I heard a story from an Asian immigrant (I think Vietnamese) say how confused they were to arrive in the wealthy U.S., and see no food growing in people's yards. They imagined wealth meaning food security and abundance. That insight has been very informative to how I think of wealth. Keep on keeping on gardeners!
I have a small front yard and I'm the only one on my street that grows food on it. My son (11) and all his friends help me, they love it, people always stop and look. Growing food in your front yard can inspire others and if just one of these kids grow up and grows their own then job done.
I have wanted chickens for decades. My mom raised chickens, I know how to raise chickens. I got my first chickens last December. These kids will remember this experience. You're getting them at the best time. 🙂
@@michellejarvis7878 they're illegal in many places because of the diseases they carry. I personally prefer plants. I mean if you really want to do that - I'm not going to stop you - just make sure it's really far away from anyone.
I live in a neighborhood where 99% of the houses are on 1/3-1/2 acre lots that are all grass. My front lawn is where the sun is so that is where the raised bed veg will be. Lucky to not have an HOA but the grass police are very vocal. My plan is to ignore them until they run out of gas. And, when I have extra, give them a bowl of fresh picked tomatoes. We need to be brave and grow food.
If you need to, there are ways to hide edible plants in 'flower' borders that are 'acceptable" to the lawn police. Actually you will notice landscapers use edible plants for landscape - kales, rosemaries, roses, daylilies, cannas, sweet potatoes, amaranths, lots of edible trees, etc. I actually use artichokes and asparagus as landscape plants in front. They are quite beautiful plants and most people do not recognize their leaves/ferns as vegetable plants.
where I live, as long as the size of the plants are small, then there's not much law enforcement gets concerned about. If you really want to do your neighborhood dirty - you can just grow edible grass - like tiger nut sedges and oats, etc. Or grow what looks like grass but isn't - like spinach, microgreens, and other leafy greens.
I disagree with the commenter who told you to hide your edibles in flower beds. Have your veggies proudly growing on full display in your raised beds!! Many raised beds!! If you can afford the raised beds from Birdies or Vego are very practical and sometimes on sale. I have a slew of Vego beds in my no-lawn front yard veggie garden, and I don't give a fig about the synthetic sterile toxic lawns at my neighbors' homes, and their grotesque sheared-to-death bizarrely-shaped foundation plantings in their front yards. My non-veggie front yard and back yard plants are all native perennials and shrubs -- the latter very minimally pruned and left to grow naturally.
@@lanialost1320 "Hide" isn't exactly hide. There are plenty of food plants used in landscaping. Sweet potatoes, for example. Fantastic plants, amazingly mild, barely blanched edible leaves available most of the year that is a landscaping plant. Amaranths, lots of brassicas, lots of radishes, peppers - all decorative edible plants actually used in traditional landscapes. Roses, lots of flowers. Tons of vines. Of course, if you can have obvious vegetable beds that tell your neighbors to grow food, the definitely go for it. Everyone should actually be using any empty spaces to grow some food.
I think your "yard" is absolutely BEAUTIFUL. As my daughters would say, "Haters are gonna hate." And here's the thing: there's this house that I drive past on my way to work. A few years ago, the people living there put up a little greenhouse and planted what looks like several fruit trees, berry vines, etc. I would stop at the stop sign and look across at that yard and think, "That yard just looks like an overgrown mess." But the other morning (after I had watched your videos and was sad by how mean people can be), when I stopped at the stop sign and looked at the house, it was like a light bulb came on. That yard is a permaculture yard...it is that person's effort to grow their own food and be more sustainable. I realized I had been just as judgmental as some of the people who commented on your videos (although I at least had the decency to keep my opinions to myself!). So watching your follow up today, I have to say that the "yard bias" ingrained in us runs pretty deep. Even those of us who have our own gardens and are supportive of what you're doing may find ourselves perpetuating the "lawn" bias and not even realize we're doing it. So thank you for your honesty and for your passion for permaculture. Keep your chin up in spite of all the criticism and just know that you are doing what's right for the earth, and your message is getting through to some of us.
New realizations/learnings are such a gift through life! And I find I learn best from mistakes, and they can be thought mistakes too so I'm always extra delighted to have my own assumptions corrected.
I'm a renter in a large city (Toronto) and all I have access to is a front yard! And I'm thankful to have even that, since I've always lived in mid/high rise apartment buildings before. The idea that food crops shouldn't be grown in the front yard is classist and ridiculous for so many reasons.
I’m also a renter and only able to garden in a limited, front yard (and deck) space. I just witnessed two children halting their (I’m presuming) parents mid-walk to inspect my veggies. I wish more people viewed front yard food gardens with the wonder of children.
@@elizabethvictoria5537 I love it! Definitely have noticed many kids being curious about my garden. I'm next to a bus stop so I get a lot of foot traffic of people waiting to get on the bus. Last year I saw a little boy excitedly pointing at some of my zinnias, and his mom said "sorry he's so loud - his favourite colour is pink and he really likes all your flowers!" I cut a flower, handed it to him, and he got SO happy to bring it on the bus with him. Moments like that are so special! Have had similar experiences while picking mulberries from my tree (and asking if kids would like to try eating one)
I am always wondering if I can eat the lavenders and the rose hips I accidentally planted in my front yard. There is so much salt in the street for the snow and ice in winter. I hope the plants won’t absorb those salt but I am not sure, so I finally have to propagate them and grow more in my backyard. A problem in the North
My daughter left TO for Winnipeg last November. Happily the front yard of her low-rise apartment/condo building has a raised bed for each unit. Such a blessing. 😊
i was trucking back and forth to a far patch to garden until i saw your channel. This year I put my garden right off my carport right where the front yard used to be. Now it's wild and beautiful and right there where i can tend to my heart's content. Then i put in a hoophouse greenhouse in my driveway and a chicken coop just on the other side of the garden. I can watch my babies from my porch! I feel so much joy just walking out my door in the morning. Please never stop educating the world! We need you!
I am blown away that people are so offended by a beautiful lush garden! Wow. I think it's absolutely charming. And there is nothing more satisfying than growing your own food.
It pains me to praise any part of our horrific state government but thankfully here in Florida the state Supreme Court ruled recently that municipalities can't forbid front yard gardens. The case originated in an upper middle class "village" here in Miami. I always say that in Miami, you can look at a house and immediately tell whether the owners are Americans or immigrants. How? Americans will have a big lawn with nothing in it-- no fruits, no vegetables, sometimes not even a shade tree. One of my dad's (from Trinidad) favorite lines was "why would I plant a tree in the yard that doesn't benefit me?" I live in an area where most are from the Caribbean/Latin America. Nearly every house has *some* food growing in the both the front and back yard. Mango, coconut, avocado, papaya, lychee, breadfruit, pigeon pea, etc. Even people with money will plant a mango or something. Most came from places where growing at least some of your own food was necessary. Contrast that with when I visited a family friend in Tampa last month. I was so disturbed to see lawn after lawn after lawn of just... nothing. It was very weird, almost dystopian. This compulsion to signal wealth and status to your neighbors despite the very obvious negative externalities is just one manifestation of a deep social disorder.
Fabulous comment!! Agree with every word. I remember that couple who stood up to their unconstitutional municipality that had demanded the couple remove all their front yard veggies. The couple had a a non-profit legal advocacy group take on their case resulting in that fantastic judicial ruling!
I’ve been inviting people to deconstruct the notion of housing as commodity, and the things you say are spot on. While I have recently started to emphasize ways of increasing beauty through the study of art, ultimately permaculture principles are more important. We need to create “spaces of belonging” and criminalizing nature is just ridiculous really. Also since just like me you intentionally chose to live in a home without HOA that should give enough reason for those critics to stay in their lane. Freedom of choice, right?
Yes!! The whole idea that our homes are a way to make some quick cash when we sell and “property value” is all that matters is not a healthy one. We need to live in and enjoy and use our homes!
"CRIMINALIZING NATURE" -this is the best thing I've seen, besides this channel. Angela is such a radical! Fortunately I'm from the developing Caribbean, there are no real rules about what we can do. Once your neighbors don't object to the smell or a health hazard, we're good.
@@michellejarvis7878 People like boring it seems, which is a shame - as the world used to be so creative - which is how we built civilization to begin with! I love seeing people's creativity, which inspires me to do better - the uniqueness is a treasure trove of beauty and intellect! Those homes in Jamaica are definitely ones I aspire to - hibiscus, etc.
how can they "deconstruct the notion" when it's a legal reality? I also think housing should be de commodified but just asking ppl to believe it doesn't make it so.
I've been thinking about the permaculture minded question that you posed a few videos back - the problem is the solution. The problem, as I see it, is that the naysayers haven't been exposed to anything other than the idea that a well-manicured lawn is ideal. The solution is exposure to alternatives, seeing its benefits, and seeing how many people embrace it. Unfortunately, that lands you and your lovely ecosystem in the middle of the paradigm shift. You're doing a fantastic job of keeping your cool, and responding logically with the intent to educate. Thank you for helping turn the tide!
Our neighbors tell us it's awesome that we ripped up our 1/4 acre grass front lawn to put in a permaculture garden with fruit trees, a natural swimming pond, and annual veggie beds. I don't think they're lying (and really just think we're weird), but even if they are, we can live with that.
It’s like that in Australia too❣️ My neighbours have a beautiful manicured ornamental garden. It’s very beautifully designed with a great selection of trees etc. And there is me. Fruit trees flowers and vegetables mulched with wood chips. Only grass is that which grows through the crushed rock in my driveway. I’m even considering converting part of my large driveway into a garden/food Forrest.
I have the same type of front yard, with raised veggie beds and native plants and shrubs, but none of my neighbors or passers-by ever stop by or respond to my friendly hi or waves. Really unfriendly where I live on the east coast. The only praise for my front yard came from a French family who was posted to USA by their company, and they were renting a house near me -- they told me as soon as they saw my front yard that they knew it wasn't owned by an American -- it's true because I'm of Indian descent and grew up in Europe. My neighbors all have sterile chemical lawns and the most depressing static foundation plantings, and the highlight of their lives is to show off their flashy expensive SUVs, while hubby and me love our 16 yr and 18 yr old cars!!
I live in New Zealand. I only have a front yard and it’s packed to the brim with flowers, vege plots, fruit trees, a little pond and previously chickens! I’m on a busy road with lots of people out walking and people always look in and see what’s going on and what I have changed around. It’s a great way to meet the neighbours! Everyone stops to chat, I love it! Sadly newly built subdivisions have started all those stupid covenants restricting what can go on in someone’s property, I hate that.
Thank you for trying to educate us. I live in the Appalachian mountains of VA outside a small town always had a garden and my mom and were raised on farms. So we always picked berries and then in fall we all went out to load up on nuts for winter. So that you again for sharing your had work and great garden
I also think that front yard gardens can be beautiful, artful and very helpful to our bees and butterflies. veggies and flowers look beautiful together.
Thanks Angela. Food for thought as having some anxiety about losing the small front lawn and introducing food on a house purchased 10 months ago. I’ve landscaped the back garden with Swales and mostly annuals for now, and that has blown my neighbours minds so had some comments, & you’re right, I don’t owe them a lawn to enable their unconscious bias, just like I don’t owe them a perfect body to look at. I live in the U.K. and the lawn bias is alive and well. You should see the looks of disgust and dismay when I forage, like the food is dirty if it’s not bought in a shop. Even the poor will leave the fruit to rot on the ground and go to a food bank rather than pick it.
I think a lot of it is also fear and ignorance of nature, we’re so disconnected from nature and how our food is grown that most people can’t recognize edibles in nature and are too scared of bugs or germs.
