The folks making a point of "neat and tidy" have me on their side. I live out in the boonies. We have a chicken coop and a pig pen, but take the time to keep it neat.

We bought a house in a neat little neighborhood, even if the homes are on 10 acres or more. We have a responsibility to keep it neat....for our neighbors and us.

Having said that, my veggies are all mixed in with flowers and herbs and are, I think, very attractive. Enjoy your garden!

Toot your own horn: Keep it neat & attractive, sing the praises of homegrown produce, make a peace (produce) offering to the neighbors, find like minded people in your community for support, get the TV station to do a segment on the rise in home vegetable gardening (TAGS: current economy, going green, etc...) I am sure you will gain support if the word gets out. If all else fails, move to Vermont, we like veggie gardens up here!

My neighbors definitely look down on me.....to see if I have any ripe tomatoes yet. I have the best neighbors. We look after each other's house during vacations. We talk over the fence. When I xeriscaped the front, they all looked at me strange....but now a neighbor 2 doors down did their yard. They didn't object to my clean chicken coop and 4 chickens. And we live in a typical (well, obviously not) neighborhood. But no HOA thank god.

My neighbors put up a fence--the only one in town. Then I bought 23 acres in the country where the edge of the world drops off and I can pee on the compost pile at will. No, I didn't do that before--unless it was dark!!

Brook

We're surrounded by elderly Italian immigrants on 3 sides, and they nod approvingly at every garden expansion. Their only negative comment is, "It's not big enough!" Their yards, with the exception of a small paved area under a grape arbor, are 100% garden.

My hubby gave in and let me take over the rest of the backyard for my kitchen garden last fall... we left grass in the side yard, where there is a nicer breeze... the blazing-hot-and-sunny backyard was more appropriate for vegetables anyway.

The house to the right of ours is empty, so anything we do looks better than unmowed lawn and garbage.

The house on the left, well, I think they think I'm a little crazy ("industrious" is the word I've heard floating around)! But they always comment about how nice it's coming along, and they enjoy the free veggies! I figure that helps to smooth over any potential irritation at my flats of hardening-off seedlings all over the patio in spring, compost heap baking in the summer, and "interesting" coldframes (recycled materials) in fall and winter. I try to mix in flowers and ornamental vegetables, too, as well as river stone paths and stepping stones... it's actually very pretty, I think!(?) (Off-topic, raised beds are PERFECT for kids because it's easy for them to tell where they should and shouldn't walk.)

The neighbors across the street make tentative polite comments whenever I drag them back to see how it's coming along (proud mama I guess! lol!) I think they just tolerate it. They probably would just tolerate us, too, only they like our little kids!

We only have a 1/10th of an acre... the houses are really packed together in our neighborhood... so it's a good thing my neighbors don't hate it!

Lori

Leira,

I grew up in the mill towns just north of Pittsburgh, PA and I remember those Italian yards very well. Tiny, postage stamp, in-town yards solid with veggies and grapes trellised over the driveway so as not to waste any space.

My dad often commented positively about the Italian method of gardening -- planting the plants so close together that there wasn't room for any weeds -- but never got up the courage to try it and stuck with his black plastic.

I remember those tiny gardens as much more attractive than the usual urban patch of suffering grass that might or might not get mowed at reasonable intervals.

In the spirit of gardening up-front and visible, maybe someone has already solved my current problem.

I need a birdbath (caught one bathing in the just-hosed-off trashcan lid I'd laid in the sun to dry off).

I can't afford to buy anything (maybe a dollar at a thrift store).

Its going to be visible from the street and from the neighbor's deck so all hanging of foil pans, empty plastic food containers, etc. are automatically out.

Any ideas of how to make a minimal cost birdbath to hang from a plant hook that's presentable enough for public viewing?

When the wife and I lived in Louisiana, it was often necessary for me to make business trips to upstate New York. My garden back in Louisiana would already be dead from the heat. One of my greatest pleasures on the trips was to get a glimpse of peoples front and side yard gardens as I left or returned to the airport in Elmira. My garden was dead and theirs were only half grown and looking good. I was envious.

