their shoes dirty or really look like they were taking something.

[barefootlinzi]

http://urbanhomestead.org/journal/

Thanks for that, what an inspirational website! I love the way that the front garden is productive and beautiful.

[Tigerhair]

There's a great front garden near us that is used for this - there are 4 raised beds (using bricks that match the house) and they are in full sun and look very productive. I think they are great!

[Batty in Battersea]

There is a big group of us in South London who belong to 'Food Up Front' a charity/helpgroup thingy set up to encourage people to grow veggies in their front gardens, courtyards, balconies etc.. Very few people have mentioned having things stolen or vandalised (except by the wind!) and hey, if you can do it in Brixton and Tooting estates, then anything is possible! One neighbour of mine has grown spiky plants around the edge to form a bit of a fence for the rest of the veggies.
A great positive we have found is that when you go away it is much easier for neighbours to water your plants for you.
As for looking good, if you follow the permaculture idea and mix everything up rather than just grow straight lines of the same thing then you can have a beautiful front gardent of flowers (to attract polinating insects), pretty veggies like courgettes, chard and aubergines, a couple of fruiting trees or bushes and maybe even a lawn of chamomile? How can mum argue with that!

Good luck

[Merry]

I`ve grown strawberries in our front garden this year with no problems. Suspect that the local yobboes don`t realise what they are.
We did have a neighbour ask,"What`s that foliage plant in the corner of your front garden - the ones with lovely big cabbagey leaves?"
"Erm - - - cabbages -"

[DominicJ]

Put spikey things at the front.
I have a wall and gate at the front, but if some miscreant were to open the gate and try and pull out the first bush, he would find it was a logan berry, completley covered in tiny sharp spikes.

[Rosendula]

I've been growing fruit bushes and herbs in my front garden for the last 5 years. I've had no problems with vandalism, despite being on a main road and having a bus stop right outside. We also have two secondary schools and two primary schools within walking distance of our house, so there are hundreds of kids passing every day during term time.

I currently have a rosemary hedge, which many people stop to sniff (if they know what it is). Occasionally, someone will pinch a few sprigs out for whatever it is they are cooking, but a few sprigs from a whole hedge is no loss, and I quite like to see other people appreciating it. I personally don't use the rosemary from the hedge, as I see too many dogs peeing up it and people spitting or blowing their noses into it . Yuk! But the hedge protects everything else I am growing behind it.

I would say my main problem is the snide remarks of neighbours. They just don't understand and I get constant remarks such as, 'get your bushes cut back', 'you found any bodies in there', and the really annoying sympathetic remark: 'you've got your work cut out there'. I do feel quite awkward going out there to do my stuff.

That said, we're planning to completely overhaul the front garden this winter and turn it into a vegetable garden. To avoid the critical, misunderstanding morons that think all gardens should be flat with a few busy lizzies and petunias with perfectly hoed soil around each plant, we have succumbed to the idea of replacing my beautiful, if somewhat straggly rosemary hedge with privet, just because it grows higher and will give us some privacy.

[Rod in Japan]

Put spikey things at the front.

Other candidates, assuming you have good sunlight, are wolfberries (goji), and sea buckthorn.
I'm growing both of these for their hedging properties and their berries.

[DominicJ]

I'm going to move my Tayberry and Loganberry over winter so both sides of the front fence have something spikey, and they look like they'll grow very well on it, saves me trying to paint the thing again too.
I'm going to move some of my front stuff into the back, but just because I dont get any light on one side, so not much will grow.
I much prefer growing in the front, Its not like I could have a BBQ there.