@@AlicedeTerre you're so right. People are used to seeing perfect sterile looking supermarket produce in plastic wrap, and most don't know about all the disgusting unhealthy stuff it's been grown in. Poop from factory farmed species full of bacteria, hormones & antibiotics, slaughterhouse byproducts like blood/ fish & bone 🤢 pesticides etc, yet they believe an organic tree growing on a street is producing dirty fruit.
I concur 110%. Thank you for your integrity. I want to see it more than turf grass. Our outdated aesthetics are killing us............generally the sunny part of the most people's property is the front yard....for those that don't have the courage to deal with criticism or with the jackboots in their HOA, I recommend growing edible ornamentals in the front year, like loquats, fejoia, rugosa roses, pindo palm, and hundreds of edible flowers and ground covers.
I am also breaking down this mental hurdle. We are new homeowners and I've been feeling paralyzed w fear bc of what the neighbors are going to think. I'm even afraid to use a rake in the front yard. I'm sure I'm doing it wrong and some Richard is going to come tell me so. No one has even said anything to me. Just shows you how deep this stuff goes and how important it is to call it into inquiry. Always asking me to think things, Angela. 🧡 u for that, teacher.😊
When we bought our farmhouse there were already large flower beds out front. I’ve been transitioning them to perennial herbs, roses, useful native flowers and even some annual veggies like bush beans tucked in and around the other plants. I love it, and my neighbors enjoy it. The plants are beautiful and useful. We fortunately do not have an HOA, and many neighbors have added veggie beds to their sunny front and side yards when they have shady back yards. I have lots of sunny space, so most of my veggies are in other parts of the property. We are blessed with 3 suburban acres, so I’m trying to slowly add fruit trees, berries and gardens in a thoughtful way so I can increase our resiliency and bless the neighbors with what we can grow.
Again! Home run! I grew up in a small town in 70s and 80s near Amish country. At that time, most people including my family grew much of our produce and bought local. But I remember as a kid being embarrassed that we had to eat from a garden and not from supermarket. I thought only poor people did that. Because my more affluent friends had no gardens! It was necessity at that time for my family because we had finicicial pressures. Now I am soooo grateful for learning from that and my parents and grandparents. But
I got into gardening because of my grandparents having beautiful rows of lettuce, and the best tasting tomatoes that I wondered why I'd ever go back to a grocery store.
I started growing food in my front yard about 20 years ago before I knew anything about permaculture. Now my front yard is about 90% permaculture. I hope this video goes much more viral than the meme. I plant a lot of flowers in the front for the pollinators. I live in suburbia and I get many positive comments on my garden. I will share some photos later.
“Why is it that we think we have a right to tell somebody that their yard and their garden must be performative in nature and must appeal to us, a total stranger” 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
Angela, maybe you could make an episode of edibles that hide in plain sight. Last year someone in a neighboring city posted that they had created raised beds in their front yard, and had been cited by the city because 'front yards were for ornamental plants only'. I suggested that they hide their edibles in plain sight until the ordinance could be challenged and changed. Sweet potatoes vines are extremely ornamental. Rhubarb has gorgeous large leaves, and blueberry shrubs have beautiful fall color. A dwarf cherry tree could also be incorporated. There are many 'ornamental' peppers, so pepper plants should also be acceptable. Strawberries or thyme could be used as a ground cover. Many pole beans have multicolored flowers, so they could trellis those. Mars Landing kale is a beautiful bronze color. Carrots have airy. lacy foliage. All parts of hosta plants are edible. It is sad that subterfuge was needed, but at least they didn't lose a whole growing season while challenging the city.
@@ParkrosePermaculture current bushes make great hedges, daylilies... most herbs are very decorative especially variegated i have red veined sorrrel and good king henry as border plants. most fruit plants can be grown as decorative plants- especially cherry trees and so on
I find front yards with food plans growing really beautiful. There a few that I saw walking around Cupertino, CA. True Food TV RUclips channel did a video on this subject. It was really interesting. She said that the people that want a lawn to lay on the see the stars at night should just have a patch of lawn the size of a bed and let the rest of the yard go wild.
My mother grew up during the Great Depression. She said they kept their yards swept because it was foolish and too time consuming to waste time on grass when they needed to grow food and chickens and pigs and do laundry and clean the house and just take care of the family and survival. We have come a long way! Not necessarily in the right direction either! I am growing food in my front yard and will continue!! Keep it up! :)
I am redesigning my front yard to be a pretty, functional with little grass! I just planted blueberry and blackberry in a sunny nook, planting mint in the shady part. chamomile and lemon balm, elephant ears(dasheen), kale... there's options for "pretty veggies" and other things that are edible. We can have pretty and edible, and I think we need to make that more normal before we can grow corn in the front yard and be normal.
Well said! One of the first things I did when I bought my house was put a bunch of fruit trees and shrubs in the front yard. The vegetables came a few years later and I chose things like carrots, beets, and kale to fill in between the flowers.
As well as looking at "performance" for our needs/wants, we have lost the ability to see the natural world around our homes as habitat for birds/bees/microbes, etc. Storing carbon in the soil, supporting the life that creates healthy soil, etc., is necessary for all living systems which, in turn, gives us a life worth living.
Really WELL said. I totally agree with you. Why waste water, money, time on things that just to appeal others' stigma. Grow things that can feed you, your family, and your soul. You are very inspiring to me, and I am doing very similar thing to our new home as well. Cheers from Victoria, Canada.
Hi, I absolutely love this video. I am Armenian myself married to an American, and I have my raised gardens here, I have planted 23 fruit trees and 17 berry bushes, bananas, pineapples in my front yard, side yards and backyard and I support every word in this video. You are sooooo right, Americans are ridiculously obsessed with grass that has NO other value other than killing the life cycles of nature. Please keep doing what you are doing, we can change their mindset and front-yarding behavior.
Love this video! Interesting point about the 'right' of other people to tell us what to do and yards as extensions of our bodies/image. I love flowers and the creatures they attract so I made my front yard the flower garden.There was no apparent grass when I bought the house but now the old yard grass is growing back and it is a nightmare to eradicate: it is the worst 'weed' ever, it chokes everything!
One of the reasons I bought the house I'm in was that it has a decent sized yard which allows me to grow fruits and vegetables! I figured back then that if times got tough it would be an investment in self sufficiency! It's far from what I envisioned it being at the moment, but I have several fruit trees and a garden. My yard wasn't and isn't anyone's ideal for gardening. Originally, I grew vegetables in a small space in my back yard and just had flowers in the front yard. Now, my garden is in my front and west side yards (and soon east side yard!). Part of this is due to changing shade conditions. I had a lovely, large maple tree in the front yard which shaded most of that space. Sadly, it began dying and had to be cut back severely. It's slated for removal along with two fruit trees I planted to replace it due to road improvements. Your yard is beautiful and full of life!
Make sure to keep all the bits from the maple tree. It can be used to edge beds, as garden furniture or art, or as filler for your beds, pots, or as mulch. It always hurts me to see plant stuff thrown into the trash destined for landfills.
We bought acreage in Central Kentucky a few years back that has been mowed down in the front for years by our next door neighbor (previous owner of the land) to the point where I would hear the lawnmower every five days as he cut it shorter and shorter to the point it was brown without being water deprived! I hate it so much so I have been following along on your videos to find a way to bring that part of our land back to what it may have once been with native grasses, flowers, and trees. I plan to have the whole front yard a wildflower/pollinator garden for our huge market garden, which is right in the front as well! I love your sustainability ideals and how you articulate the stigmas and indoctrinated practices we have in our culture and the ways in which it is not sustainable for our land. You're an absolute inspiration, so keep on doing what you're doing. The ones that get it will always understand your reasoning. Those who don't will be begging at your door when the global food supply crashes!
hope this brilliantly explained video goes viral like that meme☺️👏🏻 At same time I feel deep sorry for those unconscious folks who coming at u and your beautiful garden🥰
My veggie garden is primarily on the south side of my house and since it is a corner lot, it's still really visible. I get nothing but positive comments from people in the neighborhood. If my house faced south, I would have my veggie beds there.
Your videos are very, very well done! They are extremely factual, and while you have definite preferences/biases, the information you send out is not critical nor emotional and very professionally articulated. You bring out your points in a very non threatening and non-accusatory way which draws people to listen to what you have to say. Thank you!
I really appreciate this (for me) timely post. For context, my family and I just moved to 3 acres (zoned rural agricultural) just outside a smallish/mediumish southern city. The area is undergoing some large growth and the first thing that any “older” resident says to me is, “it’s just not the way it used to be- so many people moving in” (and I have to politely remind them that my family ARE those people). We are energetically and excitedly setting up a small homestead (layers, turkeys, guinea, large garden in back, pigs rotated in the back wood line, etc), and in the FRONT we have two Salatin style broiler pens that we move twice a day and have spread about 60 yards of mulch on the front strip with plans to plant fruit/nut/canes/flowers/veggies this fall. We are loving our dream!!!!! One older gentleman walks his dog every morning and we chat as I take a break from moving mulch. There are two topics of conversation: 1) observing that maybe it’s time to mow the grass again/asking why we put the chickens out front and 2) he laments about how he misses homegrown XYZ and how prices are too expensive. Until I watched your video I felt basically only annoyance at his policing of my yard (especially when his small dog poops in my yard right in front of me, he comments on it, and then doesn’t pick it up), but actually now I feel a bit of compassion of him. He is trapped in his own notions of what his lawn should look like. He could have homegrown everything but he won’t ever because it doesn’t conform to his internalized notions. So thanks for this video!
Make sure to comment, when he complains, how you grow your own stuff and generally as not locked into supermarket prices. And that your chickens in front are helping with that, instead of relying on price-gouging industrial producers. Maybe one day he will actually hear you.
@@yeevita right now I’m trying to lean into the sadness without covering it with anger. Like, we have a generation (boomers) whose parents fought for civilization, had skills/gardens, and they didn’t seem to (on the whole) inherit those skills. And so now my elder millennial self feels like I have to relearn it with clucking boomers all around. Oh dang, I got angry again. Oh well!
@@rtom675 Lol. It's ok. Sounds like how I feel when people say there are food deserts and I take a walk around or watch their videos and see tons of food that they are too good to eat in the background, plus lots of empty yards. I also saw a gardening project in one of those food deserts, where they built garden boxes for people and planted it out and all these people had to do was water. Most of the boxes died. So again, too rich to grow their own food. Not sure when Americans learned this helplessness, but they did. I think all we can do is our best and a comment and example here and there and hope it changes one mind. Go hang out in the garden. It usually picks me up from sadness and anger quite well. Not to mention, munching on stuff out there is good for us!
