With just a little bit of effort, we created a simple (yet abundant) front yard vegetable garden in one day, for less than $100. See the full transformation below!
For the last 10 years, Dave and I have talked about planting a vegetable garden in our front yard, but it seemed like such a strange option that we never actually broke ground.
However, as the other sunny locations in our yard were eventually utilized for other purposes, we realized that the front yard was our best option.
After all, it’s spacious, flat, already irrigated, and it gets full sun from 8 am to 8 pm — perfect for a vegetable garden!
The only issue for us is that it’s our FRONT yard, which is very visible to anyone passing by — and we don’t exactly have the best track record of “pretty” vegetable gardens (see this post for proof!)
We’ve always loved the idea of a front yard vegetable garden and we have grand Pinterest-worthy visions of a sprawling raised-bed garden with an old-fashioned windmill and pretty arbors dripping with flowering vines — all surrounded by hundreds of flowers and a cute white picket fence.
Well, friends, we’re not quite there yet… but we got started this year!
Keep reading to see our new front yard vegetable garden, and how our garden has transformed over the last 10 years!
First, a Side Yard Vegetable Garden
Initially, we planted a very small vegetable garden along our driveway (option #2 on our property blueprint below).
That area worked for a couple of years, but it was quite small and too shady — so we eventually filled it in with beautiful flowers and shrubs instead.
Next, a Backyard Vegetable Garden
After we landscaped along our driveway, we still weren’t brave enough to put the vegetable garden in our front yard, so we opted for a slightly larger garden back behind our garage and to the right of our outbuilding (option #3 in the blueprint picture below).
This location worked really well for several years — it was in full sun, it was close to the house, it was out of the way, and it occupied a previously unused piece of our property.
However, when our pool plans changed last fall and we were “forced” to switch from installing an inground pool to an above ground pool due to a shortage of materials, we decided to dig up the driveway behind our garage and put our pool back there — which meant we needed to move the vegetable garden again!
Here’s a tiny sneak peek at a small portion of our new pool/deck area. I can’t wait to share more — but it suffices to say that moving the vegetable garden was worth it to have our pool!
Finally… a Front Yard Vegetable Garden
Since every other sunny portion of our yard is now fully landscaped, the only viable option for a vegetable garden was smack in the middle of our front yard.
So, we went for it!
This past May, we dug up the sod, rototilled 6 mini garden plots, added some basic fertilizer and compost, and planted our vegetables — all in one day!
I was initially a little nervous that neighbors might be upset… especially if the garden became filled with weeds or attracted animals and other pests; but so far, it’s going really well.
So far, we are thrilled that the maintenance has been exponentially easier than any other vegetable garden we’ve had!
- We didn’t go through the hassle of building traditional raised beds because we wanted to see how much we liked a front yard garden before investing too much time and money.
- The ground-level beds are really easy to mow around.
- We don’t spend any extra time watering the garden because we planted it in the middle of one of our irrigations zones, so we simply run that single zone as often as we need to keep the soil damp.
- I’ve hardly done any weeding because there’s not much dirt around the plants.
- And the marigolds have done their job of keeping bunnies and other animals away (even without a fence).
Our front yard veggie garden is currently a major WIN!
We plan to update our garden next spring (increasing the size and making it more aesthetically pleasing) but it’s good enough for this year.
Our total cost was right around $100 — that includes renting a sod cutter, buying fertilizer, compost, and the actual plants, seeds, and flowers.
Not too bad!
Here’s a look at the transformation:
I don’t think it looks bad from the road (hopefully our neighbors agree) and if we continue to make updates over the coming years, our front yard vegetable garden might just become the focal point of our yard!
LONG story short… if you’re considering an out-of-the-box location for your vegetable garden, I’d say give it a try!
More Vegetable Garden Posts:
Our Good-Enough vegetable garden. (2014)
Our Amazing (but full of weeds) vegetable garden. (2016)
Another “better-than-nothing” vegetable garden. (2018)
A ridiculous-looking (but effective) way to keep weeds out of your garden. (2019)
All our landscaping posts (flowers, grass, and vegetable garden)
Heather says
We are looking at putting a pool in and I can’t wait to hear about yours. We also live in Michigan.
Calliope says
Excellent job as always Andrea! Your whole outdoor lot is amazing!
I am really drooling over your zucchini flowers. I stuff them with goat cheese and mint and fry them or I stuff them with rice and herbs and bake them until crispy in the oven. Nothing says summer to me than zucchini flowers!
I can’t wait for the pool post
Have fun!
Andrea says
wow — I’ve never considered eating the flowers. I don’t think I could get my kids on board with that, but your recipe sounds delicious!
