Front yard gardening thoughts

Not so much by luck but by choice, both the homes we've owned allowed front yard gardens. However, our first home in the city was stricter about what was planted than our current home in a small town on the Colorado plains. Which is one of the reasons we chose to leave the city. Because even though our first house permitted some front plantings, they were very specific as to the ratio of plantings to grass. Here, there are no such restrictions. And you know me. I must be free to garden as I please!

For some reason, many municipalities or neighborhoods believe front yards should be covered with a neatly manicured lawn and little else in order to keep a tidy, uniform look. So much so, that front yard plantings are often strictly regulated. In some people's opinion, this adds to property values. Personally, I love homes with vegetable, herb and flower gardens in front. They're gorgeous and productive. I don't see what the big deal is.

In my opinion, front yard gardens are beautiful for multiple reasons. They provide food, for one. In fact, some front yard gardeners share their food with the community. They're less costly to maintain. They're a wonderful way to bring back healthy ecosystems, destroyed by years of maintaining an unnatural grass lawn. They also reflect the personality of the homeowner. I don't know about you, but I'm not into “Stepford” towns. I love diversity and variety.

I'm really looking forward to doing some front yard gardening next year. The old homeowners did us a great favor by planting a lot of perennials flowers in the front beds directly in front of the house. I plan to supplement with a few more. I got a good start on it last year but since we moved late in the season, I didn't have a lot of time to properly trim, mulch and such. I hope to be able to add some finesse next spring.

I'd like to ad some beds around the outer border of the front yard for a cleaner, more defined look. I've also been reading up on minimizing the grass by planting clover instead. I've heard it requires less work, keeps weeds down and uses much less water, while still maintaining a grassy lawn look. My eventual goal is to have mostly garden with just enough clover lawn for paths through. But that's likely to take time.

I want my front yard garden to have a healthy combination of herbs, flowrs, veggies, shrubs and trees. I'd also like a few wild native plants in the mix. Ideally, I'm looking to recreate the natural local ecosystem but add a few non-conflicting food plants to the mix. As always, my garden will be organically planted and maintained. No GMO's allowed. And of course, in consideration, it will be a bit neater than the back garden.

And speaking of the back garden, I had some containers back there this year. But next year, my focus is going to shift to the front. I want to spend my summer largely on “perfecting” the front yard. Even though I don't believe a perfect green lawn is healthy, I still believe in curb appeal. The front yard is all most people see of your home. So why not make it beautiful?

The plans I have for my front garden might not work for yours if you live in the city or in a neighborhood with strict regulations. Please don't let that stop you from doing whatever gardening you can. Planting diversity is good for the planet. You may be able to plant as you like in the back yard, depending on where you live. If not there's always porch or balcony container gardening. It's not quite the same as a full on front and back yard garden. But hey, it's definitely less work!

Weirdly gross garden story? IDK

So, as many of you know, we recently moved to a new to us fixer upper in the country. It's been an adventure so far. The best kind. Except for this one thing. Well, OK, there have been a lot of weird things. But this is the worst by far, so far. It seems the old homeowners like to bury potted plants in garden beds. But that's not all. It seems they enjoyed leaving them there for years upon years until the pots filled with roots which basically turned to cement. And BTW – there's more to the story. You'll see.

So... My grand-daughter's very helpful boyfriend was kind enough to remove 4 of these pots from their respective holes and the dirt from the pots. Seriously, these things must have weighed 50 pounds each. I could not budge them. Oh, but we're not done yet. Nope. Because now I had to figure out what the heck to do with the dirt. Thus, I had the brilliant idea to soak the rock hard pieces and break them apart.

You guys, I don't know how many gallons of water I used but it took 4 days of soaking these things for hours with the sprinkler to get three of them to break apart. There's still one left. I am done for the day now, though. I'll worry about that later. But that's not all. Nope. Not at all.

Now, before I go on, let me explain that in the holes left by the pots, I decided to plant a lilac, some rhubarb and some walking onions that I brought from the old house. And also that, once I broke up the dirt, I figured that since it was mostly roots, it might have some nutritional value for my new plants. So, I proceeded to shovel said dirt around the stuff I was planting, in addition, of course to some good soil I bought, so as to take no chances.

Here's the fun part, though. And I should perhaps mention that the old homeowners were hunters. As I'm shoveling the soil back into the hole, my shovel strikes something harder than the cement soil. I look down and at my feet is the jawbone and teeth of I don't know what animal the homeowners killed. They had dogs, you guys. Did they give their dogs this to chew on? Wait. Did it come from one of their dogs? Was this a burial ground? Ugh! And BTW, even the irony of the dogs chewing on a jawbone from another animal grossed me out. Ugh again!

So guys, if you garden, here's a tip for you. Do not bury pots full of plants and leave them for decades. And if you do, please do not bury them with parts from the animals you have slaughtered. Because the new homeowner may be an herbivore with a chronic illness who has better things to do than deal with your 50 pound cement blocks and your nasty hunting leftovers.

Funny/Not funny

And I refuse to take pictures. Yuck!