Hooray for you being a trend setter!! I was shocked to hear/see so many judgmental comments about your front yard garden! Sad we are in times of people thinking that there is only one way/place to do a garden (or anything else for that matter!) I have been to 15 countries (mostly in Europe) and when people have even the smallest amount of space (front, back or even a balcony) they grow what they can & it always includes some kind of vegetables. I bought a house last year to get out of an HOA especially so I could have more yard to garden. I wanted to do a cottage type garden in my small front yard that would include vegetables, fruits or whatever I could plant! Interestingly enough, once I moved in I realized I have very limited sun in the back yard & more sun in the front yard so it fit into my plan perfectly! Since Covid-19 began we've all experienced limited food & supplies, now with inflation, I'm even more grateful I've had a place to grow fresh produce & not pay the ridiculous prices at the store!! Who knows maybe one day the "naysayers" will be grateful someone in their neighborhood had the initiative like you, to grow a garden (no matter where it is) since it may be the only source of fresh food they have! Keep up the good work :)
Just a few thoughts as someone who has watched tons of your videos and is a subscriber, but isn’t at all interested in doing permaculture: In our front yard here near the edge of the Portland metro suburban area, I designed our front yard with lots of native and non native plants with an ornamental but also wildlife focus. I’ve been inspired by many garden channels coming from the UK. It’s an alpine rock garden that incorporates lots of native plants and non native plants, some rare and hard to grow and many regional natives such as alpine larch, western larch, and even sage brush. My focus is wildlife friendliness and creating habitat for wildlife while creating an alpine look that i love. The “yield” that it brings is enjoyment of my garden. It has blueberries, huckleberries, and other berry plants that wildlife are able to use too. And I primarily let wildlife use them and harvest just a little. I’m in the middle of suburban houses with green lawns and typical ornamental layouts. But everyone loves it when they pass by. I’ve let the bushes grow tight and dense, using lots of wildflowers, grasses, and shrubs for wildlife to have cover, nesting sites, and food. I am growing some crops such as blueberries, raspberries, lettuce, tomatoes, and pumpkins, but my primary focus is ornamental flowers that benefit wildlife as much as it looks beautiful. I have tons of exotic plants in the backyard including over 100 dahlias, but I also have tons of native plants mixed in, and soon plan to be certified by the backyard habitat program. I’ve always admired your garden and all the food you produce, and absolutely defend you 100%, as someone who’s seen tons of European gardening channels. But I also don’t believe growing food for yourself and permaculture is always necessary. You can still have extremely wildlife friendly gardens that isn’t boring old grass and perfectly spaced and manicured shrubs. I also agree growing veg in the front should be allowed and accepted anywhere, but don’t think it’s something everyone needs to do to do good for the environment. Wildlife gardening with natives and even many non natives (many of which provide cover and food), can do a tremendous good to wildlife and the local environment. All throughout springs and summer I’ve seen dozens of birds at a time in the garden, tons of wildlife (even a hawk), and so many insects. Letting your plants (even ornamental and exotic ones) grow a little wilder and denser has tremendous wildlife benefit. I think that way, wildlife gardens that are beautiful, is the first step to getting non traditional front “yards” accepted here. A more traditional wildlife garden is a lot easier to convince society to get used to, than the more typical permaculture gardens which, no offense intended, tend to look overgrown and “messy.” Yours is beautiful in its “messy” and lush look, but I can also understand how some may be scared by such an idea heh. Wildlife gardening is easier to get people to do, because they put design and ornamental beauty equal to wildlife friendly features (such as no lawn, lots of wildflowers and dense plantings of shrubs and trees).
With you 100% on this, Angela. My husband and I are looking to move to a different part of our state and one of the criteria is finding “right to farm”communities because we can’t imagine living in a place where permaculture design is restricted.
The very same people that try to force you into their idea of what a garden should look like are the first ones that would scream "But muh rights!" when they are told to do something.
This is a really thoughtful way to approach this topic. I totally agree that lawns are useless, hard to maintain, and provide very little benefit. Thank you for talking about this subject.
I loved all of the points you went through in this video and agree that it's definitely worth stopping and checking our bias when we start to pass judgement on another person's choices. We also chose a property specifically that did not have any restrictive covenants when we were looking for land earlier this year (I've never seen an HOA up here in BC but some neighbourhoods have very strict covenants). Happily the area where we ended up in a very old neighbourhood where we have a pretty 50/50 mix of neighbours who grow very ornamental, very manicured lawns, and then neighbours who have full orchards in their front yards. I don't feel at all strange for planting fruit trees in my front yard and slowly getting rid of the grass :) I've even had a few neighbours comment on how good our sun exposure is and ask if I'm planning on putting a veggie garden out front!
Stay safe and cool. Front yard food gardens are some the best gardens. Imagine sharing the beauty of fresh food with your neighbors. Imagine being able to share something if you want with a passerby. Imagine showing your gardening skills to everyone so that if they have a question, they know an expert they can ask. Imagine if you don't harvest, you can ask your neighbors to help themselves. Imagine inspiring another person to follow your front food garden path. Imagine showing everyone how you are so smart you can grow food for your family and maybe save money--gee you are so smart! Imagine spending less time and effort to get a yield than you would to grow a lawn and some foundation plants. Imagine supporting wildlife diversity and soil health with your garden of food. Imagine taking a bit of stress off of the food chain/food security by growing some of your own food.
Great eye -opening, thought-provoking, enjoyable video.This is good to unpack and helps to think outside the box, literally, outside the lawn box. Love the discussion and (the Swiss outfit, it goes with a European tone of the video). Keep up the great work !
I live in a 'quadruplex' and only have access to a small shady backyard, but the landlords gave me the okay to grow on the boulevard along the street (something that is encouraged here in Victoria, BC). I get so many nice comments and conversations while I'm out there vs. working in the back. Growing visibly opens up conversations, there are people who keep track of what I'm growing and I often see parents explaining to their kids that 'that is how your food grows'. As an aside, part of the reason why you probably got so many crappy comments on your garden is the awful algorithm that FB has set up to encourage 'rage clicks'. It's increasing divisiveness on social media! The podcast 'Behind the Bastards' did a great episode on FB that is worth a listen to better understand how these posts end up blowing up (assuming you don't know already).
Viewer from Baltimore, MD. This resonates with me. My backyard has mature black walnut trees that shade it in summer especially. I have 'resorted' to growing food in my front yard
My front yard is edible flowers along with grassy area. My back yard is vegetable garden along with berries and other perennial foods and herbs and 3 honeybee hives it just works good for us. Enjoyed this video. Thank you. God Bless you.
We have herbs, greens and various other veggies in our front yard. I can't say I've ever had issues with it, even with semi-permanent rabbit fencing around it. We do put in some random annuals to dress it up a little (sunflowers, etc). There is a bit of screening with native plants that will fill in and make it nearly unnoticeable from the street. I can't wait until it's "fully hidden" in plain sight. We did take some time to carefully landscape the rest of the front yard with native grasses, trees and shrubs so that it looks fairly tidy from the street (staggered placement, different colors and textures, a few rows of perennial flowers, decorative rocks, etc). I think there's a careful blend of landscaping and native plants that can check a lot of boxes (both appearance and function). I think I will eventually prune my shrubs to be a little more on the tidy side, as to not appear overgrown or unkempt. Decorative plants can still have lots of function, and I'm ok with folks thinking that they're strictly decorative. Those in the know, know better 👍
Even if you aren't allowed to plant vegetables in a front yard there are probably permaculture-adjacent things you can do; I'm thinking of planting very fast-growing plants, for example, and using them for making compost, mulch or even biochar; focusing on ornamentals from the approved list that are nitrogen fixers, or great for pollinators; or perhaps an "ornamental" pond that can provide habitat for amphibians. Here in the UK we don't call it a "front yard" and "back yard" but rather "front garden" and "back garden", even if it's entirely laid to lawn. Maybe this difference in language is part of the difference in attitude. That said, my front garden is truly tiny (about one meter between the front of the bay window of the house and the edge of the property), and being NE-facing with a brick wall, doesn't get enough sun for much of anything. The back garden is larger, maybe .03 of an acre. I do have multiple allotment plots, though, which brings my growing space up to a tenth of an acre.
Haters gonna hate. I love looking at other peoples’ gardens, especially food gardens! People love having their gardens admired - gushing over their work is how you end up with free seeds, cuttings, starts, divisions and produce and friends! 😂
I love your yard as it is. It is a living beautiful garden. No front yard in the Garden of Eden. It was all garden. I haven’t started to grow in my front yard because that is my husbands domain and the backyard is mine. However, I plan on adding cabbages in between the date palms come spring lol. Large cabbage plants are beautiful. I would stop defending your garden if your neighbors, city, and family like it that is all that matters. If it brings you joy don’t let the haters upset you. Keep planting and being you 🥰❤️
while i have to keep much wider paths (we are disabled and mobility issues trump garden space) so i cant cram as much into what was a front lawn when i moved in...i find that just adding a TON of "edible but pretty" and "pollination friendly flowering plants" while edging the borders of the walkways neatly? has kept the whole thing looking pretty nice. my front area is in two parts (a narrow on one side of the driveway and a wide area in front of the house) on the narrow side i have a "lavender garden" (8 or more lavender plants, a columnar apple tree, a beauty berry bush but also LOTS of herbs, decorative/edible sorrel, other pernennial flowers, and a few strawberries... then a path i reseeded with clover, and then a section with aronia, a dwarf mulberry, and more sorrel and good king henry... then we go back to the maple tree that was there before and after that its no longer "in front" of the house but on the side. on the main "front lawn" i have roses- so many roses- a hedge of black currants, a red currant bush, 4 apple trees (kept very small) one columnar apple i am hoping will pull through, honeyberries, three different thornless blackberries (june, july, august) i dont even know how many coneflowers (echinacea) bee balm, agastache, daylilies, strawberries, more lavender, various perennials mostly edible, sorrel, good king henry, lemon balm... and a seperate herb garden section and i get COMPLIMENTED routinely on my yard. now i do have wide visible paths, a decorative statue, and ... an absurd amount of bird feeders... so its not the typical layout of a food growing yard, but still... theres a lot of food or "food if i choose to harvest it" in the case of the sorrels and the herbs PS, please! fellow gardeners when planning a garden, think carefully about how much width in the paths you will need in the future. i used to be fine with a narrow path between vegetable beds, but i can no longer manage unless i have room to sit, maybe use a cane, and so on. when we moved i planned everything for a walker or wheelchair
Gonna have to binge watch your videos for some inspiration as to how expand. I've been wanting to get rid of my lawn for years, and expand my 20m x 6m section that I currently have allocated to fruit and vege's. Want and need more produce, as big as my area is, it's not enough to feed our family.
Our back yard only has enough sun to keep mostly cropping plants healthy right in the center, and we've always had dogs that are jerks about digging in and pooping on gardens. I still sneak some vining plants, large sunflowers, and herb planters back there but it's so disappointing when. I put raised beds in our front yard and it's a great way to actually spend time in an area that goes basically unused in most neighborhoods. I see my neighbors WAY more than I would otherwise, and now several of our neighbors have added raised veg beds to their yards as well!
I really like the idea of permaculture...it makes sense and it is aligned with nature. I grew up in rural Virginia, it was on an acreage and some of our veggies, like field peas and white potatoes, were grown out of sight of our house. However, our main veggie garden was mere feet from the house and on the road that went by the front of our house. It was also flat and on the south side of our property. So it has never occurred to me that it wasn't ok to put your garden closest to the water source and the sun source. And wherever the home owner wanted it. It occurs to me that the gardening in urban areas began to shift to the manicured lawn thing in my lifetime. I also wonder why if people don't want people gardening in their own yards why is there so little allotment gardening in the USA??? It's sad that folks can be so critical and negative about someone raising food...sounds like they've NEVER been hungry and have NO concept of how good home grown food tastes when compared with store bought food.
ONG..Im not even a third through this vid and I LOVE!! I've been to Europe several times and lived there in my early adulthood. I never understood why people in US didn't grow food in front. Europeans always joked with me on how American's like to destroy nature that takes care of it's self , o plant grass that you have to take care of and doesn't do anything. I love seeing front food gardens. Mine is messy, but people always stop; to talk how cool it is and teach their kids all the medicinal herbs growing along pumpkins :D Keep on growing in the front !!