Ted

I enjoyed this thread, and thought I might make a book recommendation that some of you mind find interesting/helpful/inspiring. The book tells you exactly how much space you need to grow a variety of crops, and how much room you need for livestock. It's also jam-packed with information on preserving your own food, and has a variety of other useful tips!

Here is a link that might be useful: The Backyard Homestead

Nope not that I'm aware of. But I wouldn't really care, there is another neighbor near me growing a big garden too. It gives a good excuse while your out to spark up conversations with your neighbor. I think more people should do gardening, the social impact is positive, i.e gives neighbours reason to socialize with eachother. Your being productive and producing something of real value. That makes for a stronger nation and less hungry people.

I agree with lazyhat. Our neighbors on one side are very good friends of ours. Their addiction is flowers, mainly tulips. They have like 50 different varieties. So we trade. They give us flowers and we give them veggies. They come to our house for bar-b-que and we go to theirs for their annual tulip party. I even go hiking and snowshoeing with them. We became friends over the back fence.

We live on 10 acres in an area where that's about the minimum lot size. Our house was once owned by the fella who owned most of the surrounding property, so it is about the oldest house in the area. Most of the other houses look like they were dropped from space into the middle of a big green field, and then a few trees were planted. I don't think any of the neighbors surrounding me have gardens. There are a couple of larger places which run cattle, but I don't see any vegetable gardens around. I had one of the neighbors who lives on a huge patch of grass ask me once, with what I thought was irritation, what I was building in my side yard. He was seeing my deer fence, which consists of cattle panels held up by t-posts, with pvc extensions on every other t-post on which I string yellow marker tape high enough to discourage the deer from jumping in. I agree that it isn't very pretty, but I don't want to put up a permanent fence until I finish converting to all raised beds, because I use my tractor and tiller to work the present garden. My garden is for raising vegetables. When I'm finished creating all my raised beds, there will be ten or twelve 4x25 foot beds, and I will then put up a decent looking permanent fence to keep Bambi and Thumper at bay. Even then, since I use plain old concrete blocks for my raised beds, the garden will not be beautiful. However, you'd have to be on my property to see it, since it is about 400 feet from the road. My neighbors should just be happy I haven't reverted to my Appalachian upbringing....these days I haul broken appliances to the recycling center rather than leave them in the yard for the grandkids to play on!

I am doing my best to eliminate the view of the garden fence from the road. I planted native hazelnuts along 300 feet of the road. They will eventually get at least ten feet tall, and they'll produce edible nuts, too.

Chuck

As soon as we moved into our house we started the garden - a huge one, right in the front yard!

I'm in a very rural community, and I don't think anyone looks down on it - except my mother. She never, ever has come to my house in the summer without remarking at least once, "but I just don't understand why you put your garden in the front yard!?"

I've explained a million times - 'because I think it's beautiful, I want to be able to see it from my front window and I want to show people how beautiful vegetable plants can be' I also have flower beds everywhere amongst my vegetable beds.

It doesn't make any difference - the poor women is continually trying to figure out how on Earth she got all these hippy children. My brother is more of a biker than a hippy I guess - maybe that makes her feel a little better. =)

I'm in a brand-new addition and the neighbors are all great fans of gardens, especially vegetable gardens. Two have already professed their love of chickens and desire to get some, to heck with the HOA. We don't have much of a HOA because the building stalled out and there's only 15 houses in the addition. The HOA group went bankrupt twice. I still haven't paid my dues and don't know any of the neighbors who have either.

The issue is more an amazement of who has put the most effort into their garden and speculation on results. People do the "a few shrubs and a spindly tree or two" because it's something they can do over a weekend, or hire someone to do for not an awful lot. A full vegetable garden or an entire yard of flowers takes a lot of time, work, research and thought and usually a lot of money too.