Debbie says
It looks great so far! I had no idea marigolds keeps the bunnies and creatures away. I was almost going to ask if animals ruin your crop. Can’t wait to see the pool!
Andrea says
The Marigolds work most of the time — I’m not sure how they’d hold up against deer though!
Chris says
I’m assuming that’s a dead leaf on the zucchini plant but it looks like some strange dragon creature! LOL
Andrea says
haha — yes, it’s a dead leaf, but I had to go back and look when I got your comment (it DOES look like a strange dragon/lizzard!)
Chris says
I thought your kids would get a kick out of looking at that picture. 🙂
Chris says
What a fun read! I love how you weight out your options and change what you’re doing in regards to what else is going on. What is the plant with the purple leaves? Oh, and I was also glad to know that marigolds keep pests and small animals away. We definitely will need to try that!
Andrea says
Yes, we learned about the Marigold trick a few years ago and have used it ever since!
The purple leaves are a type of sage. They are really hearty and look fantastic!
JoDi says
I love the front garden, and it’s going to be gorgeous once you do more to it over the years. I can’t wait to see it evolve!
I can’t wait to see the full pool setup! What you’ve shared so far looks really nice! Now that you have the above ground pool and built a deck around it, do you think you won’t put in an in-ground pool after all?
Andrea says
Thanks JoDi,
The above ground pool + deck was sort of the “plan B” to an inground pool — which we would have needed to wait 2 more years to get based on the waiting list and lots of COVID issues.
So, unless we win the lottery, I can’t imagine there will be an inground pool in our future at this house! Sort of a bummer, but we saved a BUNCH of money and it will still be really nice.
Brilliant! How large did you make your plots?beth says
Brilliant! How large did you make your plots?
Andrea says
Thanks Beth — they are roughly 4′ x 8′ — but I think we might connect them vertically next year so they will be 4′ wide by about 20′ long.
We left 5 feet in between for our mower.
Kat says
In the preview picture of the pool area, what kind of trees did you install? I am looking for trees for a smaller space near our deck and those look perfect!
Andrea says
Thanks Kat!
Anything “columnar” would probably work for you.
The tree in the corner is a columnar horn beam and the other tree is a weeping Alaskan cedar
Kimberly Beaty says
I think you have the best little house/lot ever. Curiosity questions:
How tall are you/Dave? (He looks tall! ) How big is your lot? Do most of your neighbors have similar sizes….it seems if you all have room to breathe, vs. these modern lots that are crammed on top of one another with NO TREES anywhere, a pretty garden/flower plot out front should be a neighborhood asset; it’s visually pleasing!
Andrea says
Thanks Kim — we have a VERY specific list of “wants” when we were shopping for a farmhouse, and this one checked off every single one. Dave wanted to live in a neighborhood with sidewalks (which we do) and I wanted a large lot with a long driveway. We are RIGHT in the center of our small town with neighbors all around us (with much smaller lots). We have 1 acre (which is perfect for what we need) and LOTS of shade trees!
Also, Dave is tall – he’s 6’3″. I’m 5’7″
Christina says
Gorgeous! The growth of the pine trees! I love the privacy it gave you and I assume you do to, which is why you did it. Inspiring, as always!
Andrea says
I know — the pine trees are HUGE. And yes, we planted them years ago so that when we put our pool in, they would completely block it from the road. But then we ended up changing our pool location! Oh well, now the yard is nice an private 🙂
Kim says
Your landscaping is absolutely beautiful!!!! You have a very large piece of property and have done a super job at maintaining it. Is water very expensive in your area? Paying for the water we need to keep our property really pretty………………..is our biggest problem.
I must say I am coveting your zucchini and squash growing capabilities. Squash bugs have made growing those impossible in our area.
Love the preview of the pool decking area. Will look forward to seeing that in the future.
Andrea says
Thanks Kim 🙂
I’m honestly not sure if water is more or less expensive where we live — I’ve always lived here so it’s what it’s always been! It doesn’t seem expensive based on our other utilities… so I’m going to guess it’s not expensive. Remember, we have lots of water here in Michigan!
Jeanine says
Looks great! I like that you put the garden to the left of your front yard and not right in front of the house – looks like you found the perfect spot! I think it would be so pretty to have a white picket fence going all the way across the front of your property. It looks like you could join it up to the fences on either side and create a really safe place for kids to play. Just my 2 cents:).
Andrea says
thanks — we hope to eventually expand the garden more towards the middle of the yard, but with the intent of keeping it more towards the side 🙂
as for safety, our kids know where they can and cannot go in our yard/driveway so we’re not super concerned with that.