Typically, front yards have been the domain of shrubs and annual flowers. Basketball-shaped foliage shrubs, hydrangeas, and maybe a Japanese maple. Our front yards aren’t as private as the area behind the house, so we often don’t fully utilize that space. In some neighborhoods, there may be significant restrictions on what you can plant or how manicured the front yard must be. Adding insult, the front yard might well be your best sunny space, and it often feels like we can’t use it.

We sometimes feel we need to relegate our vegetables and herbs to one specific spot in the backyard. The modern trend of smaller yards doesn’t help, adding a common problem of not having enough space for gardening. But a cucumber climbing up the lattice under the front porch is a double-duty planting, providing foliage and fresh cukes for salads or even pickling. A few thyme plants spaced closely together make a wonderful low edging and are well loved by pollinators once they bloom. 

Adding vegetables and herbs to our front yard plantings adds function and appeal, and isn’t hard to do. Don’t be afraid to get into a little good mischief and use that front yard space for something other than boxwoods.

First, keep things orderly and tame

Front yard gardens are a bit different. They seem less private and more open to viewing and judgment from the rest of the world. In some neighborhoods, restrictions may be significant, like city ordinances or HOAs. While I love seeing a native wildflower planting between the street and the sidewalk, many communities still haven't adopted more relaxed rules. 

Most communities are perfectly happy to have a well-mannered, well-kept flower bed in a front yard, and adding one is often considered part of curb appeal. But many neighborhoods would unfortunately frown at a 10’x15’ patch of sweet corn, even if that is your sunniest spot. I think it would look cool, but I digress. To win over those who believe a front yard should be nothing but manicured grass, you may need to keep things more orderly and convey a sense of purpose and design. Keep things edged, mulched, pruned, and tidy.

If your neighbors would rather not see sprawling pumpkins, a bean trellis, and a row of tomatoes, you’ll need to be more discreet, but you can still add edible veggies, herbs, and even flowers to a front yard garden to increase your annual harvest. Capturing this space will supplement your vegetable garden and add an aesthetic boost to those too-often plain and drab front beds.

Easy Ways to Add Veg and Herbs to Ornamental Beds

You’ll still need to consider sun and drainage. Plants near a foundation can sometimes get more heat, shade, or water than a nearby bed. Choose plants that do well in less than full sun, like leafy greens, to plant where shrubs limit direct sunlight. For more open spaces, fill in with full-sun-loving vegetables and herbs. 

Herbs are easy

Adding herbs is one of the easier ways to get a bit more production out of those front yard beds. Many herbs look like ornamentals, so they fit right in, and fresh herbs make a big impact in the kitchen. They’re also great to dry and use all winter. 

Many of our favorite Mediterranean herbs tolerate hot temperatures, less fertile soil, and infrequent watering, the same conditions often found along the edges of our homes in those boring and shrub-infested foundation plantings. 

A bit of kitchen sage can be tucked in nearly anywhere, and its silvery-green leaves look quite ornamental. It complements other plantings and goes great in many dishes. Curly parsley blends well with other low- to mid-height plants and adds a unique texture. 

Try perennial herbs in warm climates

In suitable climates, namely those with warmer winters, the opportunity for perennial herbs to be made part of your landscaping in a front yard is ripe. Lavender, which makes a beautiful flowering short shrub, won’t be unwelcome no matter how strict your HOA agreement is. In mild climates, rosemary makes a lovely evergreen shrub that grows several feet tall and wide, and of course, is prized in the kitchen. 

Chives, an allium family member, are not only tasty and easy to grow, but they look quite ornamental. Their lavender-colored blooms are great pollinator food early in the season, and after the blooms fade, cut the chives back hard, and they’ll put forth another flush of growth. 

Take advantage of unique colors and textures

If your front yard is already well tended and you plan out the color palette every spring before you head to the garden center, vegetables and herbs offer a new selection of colors, shapes, textures, and growth forms to work with. 

Similar to a cottage garden theme, the key to adding edible plants to an ornamental bed is to mix it up. Use size, color, leaf shape, and even fruit to add visual interest. A bed of ‘Shock Wave Deep Purple’ spreading petunias is pretty, but add a few herbs and a bell pepper plant, and you’ve got an entire cottage look. Lettuces planted among a bed of impatiens will add lovely color contrast and, if spaced correctly, can act as groundcover or a border.  

Do This, Don’t Do That

Front yard gardens aren’t the place for out-of-control plants, unless you are going for the wild prairie restoration look. Giant pumpkins sprawling across the yard make it hard to mow. Indeterminate tomatoes become unruly even with pruning. Potatoes will yellow and die back partway through the summer, leaving an untidy mess. 

If you think the local curmudgeons will be tempted to run and fetch the HOA President, you might need to employ a bit of camouflage. Blending in your vegetables and herbs will make them part of the design of a well-manicured flower bed, not a symbol of your resistance. Lettuces among the hostas will be nearly unnoticeable. Okra makes beautiful flowers and pods on a tall plant few will suspect of belonging in your veggie patch.

Things to Avoid

• Skip edible plants immediately adjacent to the sidewalk where passing dogs walking with their people may pause to add unwanted flavor. A little setback also helps keep leafy crops away from street dust.

• Avoid large patches of root vegetables which will need to be dug up, creating a bare spot and a mess.

• Vegetables which need frequent watering or care are best left to the backyard garden space.

• Tomatoes can quickly look out of place. If your area suffers from several of the common tomato killers, they’ll also quickly look ragged and shabby.

Ideas to Try

• ‘Bright Lights’ Swiss chard is a colorful plant that creates a rainbow of hues and some tasty produce. Plant it amongst your lower-growing annual flowers to blend in, or as groups between shrubs to highlight its wonderful colors and textures.

• Mix ornamental kale plants with collard greens for a fall display of color (and tasty green leaves) that will continue after the first frosts have ended much of the other color in the garden.

• Looseleaf lettuce, kale, and spinach are easy to slip into perennial beds to provide a lower level of greenery and salad fixings.

• Erect a tripod or trellis for climbing flowers like thunbergia, clematis, or vining roses, and then plant pole beans, cucumbers, or sugar snap peas there as well. 

A few vegetables and herbs can work even where you don’t have a specific spot for gardening. Just push a little mulch aside and slip that sage or pepper plant in between the shrubs.