The only person I have to fight over the gardening is my silly husband! He didn't want me to get other people's leaves because he didn't like the idea of me picking up other people's "trash". I snuck some in anyway and hid them around the yard last fall. He just noticed them last week. Ha! He swore I couldn't have an herb garden in the front. I put one there anyway. He said he didn't want any vegetables in the flower beds, but then he was the one telling me not to kill the volunteer melons that came out of the unfinished compost in one! That was a godsend, as it allowed me to transplant those suckers all over the place under the guise of doing what he wanted. Now the entire front circle drive is full of 20 watermelon plants and one squash.

Gamebird, perhaps we should start a thread on "How to hide gardening things from a less-than-supportive spouse". I use a combination of blitzes when she is away for a whole saturday morning, hiding things in the garage attic, and always topping out the compost pile with leaves when I add funny things. Then there is the Continuously Produced Organic Urea Collector, a gallon size opaque plastic container, formerly a chainsaw oil container, tucked discreetly together with my other chainsaw stuff.

But in regard to looking down: two of our neighbors have access to our garden in midsummer (we never have extra vegetables, one family has six kids and they even eat 10lb- zucchinis via zucchini bread). The rest like the idea, get some veggies from us, and have some tomatoes in containers or other easy stuff. They like what a gardener adds to the neighborhood. The one family who is a little chilly probably has an issue with the messiness of my front garden (visible from the street). I don't deny that it is messy. They get no garlic, of course.

famersteve,

Corn would be the best option, especially if he's ever said that you should have GRASS on the front lawn. Corn, afterall, is a type of grass. If he protests about the height, explain that he just doesn't understand the nuiances of your "grass" variety, and that it does much better when you DON'T mow it!

Well, at least my husband doesn't look down on my garden! Though he doesn't want any part of the daily chores (he will kick in for heavier stuff on a random basis). He even crosses the lawn to my veggie area to check in with me and nod politely at my various plants (though he can't tell a zucchini from a zinnia himself).

Not at all. I put out free tomato plants a couple weeks ago. All 11 plants gone in 2 hours. I have vegetables in the front, side and back yards. And I wouldn't give a fig if anyone said anything anyway. Not to brag, but most people only wish their gardens looked as good as mine do.
Now neighbors as a whole: you just never know about people. There are some nuts on our street. One lady drives an SUV and if you are riding your bike, she will try to run you down. I called her on it once and she said she drives in the middle of the street because she is afraid children will dash out. Uh, what about me, on my bike? Then there is this old German man, who came into my yard when I was running my shredder and told me to shut it down because it was Sunday and Sunday is quiet day in our town. This guy was unbelievably persistent. I told him to call the cops to complain about me. Then I told him he was trespassing and I would call the cops if he didn't leave. What an ass!
Cheap birdbath? Get a Frisbee!
Cheers!

I wouldn't care if my neighbors didn't like my garden, but they don't care as most of there houses are hidden behind long and wide rows of field corn one of them used some of one of there fields to grow greens in and most of them have gardens anyways somewhere I love to see all the things growing around here come spring the only problems I have is the field corn pollen getting in my sweet corn that I grow and the fact that I have worked hard to rebuild the soil in my yard that has been farmed to death

My neighbors were overheard to sneer "Who'd spend THAT much time in a GARDEN?" And it's not even all that much time, since I work long hours.

I suppose that spending evenings and weekends in liquor-assisted dissipation in front of sitcoms, 'reality' tv or the 'big game' (of whichever sport happens to be in season) is ever so much better.

I love certain aspects of the city, but someday, some way, I'll live out in the country where I can't even see the neighboring houses...

The restrictions in my neighborhood are limited to 'no field crops'. If anyone complains about my slowly expanding garden I wonder if I can successfully make a case that grass is, in fact, a field crop. Where do they think the sod for their yards came from anyway?

I think that if I were to do a front yard garden I'd want to do something more along the line of a 'forest garden' rather than a typical vegetable garden. If it had to be a vegetable garden I'd want neat, dense planting in some kind of raised beds. I do like the grass, just not as much of it as most people.

davek-ne,

Check out the potager forum or the sqft forum. Both methods are anything BUT field crops!

