Yes, I grow vegetables in my front yard.

Who says your vegetable garden HAS to be in the back yard?  I grow mine in the front!  Not because I thought my neighbors and HOA would appreciate that, but because my front yard is the only place I get full sun (except for a bit on my back deck).  So I decided to bite the bullet and go with it.  In previous years I’ve grown my veggies in the front of my house in containers – just in case any neighbors got up in arms about my seemingly unconventional growing practices, I could easily move them to…well, I don’t know where, but somewhere.

No one ever complained, so this year I took it a step further and planted them all in the ground.  We went crazy with tomatoes.  My boyfriend/labor force had the bright idea to line them in front of the Boxwoods that run across the front of the house (by the way, I live in a severely suburban neighborhood, it reminds us of that movie The Burbs at times which is a little strange).  I wasn’t crazy about this idea at first but I gave in and we did it.  I thought for sure that this time we would hear some neighborly complaints.  Not only did we not get any complaints, but we actually got complements!  I couldn’t believe it.  The couple across the cul-de-sac even came by one afternoon while we were playing in the dirt and took a brief tour of our front yard…I promised her some heirloom tomatoes as soon as they’re ready.  Lord knows we’ll have enough to share!  We also have a selection of peppers (some are heirloom as well), along with tomatillos, squash, cucumber and eggplant…all of which are also growing in the front yard but in a slightly less conspicuous spot.  I won’t go into too much detail about those at this time, they’re looking a little ratty at the moment (except for the peppers) due to some crazy spring weather.

Check out these photos of what the garden is doing right now.  Hopefully in the next couple days I’ll have some actual tomato cages (I know a really cool guy who said he’d make me some) for these puppies instead of using these flimsy bamboo stakes.  The tomatoes really took off while we were on vacation with all this rain we’ve been getting so some have taken over the stakes already.  I’ll post more later in the season when other varieties are producing.  Looking forward to some funky fruits with all these heirlooms!

Veggie Row

Tomato Corner

Old German, Black Cherry, Mr. Stripey, Cherokee Purple

More on Veggie Row

Sungold Heirloom Tomato

More beautiful Sun Gold’s

Green Tomatillo

Jimmy Nardello Heirloom Pepper

Banana Pepper – Yes I had to resort to planting in the bottom of my Hydrangea pot!