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If the store is out of the question and even the farmer's market is getting to be too far away, there is a growing trend of "delawning" and replacing the "useless" grass front lawn with a garden of entirely edible plants. Edible estates is a throwback movement to times in the early 20th century when yards had to be used for gardening and not for recreation. It is also a mission for its founder, Los Angeles architect Fritz Haeg, who has made connections to start several Estates all across the country, in addition to the ones currently operating in Salina, KS and just south of LA in Lakewood, CA.
The conversion process involves ripping out everything in a flat, sunny front yard and replanting it with up to 195 varieties of fruits, vegetables and other edible plants. The yards must be tended by their owners 7 days a week, and since no pesticides are allowed, the maintenance can become a second job. And with that many plants in a limited space, the foliage can become rather aggressive, making it even more of a standout from neighboring homes. Incidentally, neighbors aren't too thrilled when one of these springs up on their block, saying "what happens in the backyard is their business, but this doesn't seem...to be a front yard kind of a deal."
Check out the edible estates website if you're interested in learning more. I think I'll stick to the various markets in my area. I like to garden, but the only point I'm trying to make with it is part of my dinner, not one about eco-polotics.
By the way, the family in LA has a blog about their gardening that is quite interesting.
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7-22-2006 @6:50PM WHK said... After reading all of the comments, it summs up as a very good idea in the right neighborhood. Any one would have to have the approval of the neighbors, zoning code of the area or development, etc. if you wanted to continue to live there.
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7-22-2006 @6:51PM Sheila Simmons said... I think this is a great idea. Don't see anything "eco-political" about it. Many, many families survived the Depression and WW2 by eating what they grew themselves. With the world the way it is, our reliable highway shipping system is very vulnerable to long-term interruption; no trucks rolling means no food at the grocery store. Besides, as my husband says every time he has to mow the lawn, or we see a house we'd like to buy that has a great big front yard..."You can't eat grass!" If there's not a city ordinance against it, who cares what the neighbors think. Go for it. It there's a national or natural disaster, those complaining neighbors may become your best friends!
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7-22-2006 @6:54PM Scott said... If you want to grow the best produce ever in your garden, check out a book called 'Sea Energy Agriculture' by Dr. Maynard Murray. Ocean water has all 92 minerals in a perfect balance. When you use diluted ocean water (10:1) on your produce, the vegetables take as many minerals as they can. You can grow tomatoes with 56 minerals, as opposed to maybe 5 minerals in commercial produce. Wheatgrass will take up all 92 minerals.
If you're going to grow your own food, why not grow mineralized food. Do yourself a favor, and check out ocean grown produce.
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7-22-2006 @6:58PM Brian Thompson said... We have Peppers, Tomatos , Egg Plant, and Sweet Basil planted all through the flower beds in front of our home.Our folage is somewhat dense and you would be hard pressed to pick the veggies out of the crowd. This is a great idea, plant only as much as you can tend to, if your a very busy household I wouldn't plant the whole front. just do what you can, it all makes a difference.
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7-22-2006 @7:00PM yuh said... Oh my! I am so glad to learn I am not the only "crazy" one out there. My husband litterally had a heartattack when I 3,5 years ago declared I wanted an all eatible garden. Now he off course loves it and we enjoy fruits and veggies from our garden all year round (we can or dehydrate what we can't eat during the Summer), in spite of our neighbours funny looks. But the birds and kids from the Block also prefer our garden, because they can indulge on berries.
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7-22-2006 @7:03PM yuh said... Oh, forgot to mention! Bullshit about it taking too much time! We safe so much time on not mowing the lawn (which our neighbours does twice a week and it takes them at least an hour each time). We safe time on not having to run to the grocery store too often - If I need a cucumber I just pick it in my front lawn. We probably don't spent more than 1-2 hours per week, and our garden does not look like a mess!
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7-22-2006 @7:04PM Ira said... It sounds great except for the "minor" problem of my neighbors that walk their dogs in front of other people's homes. Having a plastic bag is a 50-50 shot.
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7-22-2006 @7:05PM Kim Fonda said... I myself have used many edible plants in my gardens in front of various homes, especially apartments. Lettuces, Swiss Chard,Spinach,peppers, herbs, etc add a variety of colors,texures,and depth while serving as border plants and fillers. I have grown peas, cucmbers, squash and tomatoes in flower boxes when I lacked "real garden space". This was in Chicago and I rarely had trouble with grazers. Of course there was a fence and locked gate. There wasn't much space to begin with but I easily made room for gardens and a wonderful place to sit and read. Most people thought it was really cool and walked away thinking about doing it themselves. It also gave cause for conversation with neighbors you might otherwise never get to know.
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7-22-2006 @7:10PM James Platter said... It makes sence to me. However, with so many neighbors hoods that have started these mini-Dictatorships, called CCR's where a few power hungry Bozarka's arn't happy unless their snopping into everyone's life telling them YOU CAN'T do this or that. You have to get permission first before you paint your house, AND, you can only paint your house a color that WE--THE CC&R approve of. I for one, If I want to paint my house Blue with PINK poca dots, I shouldn't have to worry about what other's think. After all, this is suposed to be a free country!!!!! But it far from that today. Put in a mow strip, You can't park your car for more than two hours in front of your house, ON 'And ON and ON and ON And most people are so sheepish, that they agree to sign the contract before they buy the house.