I beleive that if the Neighbor buys my groceries, pays my taxes, my house payment, my utilities or my insurance then my neighbor can tell me what I can and cannot do in my own front yard. So since that is not likely to hapen, I would definately plant my garden in my front yard. And share the bounty with my neighbors (even if they did complain). By all means I would be certain that it was tasteful to me. If the neighbors complained I would put up a fence if necessary. This actually happened to a relative of mine who lives in my town. He put up a fence and then the neighbor complained that it blocked their veiw of the waterway....So sometimes it is impossible to get past the vicious circle. As for me and my yard we will grow!

I love this thread! We had a bed of badly overgrown azaleas between the front sidewalk and driveway that I persuaded DH to remove a few years ago. After much debate back and forth (pond? roses? smaller azaleas?) I suggested a small veggie patch with a couple of roses or something to make it pretty. DH was delighted since homegrown tomatoes are one of his favorite things in life & I had all but given up on the 3000 square foot garden I managed when I was younger and had more energy. But he worried about what friends and family would think about the "garden" at the front door. I simply told him that the driveway ran both ways and anybody that didn't like my veggie patch could go out the way they came in. Much to our amazement, everybody has been delighted with the bed and thinks we're just so smart to have the garden so close and convenient.

It's very traditional to have a cottage garden in the front "yard" with vegetables, fruits, and even small livestock. Lawns were for the rich, not for ordinary folk who didn't have time nor inclination to tend that demanding expanse of wasteful grass. I think we've reached a time when more and more people are thinking "old" thoughts and going back to ways that really worked for them instead of against them. Personally, I'd till in the entire front lawn and put in fruit trees and blueberries and more veggies, but I suspect DH would call for some men in white coats to come take me away. So, I'm grateful for the veggie patch by the sidewalk and have talked him into building another one on the other side of the driveway. Yum... more good veggies!

Sandy

I too, just love this thread -- I really enjoy reading about other peoples' experiences and comments.

Littleredrose wrote:

"My neighbors were overheard to sneer "Who'd spend THAT much time in a GARDEN?" And it's not even all that much time, since I work long hours.
I suppose that spending evenings and weekends in liquor-assisted dissipation in front of sitcoms, 'reality' tv or the 'big game' (of whichever sport happens to be in season) is ever so much better."

I wholeheartedly agree with that. I'm always outside, from March to November, when I'm not at work, tending to something. A true labor of love.

A while back, I got some flack from the family about how much money I was spending on seeds, plants, etc. My comment to them (felt I could get away with this, since I'm a single guy) was, "well, would you prefer that I go out and spend it on hookers and booze?" That shut them up.

Now, if I COULD have livestock in the front yard, I would. But, even though I get away with an awful lot, including some illegal chickens hidden out in the back (we have a ton of geese and ducks wild in the neighborhood, so the chicken clucking fits right in), I think they would question sheep, cows, or goats. Think I could get some kind of longhaired sheep and have the doggroomer give it a fancy 'do so people would think it was a dog?

Now, as far as the front yard thing goes, as I said before, if people are commenting, complaining, or restricting you via HOA rules, etc. from growing crops you want in the front yard, just fool them by growing things that are attractive, unusual, and not the run of the mill things. For example, if they get on your case for growing tomatos in the front yard, substitute some kind of really fancy, exotic peppers and eggplants, and grow the toms out back where no one can see.

Our back yard is somewhat shaded with the good gardening spots already taken by tomatoes, summer squash, and strawberries.

The front yard faces east and gets great sun daybreak until mid-afternoon. I just killed off half the grass and plan to put in four 4'x8' raised beds.

The neighbors have started to notice the dying grass, but when I talk about putting in mostly veggies they are interested.

I still don't know exactly what to plant at this late date. Since our hottest month isn't till September I think the late start will be fine.

The field crop thing is kind of iffy. They could say almost anything is a field crop, even lettuce? Or are they talking about tall corn or wheat?

I'm finishing my third front bed today or tomorrow. Got squash, potatoes, onions and some other odds and ends in. Decided to plant corn in rear.

Very excited about front gardens. I started with one small one and then expanded to 3 large beds. Sorry I did not do it last year.

