The-F-Word.org

When I moved in with Brandon nearly two years ago, his was the quintessential bachelor’s pad. He basically had a couch, a big-screen television set and frame-less bed and well, not much more. The small front yard was utterly barren of landscaping of any kind.

Over the past two years, the front yard has transformed into pure gardening chaos, with any semblance of grass ripped out and replaced by mulch and flowers. I like to refer to my garden as the evolutionary garden in that which doesn’t survive, is simply replaced by another flower. It’s a good thing Lowe’s has a 75 percent off rack or else we’d be in the poorhouse.

(No, this isn’t our cat. Somehow our front porch and garden is a mecca for neighborhood cats)

Lots of our neighbors do front yard landscaping, but theirs is usually restricted to perfectly aligned beds of petunias, marigolds and impatiens of every hue. But if I thought my garden was a bit eclectic, it’s nothing compared to a new trend in growing front-yard food gardens.

The Associated Press reports on front-yard kitchen gardens in an article here. The gardens don’t cost much to plant - about $100 by one gardener’s estimate, who says he and his wife save about $200 - $300 a year on food costs.

But front-yard gardens are about more than just cutting costs; they’re also sprouting political statements.

Around the turn of the 20th century, about 30 percent of food was grown at home. During the WWII years, victory gardens provided about 40 percent of America’s vegetables. But with the sprawl of post-WWII suburbs sporting ranch houses on small lots, victory gardens were soon replaced by landscaping and in-ground swimming pools, and the number of home-grown produce would dwindle to less than 10 percent. Less than 3 percent of food in the U.S. is grown at home today.

Ingredients for the average meal travel between 1,000-2,500 miles from field to table, using up to 17 times more fossil fuels than a meal made with local ingredients. This distance is not only literal but figurative, says Kitchen Gardener’s International who also provided the above statistics. The organization claims that such physical distancing from our food is often accompanied by a cultural and emotional one as more people adopt a fast-food/convenience-food diet.

I was surprised to find that some municipalities have ordinances against front-yard kitchen gardens. One city even bans gardens which encompass more than 30 percent of one’s front yard. As far as I know, the city in which I live has no such ordinances, other than ones governing weeds and neglect. What are others’ experiences?

I don’t think I will plant a front-yard kitchen garden anytime soon - my vegetable garden is planted in a perfect plot on the side of the house - but I like the idea of it. Maybe some herbs or chard will find their way into my front-yard garden next season.