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7-22-2006 @7:22PM ROBERT said... BRILLIANT ! I LOVE IT .HOWEVER ,MY HOMEOWNERS ASSOCIATION WILL NOT ALLOW IT !
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7-22-2006 @7:24PM lena hall said... Cucumbers make a great privacy wall when you have a pool.I planted alot of veggies this year,I share with friends. I will be doing it again next year
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7-22-2006 @7:35PM Evelyn said... Grass makes me sneeze and itch.....tomatoes don't cause sneezing, carrots don't make me itch.
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7-22-2006 @7:35PM Richard Pawley said... Since we are on the verse of a terrible inflationary crisis in this nation and indeed the world, being able to grow some of one's food supply is going to be a blessing. We may have a few years but that's time enough to learn how to do this. Do this and you won't regret it.
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7-22-2006 @7:48PM CHARLIE said... Let's first try planting some pricy asparagus and brussel sprouts in the front yard by the sidewalk. Then we can plant some corn on the side by the bus stop, near the tomatoes and peppers. We can then plant some pumpkins, a few anyway, near the center of our little fron yard, with radishes, beans, brocholi, califlower, and a few varieties of squash.
I work nights so I get up late. I sure hope the bus stop crowd respects my little fron yard garden. Hell, there is the neighbor's dog again in the front yard vegetable garden. OH NO! He pooped right on the radishes! I could have sworn there were more ears of corn there yesterday too. Sure did not get many tomatoes or peppers this year, I wonder why. Hope the brocholi and califlower grow plentiful this year. I think they got picked last year by a squirrel or something. Aw well, think I'll go back to reading my book while the veggies grow. (hehehehe)
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7-22-2006 @8:06PM SJ Bardell said... The person who posted on organics was mistaken and stated many misapprehensions, for instance: Most organic gardeners depend solely on home compost to fertilize, feeding the soil, not the plant, with occasional judicious additions of fish emulsion or kelp. Rather than use pesticides of any kind, many of us instead count on good gardening practices, beneficial insects, and water sprays, and are willing to sacrifice a little good looks or even produce to avoid polluting the air, water table, or food we harvest.
Lawns are ecologically disastrous, using far more water than is wise or fair in a world of shrinking resources.
I have come to see lawns as a banner ad for selfishness and lack of concern for future generations.
Once vegetable gardens are established, they don't require all that much time or effort, except to harvest delicious fresh produce.
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7-22-2006 @8:12PM Becky Dean said... I started out by covering the front lawn with horse manure, compost and landscaping cloth in the late summer. Next spring the grass was dead and I was left with the softest, most fertile garden soil you can find anywhere. All weed seeds were also dead, but the soil was teeming with worms and other helpful bug and microbial life. I put up a rail fence for roses, rotated the vegetable crops, and have enjoyed many yeats of bountiful harvests. My neighbors have supported me all the way.
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7-22-2006 @8:19PM Cthulhu said... Nobody (except perhaps children and retirees) has the time or energy to manage an edible front yard. And they're too likely to be destroyed by neighborhood kids in a variety of ways.
As useless as the front yard is (zoning wont allow you to add on to you house in that direction, and the only real privacy you get is in the back yard, unless of course you have a fence, hedge or screen around your front yard, and most people dont) americans have been puting huge useless front yards on the front of the vast majority of houses built over the last six plus decades. We should be more like we were before, with postage stamp front yards elevated above the curb and sidewalk. The Europeans have enough sense to still build houses with small front yards because they know how useless they are. The only thing that matters is the back yard.
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7-22-2006 @8:20PM Bill Hart said... I have been "delawning" this summer. Let me share with you my latest invention. I call it a "stump garden". Basically it was an area of lawn that gets a lot of sun in front of the house. I cut down those 50 year old evergreen shrubs(you know the ones), turned over the soil, added wood chips - free from the city, thew in a log pile with piececs of a large willow tree stumps, then strategically planted flowers, fruit(strawberry's) and vegetables between them. I had a great time creating it and the neighbors think it looks pretty good. Good luck to all!
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7-22-2006 @11:13PM SJ Bardell said... The person (#18) who posted on organics was mistaken and stated many
misapprehensions, some of which I will try to correct: Most organic gardeners depend solely on home compost to fertilize, feeding the soil, not the plant, with only
occasional judicious additions of fish emulsion or kelp. Rather than
use pesticides of any kind, many of us instead count on good
gardening practices, beneficial insects, and water sprays, and are
willing to sacrifice a little good looks or even some produce to avoid
polluting the air, water table, or food we harvest.
Lawns are ecologically disastrous, using far more water than is wise or fair in
a world of shrinking resources. I have come to see them as a
banner ad for selfishness and lack of concern for future generations.
Once vegetable gardens are established, they don't require all that much time or effort, except to harvest delicious fresh produce. The "value added," in business-speak, to one's daily life is immeasurable. How many activities feed the soul and the body while helping the environment and providing beauty at the same time?
We have gardened organically for 21 years in our tiny urban backyard. We have no soil in front, but even there we grow runner beans in a large container, which return every year and twine up the bannister.
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