I am going to submit a appology to the good people of East Lyme and their sterile gardens, I regularly walk from my house in to the main shopping area which is about 1.7miles and only saw one garden on my travels, (appart, from my own and my neighbours, which I have been doing, as well) but nothing was happening in it.
well on Saturday, my neighbour came and asked if I wanted to go for a walk, as she wants to lose weight, and so we walked round our neighbourhood, rather than to the shopping area, as she was worried she would want a Mcdonalds if we got there!
Well I would estimate almost every 3 houses there was a veg garden in and about half of these where in the front, some right on the road, I'd not noticed them, because I mostly I wizz past in a car, if I go that way!
Wow, loved the fact people had them out front as I could be really nosy, seeing what they had put in, and what they are doing as in trellising ect, got some good ideas, turned out my neighbour knew this anyway!
About a 1/3rd of them where small, but, she said many of these are elderly oriental people who lived with their children who tend them, and has given me a list of those who speak English, (I am so, going to have to talk to them, I imagine like me, they have veg, they miss from home) and the American growers, of which there are alot! I also have a million questions, turns out the lady 2 doors up from me, also has a garden, her's is hidden from view! spoil sport!
the only down side was, we didn't see 1 person in their garden to ask questions, although all are in full production!
So if you live in Flanders and a slightly over excite English lady approaches with a mad gleem in her eye, that will be me! expect not to escape in a hurry, lots of questions! LOL!

Over twenty years ago, DH and I bought a vacant, overgrown, antique colonial in a New England port city. The neighborhood and the city for that matter had and still have a rather high view of themselves. DH and worked tirelessly to clean the brush and debris covering the house, did some renovations and moved in. The neighbors were ecstatic untilÂ.I planted tomato plants in the front flower beds. We were out of money, too exhausted to tackle the back yard that first year and my Dad gave us tomato plants. What could have been better, food and something to plant in the flower beds!

Imagine the neighbors displeasure the following year when I plant a rather large vegetable garden in the backyard. Silly me I thought theyÂd be happy I planted shrubs, perennials and flowers in the front flower beds.

Fast forward to today, I live on 14 acres just a few miles north. I have a large veggie garden, fruit & nut trees and various small fruits as well as asparagus and rhubarb. My neighbors here all have gardens so IÂm just one of the group BUT I still work in that city and still get looked at down some folks noses because I "farm".

"BUT I still work in that city and still get looked at down some folks noses because I "farm"."

Some snobs think growing food is for peasants...the rich grow flowers, fancy shrubs and weed free perfectly cropped 1 inch grass and are beyond "having to" grow food.

I think I found this on another forum recently and remembered how to find it: "Edible Estates." It's a website devoted to turning lawns into vegetable gardens. There are lots of photos of how people in various cities did it and it can be very inspirational to see these pictures.

http://www.fritzhaeg.com/garden/initiatives/edibleestates/main.html

Here is a link that might be useful: Edible Estates Project

That's a terrific idea! I hate to see good sun wasted on grass. Even shade, there's got to be a low-growing herb or wildflowers or SOMETHING that looks better and doesn't have to be mowed. The whole concept of planting it, watering it, and mowing it, when you CAN'T EVEN EAT IT just seems so silly.

I'm another one voting for do what you want. It's your property. People should be less nosy. As for me, I live in an urban area with tight housing so my garden has to stay relatively small. But believe me, I PACK as much into it as I can, lol.

I would never be able to do a front garden. First of all the people around here would probably destroy it walking by, or steal the veggies. Secondly, I have this enormous STUPID holly tree in the front that shades almost the whole front yard. I have trouble even growing grass because of it. And lo and behold, because of it's age, it's protected. I couldn't get rid of it if I wanted to. I HATE that tree!

Intresting read, indeed.
I have enough acreage (33) that I don't garden in the front yard slope, but one of my gardens is on the side of the house that you enter.
Neighbors remark how the beutiful red cabbage is I am growing under the cherry tree.
Last year I had hot pepper plants and eggplants growing along the house with liatris and the blue fescue. Had a pole bean ladder and squashes growing next to the pool area.
My Jap Variegated corn was both ornamental in the planter and gave me ornamental corn for the fall. Everyone wanted seeds for that.
Guess I am not moving anytime soon!