I am glad I am someone who never understood empty grass yards. It is probably because my father used to be gardener and I used to follow him around when I was little. I can look at a grass yard and tell you how much artificial fertilizer and herbicides and pesticides it takes to maintain this great place for people to hang out on. Of course, I am sensitive to most of that stuff, so hell no, I see it as a toxic cesspool. Everybody else see paradise. Our environmental crisis in a nutshell. I had noticed in my last house, that many yards, while still grass, were NOT the water-hogging, chemical drenched cesspools. People had stopped watering their yards and they were ok with dandelions and clovers. Guess they decided toxins and dogs and children did not mix. I also saw a few yards develop gardens, including vegetable gardens, and those yards I loved. I enjoyed walking past them to see what was growing and changing. Yes, most yards there are still grass but at least in summer, they are not watering it. In my current location, while the older areas still have grass yards, in the desert, at least in newer neighborhoods, it is all xeriscape. I have noticed a few gardens. I have mine under shade cloth at the moment. I actually tried to turn my front yard into a garden and my neighbors reported me. That is when I discovered the city has a very restrictive front yard code. So we cleared our front yard. They do not regulate trees as far as I can tell though, so I have some fruit trees there now. I also snuck in a few planters where I grow some food. Many of these laws came into being in the 50s to the 70s, when the Rockwell image of grass lawns and mega-food production came in. Grow your own food? Yech! That's what giant agri companies are for! Thank goodness gardeners will always garden and some people are rediscovering it from gardeners. I think this whole "lawn" thing is actually an industrialization black hole: we are too rich to need to grow food ourselves. However, I always grow food because there are foods that the industrial complex does not grow. There are foods are taste so different homegrown vs industry grown that I do not even think of them as being the same food. Apparently, most people are ok with the food offered in the supermarkets and paying that. The entire "food desert" thing is the same problem: Poor people think of themselves as been too rich to need to grow food. Strangely, as I have said before, in my walks, I always notice plants and especially food plants, and the interesting observation is that there is no food desert. Any time I have noticed people growing plants, there are many edible plants among their landscape plants. Yes, they are too rich to recognize these plants as food. That actually is the problem with living in a society its residents view as being rich. There are many things people are too rich for. For example: expired foods - throw away because we are rich. dirty dishes in the sink - take out more dishes to use, because we are rich. Once I started noticing, oh well, I notice a lot of things.
I live in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and grow what I want where the sun benefits those plants. I grow FOOD IN THE FRONT too,in my lawn and my next door neighbor’s lawn on both sides. I have their permission.We need to be more self sufficient and we love to see food vines growing in the front.Now I’m eating the weeds 🌱🌿☘️and people are learning what is 🥗🍽🍲☕️edible that we consider weeds.Having a front yard food garden expands our food growing abilities and it is a classroom .💥☺️😉😉
With water conservation being such a hot topic, dont people realize that a soil that is full of humus and bark mulch growing veggies takes up much less water than a typical lawn. All the people crying about water usage/waste, not to mention all the non natural grass feed/weed chemicals that are applied at the cost of the home owner/demanded by hoa only to be washed into our water systems.
When I bought this house 11yrs ago my flowers were squash and tomatoes vining up the porch. Now flowerbed is strawberry,chive, asparagus with a nearly wild rose and spirea at each end. Tomatoes are in pots on porch. Have apricot and cherry tree in front yard. I encourage civic disobedience. Just do it.
Your absolutely correct. Where I presently living, the whole yard, front and back are heavily shaded. There's a few spots of sunshine.So I put 2 determinate tomatoes each in a fabric pot. Set them in the side front yard in the lil sunshine. I would grow a lot more in the front, side or back yard but too shady.
Until our culture changes, here is an idea that might be a compromise solution, especially for those who happen to be under an HOA. When I designed my front yard garden recently, I filled it with mostly lesser known edible plants that are also ornamental, such as Mediterranean herbs, pineapple guava, Chilean guava, and prickly pear. They look like ornamental landscaping rather than food and this also addresses the concern of people taking the food without permission as they would be less likely to take things they don’t recognize. These were also selected to be minimal maintenance and survive without irrigation in the Bay Area California but that may not apply in other regions.
Hilarious to read those hater comments. They're just showing how clueless they are. I attended a neighborhood party where I met new guys and when we introduced ourselves they said oh you're the guys with all that weeds in the frontyard. And I was nope that's green manure and ground cover
It's interesting how we have managed to make gardening both high-class and low-class at the same time....On one hand there's the images of expensive raised beds with expensive soil etc.... (I love raised bed FYI but the point is the pretty pictures creating a perceived barrier to entry) or your the low-class person planting things in ground because you can't afford enough food.... It keeps anyone in the middle dependent on the system.... Almost seems intentional some how
Hello Angela, I have been meaning to comment on this subject but so far, I have always been on my phone. Too long to type out a comment on my phone. You are correct that we have a "baked in" culture of what is considered a "proper" front yard and that veggies are meant to be grown away from the public view. I agree with your assessment that the appearance of wealth, etc., may be the at the root of it. I am betting though, that if you tried to point that out to the naysayers, they would be clueless to the concept. I will share with you one of the ways I believe how these concepts were passed along. I grew up in rural Washington in the early sixties. Life wasn't a lot different from the fifties and media was limited. Television programing was pretty homogenous and quite "Leave it to Beaver." I remember one of my childhood books was a picture book that showed a man and woman getting married, building a pretty brick house, planting little flowers and shrubs like little soldiers in a row, and then came the baby - perfect family, perfect home. I learned to garden from my parents and grandparents, who did the traditional till and plant rows of perfectly spaced, individual vegetables. Fruits were grown in their own, separate patches. It was considered as "normal" and "proper." I never had any reason to ever question that. It's just how things were done and that is the way I gardened for many years. Lucky for me, I am curious and am always learning new things. I first got interested in lasagna gardening and potagers. I had my neighborhood all abuzz the year that I turned the entire front yard into a gigantic garden. Many an older lady clucked their tongues at me and I'm pretty sure they thought I lost my mind. Lucky for me, I really started learning about permaculture and no dig methods the last few years. Where I live now, would be absolutely impossible to garden without these methods. My point is that this has been a slow transition. Not only did I have a need to use a different method, I had a desire to learn new methods. It is still a little hard for me to give up some of the tidiness that I was used to before, but I am learning to love the "crazy quilt" that I have going now. I bet most of the people who criticized, don't even know that they, don't know. This is where you come in. While most of them will scroll on, there are going to be a few someone's, who are just curious enough to want to know more. Those few may watch your content and maybe their practices will change. And that will trigger someone else, and so on, and so on.... You are doing the world a service. Kudos and keep up the good work. Cheers from your neighbor state.
I live in Santa Rosa, CA, which is part of "Wine Country", which is Sonoma County. The trendy thing here is for people to plant lots of wine grapes in their front yards! We do, however, have plenty of HOAs with their ridiculous yard regulations, one of which is forcing residents to maintain a green lawn even in the midst of a severe drought. (There are lawsuits to make this illegal.) I myself purposely avoided HOAs so I could do whatever I wanted. Not an issue in my neighborhood, plenty of neighbors have raised beds in their front yards; the people who get the stink-eye are the ones with bright green grass. I myself have mostly ornamentals out front (penstemons, salvias) with a smattering of edibles: Artichokes, tree collards, walking onions, etc.) All my really good stuff is in the back, about 2/3 garden and 1/3 chicken paradise.
My property is on a corner, with the house in the center. Both side and front yard are "front yards". So I do what's the best for me and my family. Only one neighbor wines, but he can't even keep his lawn alive, so I ignore him for the most. Everyone else in the neighborhood loves what I have done to the property.
On topic but different, I have had a very difficult time as a renter in a suburban area where a contracted lawn care company parentheses if you could call that parentheses has been ordered to mow my lawn… Picture of the front yard attempting to reach the neighborhood standard of curb appeal with a manicured lawn, although this company/person ignores the side yard so it looks overgrown on the edges which pisses off all the neighbors who are concerned about curb appeal anyway, and then picture my backyard which is 80% lawn and 20% patio space essentially, which has now been dominated by potted plants and planter boxes. The lawn care person insists on riding a riding mower into the backyard which hardly fits and takes about two passes to mow the lawn. It’s not a large yard. Because the riding mower consistently smashes through the cloth growing pots and destroys things in its path, I politely asked the lawn care person who is not under my employ, to simply ignore the backyard and focus on the front yard. I am in danger of retribution from the rental company because I have done this even though I am maintaining the backyard space on my own, no help from the paid “lawn care person”. Imagine that. And I am growing food, not marijuana and not just flowers LOL I had to clarify because I live in Humboldt County.
I was laid off 2013 & couldn’t afford the $600/mo water bill for grass. Wanting to grow food on my acre. After spending $1,000/yr to take weeds out I covered it in wood chips, for free. My friends, neighbors & family hate it. I know I’m rebuilding my depleted soil. Will work on front yard next year hoping for a food forest.
Im in UK and I now have a area I can grow in my front garden (Yard) at moment its got a tree (palm type) no use to me, and thats it, its covered in shale/slate and weed membrane. We would like a food forest but possibly with a picket fence round to use to grow things up plus I’ve always dreamed of one. Its on a hill so it looks like a huge raised bed as low retaining wall on 3 sides but cannot wait to get started. I think food forests look beautiful and I can pop some flowers in there if I chose to. If you grow veg while food forest establishing do you chop and drop the leaves once you’ve harvested? Size is about 4 meters x 8 meters
I put 7-9 bush beans in another fabric pot. And one more fabric pot with oragano, parsley and basil. Another fabric pot with dill but it's not doing so great. This is my first time in 30 years I'm growing anything
No front or back lawn here. Yep that was somewhat controversial at first. Now the front is packed with fruit and berry trees and veg. I also have what some would call "ornamental" but I choose those carefully ensuring that they are good pollinators. Every year it has been getting more beautiful & productive and gets constant compliments from the community. Many have taken my lead and have planted fruit/nut/berry in their front yards and have nixed their lawns. Personally I think front veg gardens are beautiful. My front garden design is one of predominantly shade. I concentrate there more on wildlife habitat/pollinators etc. Strict rules I toss out :) My objective is resilience for me, my community and the environment while creating a space that is enjoyable for me and my community.
i personally would love to see others use their front yards to grow food for their family. perhaps if more people did, there would be more conversation between those who know how and those who would like to know how. we wouldn't lose the skills of gardening such as those lovely, beautiful 'overstuffed' italian gardens. it would produce food as well as community.
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I heard a story from an Asian immigrant (I think Vietnamese) say how confused they were to arrive in the wealthy U.S., and see no food growing in people's yards. They imagined wealth meaning food security and abundance. That insight has been very informative to how I think of wealth. Keep on keeping on gardeners!
People need to realize that this is how we can be more resilient in the coming troubles.
I have a small front yard and I'm the only one on my street that grows food on it. My son (11) and all his friends help me, they love it, people always stop and look. Growing food in your front yard can inspire others and if just one of these kids grow up and grows their own then job done.
I have wanted chickens for decades. My mom raised chickens, I know how to raise chickens. I got my first chickens last December. These kids will remember this experience. You're getting them at the best time. 🙂
well done!
@@michellejarvis7878 they're illegal in many places because of the diseases they carry. I personally prefer plants. I mean if you really want to do that - I'm not going to stop you - just make sure it's really far away from anyone.
I wish I could see a picture of it. I actually give people around me seeds and plants to grow their own food.
I live in a neighborhood where 99% of the houses are on 1/3-1/2 acre lots that are all grass. My front lawn is where the sun is so that is where the raised bed veg will be. Lucky to not have an HOA but the grass police are very vocal. My plan is to ignore them until they run out of gas. And, when I have extra, give them a bowl of fresh picked tomatoes. We need to be brave and grow food.
