Decorative Edibles

The house Ive bought has a lovely yard, but the only sun I get is in the front. I wanted to plant some vegetables but my fiancee has dubbed veggies in the front yard "trashy". (He has said herbs are fine at least... I already have an area planned for them)

We've managed to come to an agreement... if I can find "ornamental" varieties of vegetables I can plant them.

So far Ive got:
Pole Beans from Vermont Bean Co - pink flowers
Jerusalem Artichoke - sunflower like
Nasturtiums

Considering Okra since its related to the hibiscus, just don't know if the plants are all that pretty.

Any other suggestions?

Personally, I think most vegetables are ornamental ;)

However. How about tumbling tomatoes in hanging baskets? Zucchini and squash have huge, handsome leaves, though they don't half spread about... Artichokes are flowers, of course. You can get 'ornamental' cabbages which are meant for the flowerbed, though I'm not sure how tasty they are. I was in France last autumn and saw municipal flowerbeds with quite a number of very large standard cabbages in among the flowers - they looked very handsome!

Oh, I'm dismayed that your fiancee thinks front yard veggies are "trashy". :( Would he think the tasty meals made from those veggies trashy, too?

I, likewise, have limited areas of strong sunlight in my small garden. Mine, however, happen to be in the back of my home. Last year, I ended up planting a small corn patch, squash, cucumbers, and a pumpkin vine in part of my back lawn! I don't advocate planting these in front of your house because they are too tall/long. I just wanted to tell you how delighted I was with the harvest.

My suggestion would be to limit the veggies to those plants that are fairly small and have brightly colored produce. Just read the height of the plants on their labels. Favorite short plants of mine are all types of hot peppers. The produce come in colors of red, yellow, and even purple. Stick to the edible variety. We all should be working toward sustainable agriculture.

I don't think Jerusalem artichokes are good plants for the front of a house. They have beautiful flowers but grow way too tall and become very straggly. I actually have those along the side of my own house and love how they bloom late in the season, well after most other flowers are way past their prime.

Go wild with the herbs, though! When I had no sun around my house, Imy former vegetable garden evolved into an herb garden. Those can be quite fun if you experiement with lots of different varieties of herbs and *use* them.

Have fun!

The only sun I get is on my small deck. That leaves most of the vegetables off my list. I think hanging baskets of tomatoes (red and yellow) would be beautiful in the front yard. Rhubarb makes a great ornamental, and who can pass up the pie? Squash in my opinion becomes more of a pest than an ornamental vegetable. A nice patch of lettuce should work--mix several types together. By the time they begin to run, it will be time for something else in the garden anyway. Good luck. I hope you will share your successes with us.

Around here, people use all sorts of chard as ornamentals (and then don't even use it for harvesting!!). I think you could use it as both--ornamental and tasty. ;)

Rosemary is lovely, but you already have permission to use herbs.

Depending on what look you are going for, fennel (green or bronze) can look quite nice with the wispy foliage and small yellow flowers. The flowers are edible as well as the foliage and the bulb.

Any sort of fruiting tree--my favorites are citrus because of the gorgeous smelling flowers--can be considered ornamental.

How "edible" do you want the edible to be? The flowers of pansies are edible and are great as garnish (e.g., thrown in with sauteed zucchini). Sunflowers make sunflower seeds.

Good luck and let us know what you decide!

>3 SqueakyChu: We all should be working toward sustainable agriculture. This is so right on. I don't know where you live, Emidawg, but IMHO these days to devote a sunny spot to thirsty ornamental nonedible plants is nearly a sacrilege. And don't even get me started on lawns.

I agree with others, that most vegetables are lovely in a garden. You need to take care of them, e.g. prune the tomatoes so they don't get all bushy. I think there's not much more gorgeous than a few rows of colorful lettuce (Red Sails leaf lettuce is my favorite, mixed in with a bibb lettuce). Eggplant is beautiful; and peppers of all sorts.

You can get very creative with vegetable gardens - perhaps your fiance hasn't seen a really decorative one yet? I'd suggest finding some good veggie gardening books that have photos of well tended garden spaces.

Good luck! Keep us posted.

I'm with the majority here - I love to see a well-maintained vegetable garden in the front yard and it impresses me with the intelligence and common sense of the owners.

One thing to keep in mind is how you design it - raised beds, for example, might strike your fiance as less trashy. Square foot gardens are more intensively planted - less room for weeds and less dirt showing - and if you only have a small area you can get more produce from a square foot style garden than a traditional one. You can also start small and expand by adding extra beds as your fiance gets accustomed to the idea and sees it isn't so bad. All New Square Foot Gardening : Grow More in Less Space by Mel Bartholomew is the bible if you're interested in exploring this idea.

I saw a garden where lettuces of different colours were planted in patterns - it was stunning. The only problem is they were all ready to eat at once and it was A LOT of lettuce :)

Cardoon was suggested to me recently but I have no idea how to use it (haven't had time to look it up) - big thistle looking thing. Very dramatic.

