Front Garden Veggies

[Mr Bones]

We're quite open on the front and most of it's paved to park the car. Along the fence I've often had tomatoes and fingers crossed, never suffered with theft.

[noviceveggrower]

There is a family about 6 doors up from up from us and they grow loads of stuff in their front garden. Last year they grew runner beans, onions, swedes and a load of herbs in 4 small raised beds.
We are nearly true north south facing so get plenty of sun.

[Alison]

I'd have several issues with growing in the front garden:
Being regularly interrupted by people walking past. An end of season plot / raised bed scenario would look messy, more so than a border with a few weeds in it. Road noise. Threat of theft.
A few, brightly coloured additions to pots or displays could work e.g. herbs, rainbow chard.

Depends on how you look at it, when I'm in the front garden I quite enjoy the neighbours saying hello as they go past. If you think borders look nicer then why not grow veg in the borders? Personally I don't think raised beds have to be messy, especially if you grow a mix of heights / crops, replacing one with another as the first finishes therefore no end to the season. Suppose road noise and theft depends on where you live, road noise not really a problem for me and thefts are more likely to be vehicles.

[Jungle Jane]

I'd use the front if I had no space out the back,mixed with flowers for colour. I don't because of theft/vandalism/neighbours playing ball,my gardens quite open. I remember in Devon there was a garden with runner beans growing within reaching distance from the path,it looked great,respect for people who grow their own,making a better life for themselves with chemical free dinner,be proud & show it off

[Philthy]

Suppose road noise and theft depends on where you live, road noise not really a problem for me and thefts are more likely to be vehicles

Road noise wouldn't be too much of an issue for me either. But the theft thing unfortunately would be an ongoing concern. We've had lots of issues in recent years with things going missing, suspicious vehicles seen cruising the roads, vehicles and property being damaged / broken into.
These occurrences seem to coincide with the travelling community passing through on a fairly regular basis . How odd?
Anyway, having an open fronted property also, I think having obvious crops on show would be an issue. Mixing a few things into the borders could work though.
Round the back is a lot more secure, and as a result I have the peace of mind too.

[Valleyman]

I am always a bit concerned about the mess associated with veg in the front garden. Or should I say the wife is.

My solution is a nice big herb garden in a raised bed. And then I disperse small shrub like veg amongst the rest of the plants. Dwarf French beans blend in particularly well. I also always grow my edibles like nasturtiums etc in the front.

[Martin H]

If you're mixing flowers and veg, it's definitely worth growing a lot of easy, decorative, summer-flowering things in pots, so that when you cut a cabbage, say, you can slip in some marigolds or cornflowers or something to fill the gap. If you time it right, the pots needn't take up too much room, you can keep them crammed pretty close together until needed.

[Scarlet]

A pub in melksham town (small town - one street) always had flowers or little trees out on the main road where there are some benches and tables. One year the landlord planted a long trough and a trellis up and planted a load of runner beans. Loads of people laughed when he put it up but I thought it looked lovely, the flowers are plentiful and then he had the pickings.

[ancee]

A lot of houses near us, have large front gardens, the house set back and a small back garden. Ive often thought if I lived in one I'd plant veg in the front. A lot have Fruit trees and I don't think people nip in and nick fruit! You could make it cottage garden style and intersperse flowers with veg rather than regimented rows. Our front garden is way sunnier than the back, and if I'd have thought about it, I would have put veg out there, but we put stone chippings down doh!

[Penellype]

You can always stand containers on stone chippings