Great thread!

I've been going back and forth about whether to add in at least a small patch for a veggie garden out front. The grass looks terrible anyway, and it's just a waste of great space that gets a lot of sun. We have awful neighbors who I don't think like us anyway, so what they think has no bearing on what the final decision is, whatsoever, but I had no idea that some places had restrictions on what could be grown. I'll have to look into that.

Has anyone seen the Martha Stewart front yard garden episode? I just found it online, and it's quite interesting. I'm even more inspired to start one now!

Here is a link that might be useful: Martha Stewart's front yard garden episode

Wonderful reading. Someone wanted to put in an inexpensive bird bath and wanted some ideas, birds don't like deep water, just try a taracota pot, upside down with the with the saucer placed on top with a few decortive pebbles in it. I love being creative when it comes to a garden, I made this garden bench out of an old dresser this year that was in my attic. It has a spot cut out for a container for dirt, for planting and a working sink, one that I had in my basement. I just bought a few 2x4. It makes cleaning my harvest before bringing it into the house a breeze.
{{gwi:67209}}

{{gwi:67210}}
{{gwi:67211}}
As far as front yard gardening, I wish mine was sunny enough to do it. My neighbors have looked at me strange for years, while they were sipping drinks, I was crawling around on the ground, but I am slowley converting them. I gave a few extra tomato plants to my neighbors this year and helped them plant them, now they give me updates on their progress when I see them out. . . I liked a phrase that I saw once, "You know your a gardener when you notice the quality of your neighbors dirt and not what kind of car they drive!" Happy Gardening!!!

Very nice there, it's SO Martha! I might just have to cruise the neighborhood tomorrow (garbage day, and I'm off because my boss is on vacation for a week!) and see what treasures I can find to freecycle.

While your out "freecylcing" (is that a word, lol) pick up a couple of old windows and build yourself a cold frame, I built one this spring and it got my seedling out of my house faster and I used old wood to build. I did buy the plexiglass (because I couldn't find old windows). My seedlings loved it. I loosely followed the directions from this web page,

http://www.gardengatemagazine.com/main/pdf/coldfram.pdf.

{{gwi:67212}}

Of course they do, I am "an out of stater" and anything I do is questionable..like growing the best zukes in my large front window box.. am sure alot of the neighbors ride by to just see what the crazy newcomer is doing to her yard now..lol.. I provide their entertainment and its all free...hehehehe.

I tell them: You mow your lawn and I'll hoe mine!

Seriously, they love it because I give them lettuce, tomatoes and other goodies when they are ripe.

Mike

My neighbor was thrilled with a bag of squash, tomatoes, jalapenos, and basil today.

My other neighbor will get a personal watermelon the next time one ripens. He's given me some splendid eggplant (though he keeps his veggies strictly in the back he understands that I don't have any sun in back and actually enjoys inspecting my melon vines every day as he walks past with his dog.

When I moved to my just-under 2 acre yard house in '95 the yard was so barren and ugly birds wouldn't land in it. There were trees, but the yard ran right up to the house and around the forsythia bushes that some knucklehead planted in front of every window and then ignored so that they grew up OVER the windows. There was a small orchard that had not been pruned in at least 4 years. All the previous owner did was to run her riding lawnmower over the areas it would reach and allow the grass to grow up everywhere else. A gutter had come loose from the "high" end of the house (sloping property) and had washed the dirt away between the house and the concrete steps that led from the basement garage to the front deck. She'd helpfully thrown concrete blocks, boards, and a half-wine barrel in the gully but did not reattach the gutter!

So, when I moved in it took me forever to just bushwack back and remove the forsythias, put up the gutter and terrace back in the ground between the house and the steps, prune back the fruit trees and removed the impossible ones, and create flower and veggie beds. Lots of times I'd be out there until full dark pruning branches, dragging junk off to my huge compost and branch piles, or moving around the huge pile of mulch I had delivered (two dump truck loads). When I took my son around the neighborhood to sell cub scout popcorn, he identified us as living in the corner house...to which one neighbor replies "oh yeah were the crazy lady lives that's up the tree in the dark sawing." I said, yep, that would be me.