If you need to, there are ways to hide edible plants in 'flower' borders that are 'acceptable" to the lawn police. Actually you will notice landscapers use edible plants for landscape - kales, rosemaries, roses, daylilies, cannas, sweet potatoes, amaranths, lots of edible trees, etc. I actually use artichokes and asparagus as landscape plants in front. They are quite beautiful plants and most people do not recognize their leaves/ferns as vegetable plants.
where I live, as long as the size of the plants are small, then there's not much law enforcement gets concerned about. If you really want to do your neighborhood dirty - you can just grow edible grass - like tiger nut sedges and oats, etc. Or grow what looks like grass but isn't - like spinach, microgreens, and other leafy greens.
hey you sound like you live where I live - except I ripped out my grass for fake grass and implemented a plant sanctuary for the flower bed area.
I disagree with the commenter who told you to hide your edibles in flower beds. Have your veggies proudly growing on full display in your raised beds!! Many raised beds!! If you can afford the raised beds from Birdies or Vego are very practical and sometimes on sale. I have a slew of Vego beds in my no-lawn front yard veggie garden, and I don't give a fig about the synthetic sterile toxic lawns at my neighbors' homes, and their grotesque sheared-to-death bizarrely-shaped foundation plantings in their front yards. My non-veggie front yard and back yard plants are all native perennials and shrubs -- the latter very minimally pruned and left to grow naturally.
@@lanialost1320 "Hide" isn't exactly hide. There are plenty of food plants used in landscaping. Sweet potatoes, for example. Fantastic plants, amazingly mild, barely blanched edible leaves available most of the year that is a landscaping plant. Amaranths, lots of brassicas, lots of radishes, peppers - all decorative edible plants actually used in traditional landscapes. Roses, lots of flowers. Tons of vines. Of course, if you can have obvious vegetable beds that tell your neighbors to grow food, the definitely go for it. Everyone should actually be using any empty spaces to grow some food.
I think your "yard" is absolutely BEAUTIFUL. As my daughters would say, "Haters are gonna hate." And here's the thing: there's this house that I drive past on my way to work. A few years ago, the people living there put up a little greenhouse and planted what looks like several fruit trees, berry vines, etc. I would stop at the stop sign and look across at that yard and think, "That yard just looks like an overgrown mess." But the other morning (after I had watched your videos and was sad by how mean people can be), when I stopped at the stop sign and looked at the house, it was like a light bulb came on. That yard is a permaculture yard...it is that person's effort to grow their own food and be more sustainable. I realized I had been just as judgmental as some of the people who commented on your videos (although I at least had the decency to keep my opinions to myself!). So watching your follow up today, I have to say that the "yard bias" ingrained in us runs pretty deep. Even those of us who have our own gardens and are supportive of what you're doing may find ourselves perpetuating the "lawn" bias and not even realize we're doing it. So thank you for your honesty and for your passion for permaculture. Keep your chin up in spite of all the criticism and just know that you are doing what's right for the earth, and your message is getting through to some of us.
New realizations/learnings are such a gift through life! And I find I learn best from mistakes, and they can be thought mistakes too so I'm always extra delighted to have my own assumptions corrected.
❤
I'm a renter in a large city (Toronto) and all I have access to is a front yard! And I'm thankful to have even that, since I've always lived in mid/high rise apartment buildings before. The idea that food crops shouldn't be grown in the front yard is classist and ridiculous for so many reasons.
I’m also a renter and only able to garden in a limited, front yard (and deck) space. I just witnessed two children halting their (I’m presuming) parents mid-walk to inspect my veggies. I wish more people viewed front yard food gardens with the wonder of children.
@@elizabethvictoria5537 I love it! Definitely have noticed many kids being curious about my garden. I'm next to a bus stop so I get a lot of foot traffic of people waiting to get on the bus.
Last year I saw a little boy excitedly pointing at some of my zinnias, and his mom said "sorry he's so loud - his favourite colour is pink and he really likes all your flowers!" I cut a flower, handed it to him, and he got SO happy to bring it on the bus with him. Moments like that are so special!
Have had similar experiences while picking mulberries from my tree (and asking if kids would like to try eating one)
I am always wondering if I can eat the lavenders and the rose hips I accidentally planted in my front yard. There is so much salt in the street for the snow and ice in winter. I hope the plants won’t absorb those salt but I am not sure, so I finally have to propagate them and grow more in my backyard. A problem in the North
My daughter left TO for Winnipeg last November. Happily the front yard of her low-rise apartment/condo building has a raised bed for each unit. Such a blessing. 😊
i was trucking back and forth to a far patch to garden until i saw your channel. This year I put my garden right off my carport right where the front yard used to be. Now it's wild and beautiful and right there where i can tend to my heart's content. Then i put in a hoophouse greenhouse in my driveway and a chicken coop just on the other side of the garden. I can watch my babies from my porch! I feel so much joy just walking out my door in the morning. Please never stop educating the world! We need you!
I am blown away that people are so offended by a beautiful lush garden! Wow. I think it's absolutely charming. And there is nothing more satisfying than growing your own food.
It pains me to praise any part of our horrific state government but thankfully here in Florida the state Supreme Court ruled recently that municipalities can't forbid front yard gardens. The case originated in an upper middle class "village" here in Miami.
I always say that in Miami, you can look at a house and immediately tell whether the owners are Americans or immigrants. How? Americans will have a big lawn with nothing in it-- no fruits, no vegetables, sometimes not even a shade tree. One of my dad's (from Trinidad) favorite lines was "why would I plant a tree in the yard that doesn't benefit me?"
I live in an area where most are from the Caribbean/Latin America. Nearly every house has *some* food growing in the both the front and back yard. Mango, coconut, avocado, papaya, lychee, breadfruit, pigeon pea, etc. Even people with money will plant a mango or something. Most came from places where growing at least some of your own food was necessary.
Contrast that with when I visited a family friend in Tampa last month. I was so disturbed to see lawn after lawn after lawn of just... nothing. It was very weird, almost dystopian. This compulsion to signal wealth and status to your neighbors despite the very obvious negative externalities is just one manifestation of a deep social disorder.
"almost dystopian" YES
I've lived in Florida for almost 12 years and agree with you.
Americans also just don't know how food grows. I assume it's an urban thing since I live in a big city but maybe it isn't?
Fabulous comment!! Agree with every word. I remember that couple who stood up to their unconstitutional municipality that had demanded the couple remove all their front yard veggies. The couple had a a non-profit legal advocacy group take on their case resulting in that fantastic judicial ruling!
I’ve been inviting people to deconstruct the notion of housing as commodity, and the things you say are spot on. While I have recently started to emphasize ways of increasing beauty through the study of art, ultimately permaculture principles are more important. We need to create “spaces of belonging” and criminalizing nature is just ridiculous really. Also since just like me you intentionally chose to live in a home without HOA that should give enough reason for those critics to stay in their lane. Freedom of choice, right?
Yes!! The whole idea that our homes are a way to make some quick cash when we sell and “property value” is all that matters is not a healthy one. We need to live in and enjoy and use our homes!
"CRIMINALIZING NATURE" -this is the best thing I've seen, besides this channel. Angela is such a radical!
Fortunately I'm from the developing Caribbean, there are no real rules about what we can do. Once your neighbors don't object to the smell or a health hazard, we're good.
@@michellejarvis7878 People like boring it seems, which is a shame - as the world used to be so creative - which is how we built civilization to begin with! I love seeing people's creativity, which inspires me to do better - the uniqueness is a treasure trove of beauty and intellect! Those homes in Jamaica are definitely ones I aspire to - hibiscus, etc.
Awe my two favorite gardeners in one comments section!
how can they "deconstruct the notion" when it's a legal reality? I also think housing should be de commodified but just asking ppl to believe it doesn't make it so.
"The yield is a perpetuation of classism"
I love this phrasing
I've been thinking about the permaculture minded question that you posed a few videos back - the problem is the solution. The problem, as I see it, is that the naysayers haven't been exposed to anything other than the idea that a well-manicured lawn is ideal. The solution is exposure to alternatives, seeing its benefits, and seeing how many people embrace it. Unfortunately, that lands you and your lovely ecosystem in the middle of the paradigm shift. You're doing a fantastic job of keeping your cool, and responding logically with the intent to educate. Thank you for helping turn the tide!
Our neighbors tell us it's awesome that we ripped up our 1/4 acre grass front lawn to put in a permaculture garden with fruit trees, a natural swimming pond, and annual veggie beds. I don't think they're lying (and really just think we're weird), but even if they are, we can live with that.
It’s like that in Australia too❣️ My neighbours have a beautiful manicured ornamental garden. It’s very beautifully designed with a great selection of trees etc. And there is me. Fruit trees flowers and vegetables mulched with wood chips. Only grass is that which grows through the crushed rock in my driveway. I’m even considering converting part of my large driveway into a garden/food Forrest.
My front yard has 4 raised veggie beds, and tons of flowers. I’ve only ever had positive feedback! And tons of people peeking over the little fence ❤️
I have the same type of front yard, with raised veggie beds and native plants and shrubs, but none of my neighbors or passers-by ever stop by or respond to my friendly hi or waves. Really unfriendly where I live on the east coast. The only praise for my front yard came from a French family who was posted to USA by their company, and they were renting a house near me -- they told me as soon as they saw my front yard that they knew it wasn't owned by an American -- it's true because I'm of Indian descent and grew up in Europe. My neighbors all have sterile chemical lawns and the most depressing static foundation plantings, and the highlight of their lives is to show off their flashy expensive SUVs, while hubby and me love our 16 yr and 18 yr old cars!!
I live in New Zealand. I only have a front yard and it’s packed to the brim with flowers, vege plots, fruit trees, a little pond and previously chickens!
I’m on a busy road with lots of people out walking and people always look in and see what’s going on and what I have changed around.
It’s a great way to meet the neighbours! Everyone stops to chat, I love it!
Sadly newly built subdivisions have started all those stupid covenants restricting what can go on in someone’s property, I hate that.
Thank you for trying to educate us. I live in the Appalachian mountains of VA outside a small town always had a garden and my mom and were raised on farms. So we always picked berries and then in fall we all went out to load up on nuts for winter. So that you again for sharing your had work and great garden
I also think that front yard gardens can be beautiful, artful and very helpful to our bees and butterflies. veggies and flowers look beautiful together.
Thanks Angela. Food for thought as having some anxiety about losing the small front lawn and introducing food on a house purchased 10 months ago. I’ve landscaped the back garden with Swales and mostly annuals for now, and that has blown my neighbours minds so had some comments, & you’re right, I don’t owe them a lawn to enable their unconscious bias, just like I don’t owe them a perfect body to look at. I live in the U.K. and the lawn bias is alive and well. You should see the looks of disgust and dismay when I forage, like the food is dirty if it’s not bought in a shop. Even the poor will leave the fruit to rot on the ground and go to a food bank rather than pick it.
I think a lot of it is also fear and ignorance of nature, we’re so disconnected from nature and how our food is grown that most people can’t recognize edibles in nature and are too scared of bugs or germs.
@@AlicedeTerre you're so right. People are used to seeing perfect sterile looking supermarket produce in plastic wrap, and most don't know about all the disgusting unhealthy stuff it's been grown in. Poop from factory farmed species full of bacteria, hormones & antibiotics, slaughterhouse byproducts like blood/ fish & bone 🤢 pesticides etc, yet they believe an organic tree growing on a street is producing dirty fruit.
I concur 110%. Thank you for your integrity. I want to see it more than turf grass. Our outdated aesthetics are killing us............generally the sunny part of the most people's property is the front yard....for those that don't have the courage to deal with criticism or with the jackboots in their HOA, I recommend growing edible ornamentals in the front year, like loquats, fejoia, rugosa roses, pindo palm, and hundreds of edible flowers and ground covers.
