What would you plant in your front garden?

[sez]

We're on a main road, with a small front garden. It has flower borders which are currently completely empty bar a few small lavender plants (which i might move). Its pretty shady,... north facing.. but is there anything i can grow there to utilise the space? (thank god the back garden faces south )

[Elijay]

I'm in a similar position as you, except I live in a side road. I had been considering planting things like Ferns, just for texture and foliage rather than flowers. Variegated Holly seems to grow anywhere and I was going to look into Euphorbias but haven't got round to it.

[peanut]

I'd go for evergreens as the basic structure including ferns, then add in the odd splatter of colour with bulbs and annuals....guess it depends on the style of flowers you like, Hellebores & Snowdrops then Foxgloves, Clematis, Begonias, Impatiens and Mimulus. That's a brief list of things I had in mine.

[sez]

sorry, my bad, i neglected to add in the word 'veg'. i'm actually looking for something useful/edible i can plant there thanks for the comments so far though

[MrsC]

hi, i've got lavatera, forsythia, ornamental grasses, lavender, box, alpine plants (quite a few), agapanthus, hellebores, golden feverfew, salvia, periwinkle, ornamental bay, heathers, fuschia, ferns and lots whose names have escaped me for the moment, probably missed a few out as well, have puts lots of summer bulbs in too. it's a bit of a mixture, I always put a few bedding plants in, geraniums etc if I find a space

[MrsC]

just read your last post, we must have been typing at the same time. a bloke up the road regularly grows spuds, toms and carrots in his front garden

[Rocketron]

VEGETABLES FOR THE SHADY GARDEN
Try this, sez.

[Madasafish]

I find hhas like begonia, busy lizzies survive well in shade (we have an oak in front). Nemesia are good as well.

[Seahorse]

I've grown rhubarb very successfully in a shady spot.

[zazen999]

Our front garden was straight onto the A52 in our last house in Nottingham, and I put leeks, carrots and onions in there. Not very pretty but lovely to me. In the slightly sunnier bit we also grew calabrese. We had to take up the 'crazy' paving to do so but the soil under was quite sandy, so we just added some compost to the bed that the calabrese were in and away we went. Needs must and all that.

[Maf]

How close to the road is it ?

Beware nasty chemical compounds from car exhausts!
I was always told not to pick wild foods from the roadside.

Sorry if I have put a downer on your plans

[Herbie]

Why not try a mixture of edibles. Calendula and nasturtiums are edible and would give some colour. They do well in my front garden which is north facing.

[deezyb]

How close to the road is it ?

Beware nasty chemical compounds from car exhausts!
I was always told not to pick wild foods from the roadside.

Sorry if I have put a downer on your plans

I also have a very small front garden, prob about 2m x 1.5m (one of these at each side of the path) so collectively not a bad size. Was just saying to my mum today, that as they are gravelled currently, I'm going to remove the gravel, dig them over and leave the for the courgettes/squash I plan to grow...luckily it's south facing so hopefullY i'll get a better result than last year! The garden faces onto a busy road, I'd also thought about exhaust fumes etc etc.....with this in mind is it worth planting any food stuffs?

[Madasafish]

Car exhausts produce very fine particles of soot despite catalysts. And a small amount of hydrocarbons including benzene (which is poisonous).
The quantities involved are small unless you are on a bus route with elderly buses or lots of old lorries without catalysts or badly maintained ones.

Let me put my thoghts like this: I would NOT plant and eat any vegetables within 10 metres of such a road. Ever. There are also issues with car rubber, brake dust (no longer asbestos but..) and assorted heavy metals...not to mention spilled fuel and car oil.
Car oil IS contaminated with heavy metals proven to be dangerous to health.

[sez]

thanks everyone for the 'food for thought'. i had considered the pollution thing, but haven't yet come to any firm decision... between road and garden is an average size pavement, grass verge (about the width of a car, nose to tail), and then another pavement.. so maybe about 10-15ft? while a 'main' road it is a main road in a less busy town, so nowhere near as congested as most. it only has about 6-8 buses a day (night time ones), which are generally new, less-polluting ones, and while we get our fair share of boy racers/motorbikes etc we don't get many heavy goods vehicles.