I was fortunate to have a long, leisurely lunch today with some good friends.  We covered so many topics it would be hard to summarize (I am sure they were ready for us to leave at the 3.5 hour mark, but were very gracious).

One that stuck with me was the topic that one of my friends had see this morning on the Martha Stewart show about converting your front yard to a vegetable garden: Front Yard Gardens.

The idea is that rather than having the traditional grass and beds in front of our homes, we redesign the yard to grow vegetables and fruits for our families. 

The back-lash against grass is not new. Folks all over the country, and the world, are trying to come up with ways to use less water and minimize the need for fertilizer. Yards are being pulled out and replaced with plants that require less water and less fertilizer.

If you pulled up all your grass, and spent the time to think the garden through in the same way you would plan other landscaping projects, could you have a beautiful landscape that provided fruit and vegetables, too? We have been using herbs as decorative plantings for years.  Is it time to rethink our boxwoods and azaleas and consider fruit trees and grape vines instead?

I recently saw a home not too far away that has partially adapted this idea.  When I say partially, I think you will understand when I describe how they have done it.  At 2 foot intervals, all around the house, they have planted corn in a single row. Now at the end of corn growing season, this split level has many rooms that look out and probably see a mature corn stalk.  It certainly catches the eye, but I am not sure I would consider it to be well thought out...just a little odd.

There are ways that the same idea could be implemented in a way that is less strange when seen from the street view.

I am not sure how well this idea will be accepted and adapted in the typical east coast suburb, but I find it intriguing.