I am also breaking down this mental hurdle. We are new homeowners and I've been feeling paralyzed w fear bc of what the neighbors are going to think. I'm even afraid to use a rake in the front yard. I'm sure I'm doing it wrong and some Richard is going to come tell me so. No one has even said anything to me. Just shows you how deep this stuff goes and how important it is to call it into inquiry. Always asking me to think things, Angela. 🧡 u for that, teacher.😊
When we bought our farmhouse there were already large flower beds out front. I’ve been transitioning them to perennial herbs, roses, useful native flowers and even some annual veggies like bush beans tucked in and around the other plants. I love it, and my neighbors enjoy it. The plants are beautiful and useful. We fortunately do not have an HOA, and many neighbors have added veggie beds to their sunny front and side yards when they have shady back yards. I have lots of sunny space, so most of my veggies are in other parts of the property. We are blessed with 3 suburban acres, so I’m trying to slowly add fruit trees, berries and gardens in a thoughtful way so I can increase our resiliency and bless the neighbors with what we can grow.
Again! Home run! I grew up in a small town in 70s and 80s near Amish country. At that time, most people including my family grew much of our produce and bought local. But I remember as a kid being embarrassed that we had to eat from a garden and not from supermarket. I thought only poor people did that. Because my more affluent friends had no gardens! It was necessity at that time for my family because we had finicicial pressures. Now I am soooo grateful for learning from that and my parents and grandparents. But
where I live - it's strange - but they're the only ones with gardens, as they can afford it.
I got into gardening because of my grandparents having beautiful rows of lettuce, and the best tasting tomatoes that I wondered why I'd ever go back to a grocery store.
I started growing food in my front yard about 20 years ago before I knew anything about permaculture. Now my front yard is about 90% permaculture. I hope this video goes much more viral than the meme. I plant a lot of flowers in the front for the pollinators. I live in suburbia and I get many positive comments on my garden. I will share some photos later.
“Why is it that we think we have a right to tell somebody that their yard and their garden must be performative in nature and must appeal to us, a total stranger” 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
Angela, maybe you could make an episode of edibles that hide in plain sight. Last year someone in a neighboring city posted that they had created raised beds in their front yard, and had been cited by the city because 'front yards were for ornamental plants only'. I suggested that they hide their edibles in plain sight until the ordinance could be challenged and changed. Sweet potatoes vines are extremely ornamental. Rhubarb has gorgeous large leaves, and blueberry shrubs have beautiful fall color. A dwarf cherry tree could also be incorporated. There are many 'ornamental' peppers, so pepper plants should also be acceptable. Strawberries or thyme could be used as a ground cover. Many pole beans have multicolored flowers, so they could trellis those. Mars Landing kale is a beautiful bronze color. Carrots have airy. lacy foliage. All parts of hosta plants are edible. It is sad that subterfuge was needed, but at least they didn't lose a whole growing season while challenging the city.
I love this idea!
@@ParkrosePermaculture current bushes make great hedges, daylilies... most herbs are very decorative especially variegated
i have red veined sorrrel and good king henry as border plants.
most fruit plants can be grown as decorative plants- especially cherry trees and so on
I find front yards with food plans growing really beautiful. There a few that I saw walking around Cupertino, CA.
True Food TV RUclips channel did a video on this subject. It was really interesting. She said that the people that want a lawn to lay on the see the stars at night should just have a patch of lawn the size of a bed and let the rest of the yard go wild.
My mother grew up during the Great Depression. She said they kept their yards swept because it was foolish and too time consuming to waste time on grass when they needed to grow food and chickens and pigs and do laundry and clean the house and just take care of the family and survival. We have come a long way! Not necessarily in the right direction either! I am growing food in my front yard and will continue!! Keep it up! :)
I am redesigning my front yard to be a pretty, functional with little grass! I just planted blueberry and blackberry in a sunny nook, planting mint in the shady part. chamomile and lemon balm, elephant ears(dasheen), kale... there's options for "pretty veggies" and other things that are edible.
We can have pretty and edible, and I think we need to make that more normal before we can grow corn in the front yard and be normal.
@@tiffles699 Yes... I agree. I'm all for keeping it appealing to the eye as well. As in corn to the side or back! :) Yours sounds lovely!!
Well said! One of the first things I did when I bought my house was put a bunch of fruit trees and shrubs in the front yard. The vegetables came a few years later and I chose things like carrots, beets, and kale to fill in between the flowers.
As well as looking at "performance" for our needs/wants, we have lost the ability to see the natural world around our homes as habitat for birds/bees/microbes, etc. Storing carbon in the soil, supporting the life that creates healthy soil, etc., is necessary for all living systems which, in turn, gives us a life worth living.
I'd encourage those critics to "put their negative opinions in their mental backyard" so we need not see them.
Ha!!! I love this!
Really WELL said. I totally agree with you. Why waste water, money, time on things that just to appeal others' stigma. Grow things that can feed you, your family, and your soul. You are very inspiring to me, and I am doing very similar thing to our new home as well. Cheers from Victoria, Canada.
Hi, I absolutely love this video. I am Armenian myself married to an American, and I have my raised gardens here, I have planted 23 fruit trees and 17 berry bushes, bananas, pineapples in my front yard, side yards and backyard and I support every word in this video. You are sooooo right, Americans are ridiculously obsessed with grass that has NO other value other than killing the life cycles of nature. Please keep doing what you are doing, we can change their mindset and front-yarding behavior.
Love this video! Interesting point about the 'right' of other people to tell us what to do and yards as extensions of our bodies/image. I love flowers and the creatures they attract so I made my front yard the flower garden.There was no apparent grass when I bought the house but now the old yard grass is growing back and it is a nightmare to eradicate: it is the worst 'weed' ever, it chokes everything!
One of the reasons I bought the house I'm in was that it has a decent sized yard which allows me to grow fruits and vegetables! I figured back then that if times got tough it would be an investment in self sufficiency! It's far from what I envisioned it being at the moment, but I have several fruit trees and a garden. My yard wasn't and isn't anyone's ideal for gardening. Originally, I grew vegetables in a small space in my back yard and just had flowers in the front yard. Now, my garden is in my front and west side yards (and soon east side yard!). Part of this is due to changing shade conditions. I had a lovely, large maple tree in the front yard which shaded most of that space. Sadly, it began dying and had to be cut back severely. It's slated for removal along with two fruit trees I planted to replace it due to road improvements. Your yard is beautiful and full of life!
Make sure to keep all the bits from the maple tree. It can be used to edge beds, as garden furniture or art, or as filler for your beds, pots, or as mulch. It always hurts me to see plant stuff thrown into the trash destined for landfills.
Idk where you live, but I'd share my seeds with you if I ever could.
Angela, you are the embodiment of the "do no harm, but take no sh*t" ethic. You are my hero!
Everyone that passes by, always stops for a chat. Many are copying our idea, and that makes me very happy ❤
We bought acreage in Central Kentucky a few years back that has been mowed down in the front for years by our next door neighbor (previous owner of the land) to the point where I would hear the lawnmower every five days as he cut it shorter and shorter to the point it was brown without being water deprived! I hate it so much so I have been following along on your videos to find a way to bring that part of our land back to what it may have once been with native grasses, flowers, and trees. I plan to have the whole front yard a wildflower/pollinator garden for our huge market garden, which is right in the front as well!
I love your sustainability ideals and how you articulate the stigmas and indoctrinated practices we have in our culture and the ways in which it is not sustainable for our land. You're an absolute inspiration, so keep on doing what you're doing. The ones that get it will always understand your reasoning. Those who don't will be begging at your door when the global food supply crashes!
💜💜💜 your viewpoint and your practices!
hope this brilliantly explained video goes viral like that meme☺️👏🏻
At same time I feel deep sorry for those unconscious folks who coming at u and your beautiful garden🥰
My veggie garden is primarily on the south side of my house and since it is a corner lot, it's still really visible. I get nothing but positive comments from people in the neighborhood. If my house faced south, I would have my veggie beds there.
Your videos are very, very well done! They are extremely factual, and while you have definite preferences/biases, the information you send out is not critical nor emotional and very professionally articulated. You bring out your points in a very non threatening and non-accusatory way which draws people to listen to what you have to say. Thank you!
I really appreciate this (for me) timely post.
For context, my family and I just moved to 3 acres (zoned rural agricultural) just outside a smallish/mediumish southern city. The area is undergoing some large growth and the first thing that any “older” resident says to me is, “it’s just not the way it used to be- so many people moving in” (and I have to politely remind them that my family ARE those people). We are energetically and excitedly setting up a small homestead (layers, turkeys, guinea, large garden in back, pigs rotated in the back wood line, etc), and in the FRONT we have two Salatin style broiler pens that we move twice a day and have spread about 60 yards of mulch on the front strip with plans to plant fruit/nut/canes/flowers/veggies this fall. We are loving our dream!!!!!
One older gentleman walks his dog every morning and we chat as I take a break from moving mulch. There are two topics of conversation: 1) observing that maybe it’s time to mow the grass again/asking why we put the chickens out front and 2) he laments about how he misses homegrown XYZ and how prices are too expensive.
Until I watched your video I felt basically only annoyance at his policing of my yard (especially when his small dog poops in my yard right in front of me, he comments on it, and then doesn’t pick it up), but actually now I feel a bit of compassion of him. He is trapped in his own notions of what his lawn should look like. He could have homegrown everything but he won’t ever because it doesn’t conform to his internalized notions.
So thanks for this video!
Make sure to comment, when he complains, how you grow your own stuff and generally as not locked into supermarket prices. And that your chickens in front are helping with that, instead of relying on price-gouging industrial producers. Maybe one day he will actually hear you.
@@yeevita right now I’m trying to lean into the sadness without covering it with anger. Like, we have a generation (boomers) whose parents fought for civilization, had skills/gardens, and they didn’t seem to (on the whole) inherit those skills. And so now my elder millennial self feels like I have to relearn it with clucking boomers all around. Oh dang, I got angry again. Oh well!
@@rtom675 Lol. It's ok. Sounds like how I feel when people say there are food deserts and I take a walk around or watch their videos and see tons of food that they are too good to eat in the background, plus lots of empty yards. I also saw a gardening project in one of those food deserts, where they built garden boxes for people and planted it out and all these people had to do was water. Most of the boxes died. So again, too rich to grow their own food. Not sure when Americans learned this helplessness, but they did. I think all we can do is our best and a comment and example here and there and hope it changes one mind. Go hang out in the garden. It usually picks me up from sadness and anger quite well. Not to mention, munching on stuff out there is good for us!
Hooray for you being a trend setter!! I was shocked to hear/see so many judgmental comments about your front yard garden! Sad we are in times of people thinking that there is only one way/place to do a garden (or anything else for that matter!) I have been to 15 countries (mostly in Europe) and when people have even the smallest amount of space (front, back or even a balcony) they grow what they can & it always includes some kind of vegetables. I bought a house last year to get out of an HOA especially so I could have more yard to garden. I wanted to do a cottage type garden in my small front yard that would include vegetables, fruits or whatever I could plant! Interestingly enough, once I moved in I realized I have very limited sun in the back yard & more sun in the front yard so it fit into my plan perfectly! Since Covid-19 began we've all experienced limited food & supplies, now with inflation, I'm even more grateful I've had a place to grow fresh produce & not pay the ridiculous prices at the store!! Who knows maybe one day the "naysayers" will be grateful someone in their neighborhood had the initiative like you, to grow a garden (no matter where it is) since it may be the only source of fresh food they have! Keep up the good work :)
Just a few thoughts as someone who has watched tons of your videos and is a subscriber, but isn’t at all interested in doing permaculture:
In our front yard here near the edge of the Portland metro suburban area, I designed our front yard with lots of native and non native plants with an ornamental but also wildlife focus. I’ve been inspired by many garden channels coming from the UK. It’s an alpine rock garden that incorporates lots of native plants and non native plants, some rare and hard to grow and many regional natives such as alpine larch, western larch, and even sage brush. My focus is wildlife friendliness and creating habitat for wildlife while creating an alpine look that i love.