If you have room for shrubs, black currant is quite attractive. The fruit can't be eaten out of hand like a raspberry, but it makes fantastic jam/jelly.

(edited to try to fix touchstone. Grr)

Okra flowers are beautiful. The plants not so much, but there probably are some that are more decorative than others.

We've done vegetables in the front yard before. It can work out fine, and it makes your yard much more interesting.

I agree that chard is worth growing: we have a nice one with crimson stems. We also have a blueberry bush in a pot, which has good autumn colour. If you're planting herbs, they don't all have to be tiddly little things: bronze fennel is dramatic.

(Globe artichokes are fun, but may be a bit big/challenging.)

There is a book called The Ornamental Vegetable Garden which may help. Also (thanks to Mrs MB for remembering) Creative Vegetable Gardening, which we once bought someone as a gift.

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The only problem is they were all ready to eat at once and it was A LOT of lettuce

That should *never* be a problem. Just donate the over-abundance that you cannot possibly use to your local food center. Today I received a notice from my local food center (Manna of Montgomery County, Maryland) that the need for food for those who cannot afford groceries has grown 50% since the economic crisis started. They also say that providing more fruits and vegetables to their clients is one their top priorities.

10> you're quite right, but it sounded funnier my way (well, for a very mild level of funny, anyway).

I have looked at the square foot gardening method in the past and am thinking of using this in the limited sunlight areas in the back yard. I also have a pretty sizable bare patch in the front left by a deceased boxwood that I am thinking of placing a square foot frame over. Two sides of the frame will be against a fence so I think I am going to put my runner beans there.

Maybe since the beans will create a screen of sorts I will be able to sneak in some tomatoes. I purchased some seeds for some purple Roma style tomatoes as well as some Tobago seasoning peppers from Totally Tomatoes. I think those will look nice when fruiting... maybe if I don't tell him what they are when I plant them he'll grow to like them.

My boyfriend is old school.. he wants a lawn. I am a little more environmentally concious. Been trying to plant native plants in landscaping, and am looking at putting in a downspout garden that would take out a good chunk of lawn.

He hates mowing the lawn but he loves the grass.. I don't get him at all ^_^

Tomatoes should make him a believer - especially if he has never had home grown tomatoes before.

Do you have enough sun to grow a few sweet potatoes? The vines are gorgeous, and if you make sure to plant an edible variety, you can use the leaves in salad, in addition to harvesting potatoes later on.

This thread sure sounds like someone (not me) should start a group called Front Yard Vegetable Gardening! :)

Some pictures might convince him...

Grapevine arbor--use grapes (juice, jelly, wine), leaves (wraps--forget name??), and vines (wreaths).

Blueberry bushes. (Foliage is red in fall.)

Blackberry bushes. Most need some support in order not to splay out, but the bounty is so beautiful. Vegetation, less so. (Choose thornless.)

Asparagus. (I use the feathery fronds in flower arrangements.)

Giant pumpkins. The vine can use up a lot of space but if you can coax over a hill or up a fence, the huge leaves are neat, it's fun to watch the pumpkin develop, plus you have in place fall / Halloween / Thanksgiving decoration.

Eggplant. Because they are such handsome plants, I too often grow more than I need.

Fruit trees. I second the motion! For us, pears (Seckel?) require the least amount of work--usually only pruning, no chems. Fewer yellow jackets, fruit-eating birds, and white-headed wasps (scary) when the fruit is ripe.

Chives (the herb) have the same flowers in miniature that one sees in its ornamental cousins.

Thai peppers. If you like hot food, the tiny, screamingly hot Thai peppers on their neat little bushes look like a common houseplant. Dry, and grind the peppers in food processor. They will last a long time!

Hops vines - they provide shade in summer, a nice spot of color in the fall, and the essential ingredient for microbrew.

Yay! I managed to convince him to give me 4 square feet in the front to use for veggies. Im going to set up a 4x4 foot grid and do a square foot deal!

Im quite exited!. I used to grow a sizeable garden at my parents house and I used to love going out every day to see what new things it had to offer me.

Now I just have to figure out what grow zone Im in to see when I can start!

*Adding another "Yay!"

Please post some pictures to let us know how you progress. I'm sure you'll have lots of fun with this.

I have done the checkerboard look in square foot gardening with lettuces (note to self: find the photograph we took!) when we lived in Alberta. It looked really pretty with two kinds of leaf lettuce...a dark reddish brown variety, and a green variety. I kept it going most of the summer by harvesting outer leaves. It was in a four foot by four foot square, I think. Personally, I think that square foot gardening is attractive, and as long as you don't let things get out of hand, would look lovely in a front yard. Best of luck to you! Yes...do post some pictures for us to enjoy!

I hope your fiance is not a mathematician. 4 square feet is only 2 foot x 2 foot -- 4 foot x 4 foot is 16 square feet!