My little Urban Front Yard Garden

I began this year thinking i was going to replace my entire lawn with a vegetable garden. Then common sense got the better of me, and I realized i should probably "ease" into it with a little at a time, with the hopes of one day not having a lawn. After all, some days i forget to water ONE plant, so the idea of perhaps wasting a TON of money on something i was going to have to care for, but not have time for was pretty intimidating. So, I started small. 

 I started with my existing gardens. i waited till all the spring bulbs were gone, and i dug everything up. All my shrubs, perennials, grasses...everyting. My existing beds became my garden for my corn and my sunflowers. I also planted sunflowers all down the left side of my house. All of which are doing fantastic, and covering up the ugly, in-need-of-a-paint-job stone bottom of my home nicely. There are quite a few weeds that i literally have just given up on, but for the most part, everyone is enjoying their time in these gardens. corn is growing, sunflowers are blooming, and everything is green and happy!!

The next item on my agenda was adding a small raised bed to the front. My husband found a Pallet Box on the side of the road one day and lovingly picked it up for me. It is about 4'x4', and about 3'deep. we dug a hole, buried it, and planted my tomatoes and  peppers in it. the peppers have all but been taken over by the tomatoes, but it's ok...they are still producing. The flowers are nasturshums. the leaves are edible as a salad green! and the flowers make a lovely plate garnish...ya...for all those fancy dinner parties i throw for my 8, 5, and 1 year old...ha.

 

One of my favourite gardens is my herb garden. This was an existing garden that i uprooted everything in, but the cedar, and planted parsley, 2 kinds of basil, chives, oregano, lemon grass, rosemary, and lavender...in addition to 3 cabbages and another few sunflowers. again...everyone is loving it, and my food has never tasted better! i plan on preserving the herbs fresh in ice cubes, and frozen oil cubes, perhaps even making some herbed EVOO. mmmmmm.....

I think my favourite surprise is my corn. We grow corn here everywhere. there are fields and fields of it, but i have never known someone to grow it in their yard...it is so neat, and the kids love seeing the progression of the cobs as they get bigger and bigger. I think the anticipation of the upcoming meals is the best part. 

I also have some things in my back yard, such as zucchini, brussel sprouts, blackberries, raspberries, pumpkin, rhubarb, fennel, parsley, carrots, collard greens, strawberries, more tomatoes and kale...but who's counting? My back garden is separated in containers because we have a huge black walnut tree that plays havoc with our soil, and some of the plants can't grow in it's acidity. it's always a game of garden roulette in the back, so i figured, why not just do it in the front? and guess what? SUCCESS!!!

Do you have an Urban garden? What are your thoughts on front yard gardening?