The “yield” that it brings is enjoyment of my garden. It has blueberries, huckleberries, and other berry plants that wildlife are able to use too. And I primarily let wildlife use them and harvest just a little. I’m in the middle of suburban houses with green lawns and typical ornamental layouts. But everyone loves it when they pass by. I’ve let the bushes grow tight and dense, using lots of wildflowers, grasses, and shrubs for wildlife to have cover, nesting sites, and food.
I am growing some crops such as blueberries, raspberries, lettuce, tomatoes, and pumpkins, but my primary focus is ornamental flowers that benefit wildlife as much as it looks beautiful. I have tons of exotic plants in the backyard including over 100 dahlias, but I also have tons of native plants mixed in, and soon plan to be certified by the backyard habitat program.
I’ve always admired your garden and all the food you produce, and absolutely defend you 100%, as someone who’s seen tons of European gardening channels. But I also don’t believe growing food for yourself and permaculture is always necessary. You can still have extremely wildlife friendly gardens that isn’t boring old grass and perfectly spaced and manicured shrubs. I also agree growing veg in the front should be allowed and accepted anywhere, but don’t think it’s something everyone needs to do to do good for the environment. Wildlife gardening with natives and even many non natives (many of which provide cover and food), can do a tremendous good to wildlife and the local environment. All throughout springs and summer I’ve seen dozens of birds at a time in the garden, tons of wildlife (even a hawk), and so many insects. Letting your plants (even ornamental and exotic ones) grow a little wilder and denser has tremendous wildlife benefit. I think that way, wildlife gardens that are beautiful, is the first step to getting non traditional front “yards” accepted here. A more traditional wildlife garden is a lot easier to convince society to get used to, than the more typical permaculture gardens which, no offense intended, tend to look overgrown and “messy.” Yours is beautiful in its “messy” and lush look, but I can also understand how some may be scared by such an idea heh. Wildlife gardening is easier to get people to do, because they put design and ornamental beauty equal to wildlife friendly features (such as no lawn, lots of wildflowers and dense plantings of shrubs and trees).
Thank you for sharing your experience! And yes to bringing in the wildlife! They are part of our community, too!
With you 100% on this, Angela. My husband and I are looking to move to a different part of our state and one of the criteria is finding “right to farm”communities because we can’t imagine living in a place where permaculture design is restricted.
You know you’re with the big leagues when the haters start showing up and attacking you!!!!! Congratulations 🍾🎈🎊🎉 KEEP GROWING!!!!
Stay strong. Glad I found your channel. Feeling like I found long lost family ✌️💚
The very same people that try to force you into their idea of what a garden should look like are the first ones that would scream "But muh rights!" when they are told to do something.
Right!? It’s rugged individualism and maintaining the status quo somehow.
@@paige.eats.plants1887 right?! Cowboys and conforming together in one crazy American dream!
I was just gonna say I bet the overlap of small government folks and people who complained is probably pretty high. The cognitive dissonance is huge.
This is a really thoughtful way to approach this topic. I totally agree that lawns are useless, hard to maintain, and provide very little benefit. Thank you for talking about this subject.
I loved all of the points you went through in this video and agree that it's definitely worth stopping and checking our bias when we start to pass judgement on another person's choices.
We also chose a property specifically that did not have any restrictive covenants when we were looking for land earlier this year (I've never seen an HOA up here in BC but some neighbourhoods have very strict covenants). Happily the area where we ended up in a very old neighbourhood where we have a pretty 50/50 mix of neighbours who grow very ornamental, very manicured lawns, and then neighbours who have full orchards in their front yards. I don't feel at all strange for planting fruit trees in my front yard and slowly getting rid of the grass :) I've even had a few neighbours comment on how good our sun exposure is and ask if I'm planning on putting a veggie garden out front!
Stay safe and cool. Front yard food gardens are some the best gardens. Imagine sharing the beauty of fresh food with your neighbors. Imagine being able to share something if you want with a passerby. Imagine showing your gardening skills to everyone so that if they have a question, they know an expert they can ask. Imagine if you don't harvest, you can ask your neighbors to help themselves. Imagine inspiring another person to follow your front food garden path. Imagine showing everyone how you are so smart you can grow food for your family and maybe save money--gee you are so smart! Imagine spending less time and effort to get a yield than you would to grow a lawn and some foundation plants. Imagine supporting wildlife diversity and soil health with your garden of food. Imagine taking a bit of stress off of the food chain/food security by growing some of your own food.
Great eye -opening, thought-provoking, enjoyable video.This is good to unpack and helps to think outside the box, literally, outside the lawn box. Love the discussion and (the Swiss outfit, it goes with a European tone of the video). Keep up the great work !
I live in a 'quadruplex' and only have access to a small shady backyard, but the landlords gave me the okay to grow on the boulevard along the street (something that is encouraged here in Victoria, BC). I get so many nice comments and conversations while I'm out there vs. working in the back. Growing visibly opens up conversations, there are people who keep track of what I'm growing and I often see parents explaining to their kids that 'that is how your food grows'.
As an aside, part of the reason why you probably got so many crappy comments on your garden is the awful algorithm that FB has set up to encourage 'rage clicks'. It's increasing divisiveness on social media! The podcast 'Behind the Bastards' did a great episode on FB that is worth a listen to better understand how these posts end up blowing up (assuming you don't know already).
Viewer from Baltimore, MD. This resonates with me. My backyard has mature black walnut trees that shade it in summer especially. I have 'resorted' to growing food in my front yard
My front yard is edible flowers along with grassy area. My back yard is vegetable garden along with berries and other perennial foods and herbs and 3 honeybee hives it just works good for us. Enjoyed this video. Thank you. God Bless you.
We have herbs, greens and various other veggies in our front yard. I can't say I've ever had issues with it, even with semi-permanent rabbit fencing around it. We do put in some random annuals to dress it up a little (sunflowers, etc). There is a bit of screening with native plants that will fill in and make it nearly unnoticeable from the street. I can't wait until it's "fully hidden" in plain sight.
We did take some time to carefully landscape the rest of the front yard with native grasses, trees and shrubs so that it looks fairly tidy from the street (staggered placement, different colors and textures, a few rows of perennial flowers, decorative rocks, etc). I think there's a careful blend of landscaping and native plants that can check a lot of boxes (both appearance and function). I think I will eventually prune my shrubs to be a little more on the tidy side, as to not appear overgrown or unkempt. Decorative plants can still have lots of function, and I'm ok with folks thinking that they're strictly decorative. Those in the know, know better 👍
Even if you aren't allowed to plant vegetables in a front yard there are probably permaculture-adjacent things you can do; I'm thinking of planting very fast-growing plants, for example, and using them for making compost, mulch or even biochar; focusing on ornamentals from the approved list that are nitrogen fixers, or great for pollinators; or perhaps an "ornamental" pond that can provide habitat for amphibians.
Here in the UK we don't call it a "front yard" and "back yard" but rather "front garden" and "back garden", even if it's entirely laid to lawn. Maybe this difference in language is part of the difference in attitude. That said, my front garden is truly tiny (about one meter between the front of the bay window of the house and the edge of the property), and being NE-facing with a brick wall, doesn't get enough sun for much of anything. The back garden is larger, maybe .03 of an acre. I do have multiple allotment plots, though, which brings my growing space up to a tenth of an acre.
My husband was a young boy during WWII. His dad grew a reward winning Victory Garden.
I am in Salem Oregon and my whole yard is garden front sides and back.
Haters gonna hate.
I love looking at other peoples’ gardens, especially food gardens! People love having their gardens admired - gushing over their work is how you end up with free seeds, cuttings, starts, divisions and produce and friends! 😂
In the process of changing our front yard into an “HOA friendly” food forest ❤️ why spend so much time working on grass I never use!!
Classism is going to be the end of humanity
I needed this rant. Thank you!
I love your yard as it is. It is a living beautiful garden. No front yard in the Garden of Eden. It was all garden. I haven’t started to grow in my front yard because that is my husbands domain and the backyard is mine. However, I plan on adding cabbages in between the date palms come spring lol. Large cabbage plants are beautiful. I would stop defending your garden if your neighbors, city, and family like it that is all that matters. If it brings you joy don’t let the haters upset you. Keep planting and being you 🥰❤️
while i have to keep much wider paths (we are disabled and mobility issues trump garden space) so i cant cram as much into what was a front lawn when i moved in...i find that just adding a TON of "edible but pretty" and "pollination friendly flowering plants" while edging the borders of the walkways neatly? has kept the whole thing looking pretty nice.
my front area is in two parts (a narrow on one side of the driveway and a wide area in front of the house)
on the narrow side i have a "lavender garden" (8 or more lavender plants, a columnar apple tree, a beauty berry bush but also LOTS of herbs, decorative/edible sorrel, other pernennial flowers, and a few strawberries... then a path i reseeded with clover, and then a section with aronia, a dwarf mulberry, and more sorrel and good king henry... then we go back to the maple tree that was there before and after that its no longer "in front" of the house but on the side.
on the main "front lawn" i have roses- so many roses- a hedge of black currants, a red currant bush, 4 apple trees (kept very small) one columnar apple i am hoping will pull through, honeyberries, three different thornless blackberries (june, july, august) i dont even know how many coneflowers (echinacea) bee balm, agastache, daylilies, strawberries, more lavender, various perennials mostly edible, sorrel, good king henry, lemon balm...
and a seperate herb garden section
and i get COMPLIMENTED routinely on my yard.
now i do have wide visible paths, a decorative statue, and ... an absurd amount of bird feeders... so its not the typical layout of a food growing yard, but still... theres a lot of food or "food if i choose to harvest it" in the case of the sorrels and the herbs
PS, please! fellow gardeners when planning a garden, think carefully about how much width in the paths you will need in the future. i used to be fine with a narrow path between vegetable beds, but i can no longer manage unless i have room to sit, maybe use a cane, and so on. when we moved i planned everything for a walker or wheelchair
Gonna have to binge watch your videos for some inspiration as to how expand. I've been wanting to get rid of my lawn for years, and expand my 20m x 6m section that I currently have allocated to fruit and vege's. Want and need more produce, as big as my area is, it's not enough to feed our family.
Our back yard only has enough sun to keep mostly cropping plants healthy right in the center, and we've always had dogs that are jerks about digging in and pooping on gardens. I still sneak some vining plants, large sunflowers, and herb planters back there but it's so disappointing when. I put raised beds in our front yard and it's a great way to actually spend time in an area that goes basically unused in most neighborhoods. I see my neighbors WAY more than I would otherwise, and now several of our neighbors have added raised veg beds to their yards as well!
I really like the idea of permaculture...it makes sense and it is aligned with nature. I grew up in rural Virginia, it was on an acreage and some of our veggies, like field peas and white potatoes, were grown out of sight of our house. However, our main veggie garden was mere feet from the house and on the road that went by the front of our house. It was also flat and on the south side of our property. So it has never occurred to me that it wasn't ok to put your garden closest to the water source and the sun source. And wherever the home owner wanted it. It occurs to me that the gardening in urban areas began to shift to the manicured lawn thing in my lifetime. I also wonder why if people don't want people gardening in their own yards why is there so little allotment gardening in the USA??? It's sad that folks can be so critical and negative about someone raising food...sounds like they've NEVER been hungry and have NO concept of how good home grown food tastes when compared with store bought food.
I also love that you make your own clothes.