LOL

They love the resurrected yard. My house is the first in the cul-de-sac and it had been an eyesore for the 4 years that the previous owners had it. Its not perfect (I need to just bomb the flower bed at the mailbox to get out the creeping juniper and bermunda grass) but it is now a productive yard that invites family, friends and YES the birds flock to the yard now.

BEFORE (Ok, I had put the gutter back up and started wacking back the bushes):
{{gwi:67213}}

AFTER:
{{gwi:67214}}

{{gwi:67215}}

{{gwi:74911}}

{{gwi:67217}}

They don't look down on this corner property anymore. They do drop by from time to time for cuttings from the lavender, slips to start their own herbs, or in hopes of a bag of squash.

WOW! Granite, that is awesome in every sense of the word. I grow what I want where I want and to heck with what anybody thinks. Long as it is not messy and does not infringe on them, to heck with them. We eat better than anyone in the area, and ironically, they are happy enough when I share. Hope it doesn't rain while they are outside, they'd drown from having their noses in the air......

granite, your garden is gorgeous, so beautiful, I am jealous!

My front yard is neat but due to sun issues, I had to plant some tomatoes at the foundation and in containers at the front steps. They kind of fit in with the height of the shrubs and porch, and no one has said anything to me. But they are tall and not attractive as in your typical landscaping. But I don't care because I want tomatoes even though I consider them somewhat messy looking.

On the other hand, in the back yard I went nuts with tomatoes and they are massive. The neighbors next to and behind me may care, but haven't said anything and I do my best to keep these 7'+ container and raised bed plants looking somewhat under control. I have plants all over my deck. Unfortunately, I don't have space (with sun) for a garden like granite's (whose photos are above).

So I hope to move next year or when the market improves to a place where I can do a larger raised bed garden. Now my plants are scattered here and there where I can fit them into my only sunny spots. If anyone says anything I will tell them it's only until September/October unless something gets my 'maters first!

What a wonderful job you've done with that property!

Thanks, its been a labor of love. My husband and son help by mowing the grass, pruning bushes, and dragging off piles of stuff. They built the new fence in the backyard and will pitch in on the heavy jobs (remove sod, dig out large rocks, etc). However, the flower beds and veggie gardens are all mine to design, plant, weed, harvest, and upkeep. They are both very supportive of new ideas. My hubby would probably back me on almost any expenditure I wanted to make in the yard but that's probably because I am a tightwad. LOL. I like to produce on a shoestring. Today I canned 7 quarts of green beans, 4 pints of yellow squash pickles, baked 2 loaves of zucchini fruit bread, and froze 6 quarts of zucchini. (And both veggie drawers in the fridge are still over-full). I guess the reason for the long reply is that I just love gardening. I work two jobs...one full time and one part-time so don't let anyone discourage you from gardening by telling you it can't be done when you work.

My neighbor above me grows a small garden, but he still mows about 3-4 acres of his 5 acre property. He thinks I'm a nut because of all the flower and herb beds AND because we decided to let a 75' x 100' corner of the yard grow up into a meadow this year. I think that man lives on his mower or behind his weedeater. So I think he is a nut too. But he's a great neighbor and we appreciate each other's eccentricities. I'm OK with the fact that he is an obsessive mower. He's OK that I feel the need to add a new flower bed every year or so and that I belt out songs at the top of my lungs when weeding. LOL. There's plenty of room between the houses (each house on 1.75 to 5 acres of land) so there's plenty of room for quirks and personalities.

I knew of a family who plant corn every year on their boulavard between the sidewalk and the road side lol nothing wrong with growing food although some neighbourhoods are weird and don't like it ...just don't grow your stuff right to the property line and even across it I have a neighbour who got a legal survey because she thought she was being cheated out of an inch and well the result was she had pushed over both sides and she still pushes to get an inch , finally I threw up a stay the f... out fence .

Yep, fences make goooooooood neighbors