🥰 *feeling all sorts of homey*
ONG..Im not even a third through this vid and I LOVE!! I've been to Europe several times and lived there in my early adulthood. I never understood why people in US didn't grow food in front. Europeans always joked with me on how American's like to destroy nature that takes care of it's self , o plant grass that you have to take care of and doesn't do anything. I love seeing front food gardens. Mine is messy, but people always stop; to talk how cool it is and teach their kids all the medicinal herbs growing along pumpkins :D Keep on growing in the front !!
I am glad I am someone who never understood empty grass yards. It is probably because my father used to be gardener and I used to follow him around when I was little. I can look at a grass yard and tell you how much artificial fertilizer and herbicides and pesticides it takes to maintain this great place for people to hang out on. Of course, I am sensitive to most of that stuff, so hell no, I see it as a toxic cesspool. Everybody else see paradise. Our environmental crisis in a nutshell.
I had noticed in my last house, that many yards, while still grass, were NOT the water-hogging, chemical drenched cesspools. People had stopped watering their yards and they were ok with dandelions and clovers. Guess they decided toxins and dogs and children did not mix. I also saw a few yards develop gardens, including vegetable gardens, and those yards I loved. I enjoyed walking past them to see what was growing and changing. Yes, most yards there are still grass but at least in summer, they are not watering it.
In my current location, while the older areas still have grass yards, in the desert, at least in newer neighborhoods, it is all xeriscape. I have noticed a few gardens. I have mine under shade cloth at the moment. I actually tried to turn my front yard into a garden and my neighbors reported me. That is when I discovered the city has a very restrictive front yard code. So we cleared our front yard. They do not regulate trees as far as I can tell though, so I have some fruit trees there now. I also snuck in a few planters where I grow some food.
Many of these laws came into being in the 50s to the 70s, when the Rockwell image of grass lawns and mega-food production came in. Grow your own food? Yech! That's what giant agri companies are for! Thank goodness gardeners will always garden and some people are rediscovering it from gardeners.
I think this whole "lawn" thing is actually an industrialization black hole: we are too rich to need to grow food ourselves. However, I always grow food because there are foods that the industrial complex does not grow. There are foods are taste so different homegrown vs industry grown that I do not even think of them as being the same food. Apparently, most people are ok with the food offered in the supermarkets and paying that. The entire "food desert" thing is the same problem: Poor people think of themselves as been too rich to need to grow food. Strangely, as I have said before, in my walks, I always notice plants and especially food plants, and the interesting observation is that there is no food desert. Any time I have noticed people growing plants, there are many edible plants among their landscape plants. Yes, they are too rich to recognize these plants as food.
That actually is the problem with living in a society its residents view as being rich. There are many things people are too rich for. For example: expired foods - throw away because we are rich. dirty dishes in the sink - take out more dishes to use, because we are rich. Once I started noticing, oh well, I notice a lot of things.
I put pole beans in my front yard garden and my neighbor would come over at night and cut the strings. It was infuriating.
That’s just crazy!
I live in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and grow what I want where the sun benefits those plants. I grow FOOD IN THE FRONT too,in my lawn and my next door neighbor’s lawn on both sides. I have their permission.We need to be more self sufficient and we love to see food vines growing in the front.Now I’m eating the weeds 🌱🌿☘️and people are learning what is 🥗🍽🍲☕️edible that we consider weeds.Having a front yard food garden expands our food growing abilities and it is a classroom .💥☺️😉😉
With water conservation being such a hot topic, dont people realize that a soil that is full of humus and bark mulch growing veggies takes up much less water than a typical lawn. All the people crying about water usage/waste, not to mention all the non natural grass feed/weed chemicals that are applied at the cost of the home owner/demanded by hoa only to be washed into our water systems.
You are so right!
thank you. peace to all 🕊
When I bought this house 11yrs ago my flowers were squash and tomatoes vining up the porch. Now flowerbed is strawberry,chive, asparagus with a nearly wild rose and spirea at each end. Tomatoes are in pots on porch. Have apricot and cherry tree in front yard. I encourage civic disobedience. Just do it.
Your absolutely correct. Where I presently living, the whole yard, front and back are heavily shaded. There's a few spots of sunshine.So I put 2 determinate tomatoes each in a fabric pot. Set them in the side front yard in the lil sunshine. I would grow a lot more in the front, side or back yard but too shady.
Dreaming of being able to have a space like yours!
love this video - thank you so much!
❤️❤️❤️
nice use of the term conspicuous consumption!
Until our culture changes, here is an idea that might be a compromise solution, especially for those who happen to be under an HOA. When I designed my front yard garden recently, I filled it with mostly lesser known edible plants that are also ornamental, such as Mediterranean herbs, pineapple guava, Chilean guava, and prickly pear. They look like ornamental landscaping rather than food and this also addresses the concern of people taking the food without permission as they would be less likely to take things they don’t recognize. These were also selected to be minimal maintenance and survive without irrigation in the Bay Area California but that may not apply in other regions.
Hilarious to read those hater comments. They're just showing how clueless they are.
I attended a neighborhood party where I met new guys and when we introduced ourselves they said oh you're the guys with all that weeds in the frontyard. And I was nope that's green manure and ground cover
It's interesting how we have managed to make gardening both high-class and low-class at the same time....On one hand there's the images of expensive raised beds with expensive soil etc.... (I love raised bed FYI but the point is the pretty pictures creating a perceived barrier to entry) or your the low-class person planting things in ground because you can't afford enough food.... It keeps anyone in the middle dependent on the system.... Almost seems intentional some how
Well said!
I am with you. I live in Eureka Ca, similar weather patterns. I rent, so can’t do what you do, but I would if I could!! 💯
Hello Angela, I have been meaning to comment on this subject but so far, I have always been on my phone. Too long to type out a comment on my phone. You are correct that we have a "baked in" culture of what is considered a "proper" front yard and that veggies are meant to be grown away from the public view. I agree with your assessment that the appearance of wealth, etc., may be the at the root of it. I am betting though, that if you tried to point that out to the naysayers, they would be clueless to the concept. I will share with you one of the ways I believe how these concepts were passed along. I grew up in rural Washington in the early sixties. Life wasn't a lot different from the fifties and media was limited. Television programing was pretty homogenous and quite "Leave it to Beaver." I remember one of my childhood books was a picture book that showed a man and woman getting married, building a pretty brick house, planting little flowers and shrubs like little soldiers in a row, and then came the baby - perfect family, perfect home. I learned to garden from my parents and grandparents, who did the traditional till and plant rows of perfectly spaced, individual vegetables. Fruits were grown in their own, separate patches. It was considered as "normal" and "proper." I never had any reason to ever question that. It's just how things were done and that is the way I gardened for many years. Lucky for me, I am curious and am always learning new things. I first got interested in lasagna gardening and potagers. I had my neighborhood all abuzz the year that I turned the entire front yard into a gigantic garden. Many an older lady clucked their tongues at me and I'm pretty sure they thought I lost my mind. Lucky for me, I really started learning about permaculture and no dig methods the last few years. Where I live now, would be absolutely impossible to garden without these methods. My point is that this has been a slow transition. Not only did I have a need to use a different method, I had a desire to learn new methods. It is still a little hard for me to give up some of the tidiness that I was used to before, but I am learning to love the "crazy quilt" that I have going now. I bet most of the people who criticized, don't even know that they, don't know. This is where you come in. While most of them will scroll on, there are going to be a few someone's, who are just curious enough to want to know more. Those few may watch your content and maybe their practices will change. And that will trigger someone else, and so on, and so on.... You are doing the world a service. Kudos and keep up the good work. Cheers from your neighbor state.
Thank you!❤️ I find your videos very inspiring!
I live in Santa Rosa, CA, which is part of "Wine Country", which is Sonoma County. The trendy thing here is for people to plant lots of wine grapes in their front yards! We do, however, have plenty of HOAs with their ridiculous yard regulations, one of which is forcing residents to maintain a green lawn even in the midst of a severe drought. (There are lawsuits to make this illegal.) I myself purposely avoided HOAs so I could do whatever I wanted. Not an issue in my neighborhood, plenty of neighbors have raised beds in their front yards; the people who get the stink-eye are the ones with bright green grass. I myself have mostly ornamentals out front (penstemons, salvias) with a smattering of edibles: Artichokes, tree collards, walking onions, etc.) All my really good stuff is in the back, about 2/3 garden and 1/3 chicken paradise.
My property is on a corner, with the house in the center. Both side and front yard are "front yards". So I do what's the best for me and my family. Only one neighbor wines, but he can't even keep his lawn alive, so I ignore him for the most. Everyone else in the neighborhood loves what I have done to the property.
Yeah, that is really weird that people are so against front yard gardening. Bizarre. Something very odd to get worked up about.
On topic but different, I have had a very difficult time as a renter in a suburban area where a contracted lawn care company parentheses if you could call that parentheses has been ordered to mow my lawn… Picture of the front yard attempting to reach the neighborhood standard of curb appeal with a manicured lawn, although this company/person ignores the side yard so it looks overgrown on the edges which pisses off all the neighbors who are concerned about curb appeal anyway, and then picture my backyard which is 80% lawn and 20% patio space essentially, which has now been dominated by potted plants and planter boxes. The lawn care person insists on riding a riding mower into the backyard which hardly fits and takes about two passes to mow the lawn. It’s not a large yard. Because the riding mower consistently smashes through the cloth growing pots and destroys things in its path, I politely asked the lawn care person who is not under my employ, to simply ignore the backyard and focus on the front yard. I am in danger of retribution from the rental company because I have done this even though I am maintaining the backyard space on my own, no help from the paid “lawn care person”. Imagine that. And I am growing food, not marijuana and not just flowers LOL I had to clarify because I live in Humboldt County.
You said it sister!
I was laid off 2013 & couldn’t afford the $600/mo water bill for grass. Wanting to grow food on my acre. After spending $1,000/yr to take weeds out I covered it in wood chips, for free. My friends, neighbors & family hate it. I know I’m rebuilding my depleted soil. Will work on front yard next year hoping for a food forest.
I would love to live next door to you!
I am just starting to try to figure out how to have less grass to mow
Im in UK and I now have a area I can grow in my front garden (Yard) at moment its got a tree (palm type) no use to me, and thats it, its covered in shale/slate and weed membrane. We would like a food forest but possibly with a picket fence round to use to grow things up plus I’ve always dreamed of one. Its on a hill so it looks like a huge raised bed as low retaining wall on 3 sides but cannot wait to get started. I think food forests look beautiful and I can pop some flowers in there if I chose to. If you grow veg while food forest establishing do you chop and drop the leaves once you’ve harvested? Size is about 4 meters x 8 meters
I put 7-9 bush beans in another fabric pot. And one more fabric pot with oragano, parsley and basil. Another fabric pot with dill but it's not doing so great. This is my first time in 30 years I'm growing anything
No front or back lawn here. Yep that was somewhat controversial at first. Now the front is packed with fruit and berry trees and veg. I also have what some would call "ornamental" but I choose those carefully ensuring that they are good pollinators. Every year it has been getting more beautiful & productive and gets constant compliments from the community. Many have taken my lead and have planted fruit/nut/berry in their front yards and have nixed their lawns. Personally I think front veg gardens are beautiful. My front garden design is one of predominantly shade. I concentrate there more on wildlife habitat/pollinators etc. Strict rules I toss out :) My objective is resilience for me, my community and the environment while creating a space that is enjoyable for me and my community.
i personally would love to see others use their front yards to grow food for their family. perhaps if more people did, there would be more conversation between those who know how and those who would like to know how. we wouldn't lose the skills of gardening such as those lovely, beautiful 'overstuffed' italian gardens. it would produce food as well as community.