A magnificent Kitchen Garden ‘out front’ in Drummondsville, Quebec, Canada
Front Gardens under the Spotlight
A new study to help understand what impact front gardens have on their owners and passers-by has been commissioned by the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS). Scientists from the RHS are teaming up with academics from the Universities of Sheffield (UK) and Virginia (USA).
They’ll be employing a PhD student to help determine how gardening affects the mood and psychological health of people who have not gardened before, by helping them, amongst other things, to ‘green over’ once paved front gardens. The societal value of gardens will also be evaluated by gathering information on the extent to which gardening encourages communication and engagement between garden owners, neighbours and passers-by. Here’s a video about the creation of the ‘kitchen garden out front’ in Quebec, Canada.
Part of the RHS campaign ‘Greening Grey Britain’, the new research will seek evidence to make the case for gardening to local and national government, supporting what many of us instinctively know- that green spaces have positive impacts on health and well-being.
On a similar theme, the RHS Hampton Court Flower Show this year will feature four front gardens designed and created by winners of a new competition being hosted by the RHS and BBC Local Radio to design a front garden.
Anyone can enter a ‘feel-good garden, celebrating the health benefits of gardening and taking inspiration from where they live.’
Old School Garden 
Hmmmm. Here on our corner lot, we grew food in three main spaces, including one on the front corner, where two neighborhood roads meet. We always take good care of all the gardens, but last summer someone was apparently so offended by our tomato, basil and cucumber plants that they sprayed everything on the corner with roundup. People can be very cruel.
Oh dear, that sounds awful! It just shows that front gardens are seen differently to back gardens or yards; some people (all?) have expectations on what is right and wrong in this ‘semi public’ space 😉
I’m with Denise above in that in my opinion this is a beautiful garden. However, I’ve seen a family here in town who suddenly put a half a dozen raised beds in their front yard, planted them, and left them. Now, it looks pretty bad. I’m guessing most of the front yard gardens aren’t quite as beautiful as the photo above and that is what causes the problem.
Hi Judy- I see what you mean, however I’ve seen plenty of untidy ‘non food’ front gardens and some pretty boring ones too (totally clad in grass, shingle or concrete)! I think that the research mentioned in the post could throw up some interesting things; to what extent do we design and present our front gardens for our own enjoyment or for the neighbours/ public at large? I believe in the US (and Canada?) you’ve had plenty of disputes about how to treat what can often be extensive front plots, often governed by regulations about what can be grown (and usually dominated by, if not totally grass?) . In the UK in urban areas this sort of large front garden is unusual and in many cases they have tended to be mainly for ‘show’, a sort of statement by the house holder about what sort of image they want to present to the outside world…What sort of front plot do you have, if any? 😉
In general, the US is still stuck on foundation plantings and an expanse of green grass in each front yard. As you noted, the quality of that grass and those plantings changes from one house to the next. There is only that one yard here in town that has the raised beds in the front yard, they have been left there to deteriorate and send a negative message about vegetable gardens in the front yard. In my personal opinion, I think each person is paying for that ground and can do with it what they want as long as it doesn’t bring down property values in the neighborhood. But, there comes the rub – personal freedom or considering your neighbors. This is a very interesting debate because food a person/family can eat should trump green grass or pretty flowers. 🙂 We are seeing a lot of community gardens popping up in various towns, and they are seeing great interest and success.
That’s interesting to hear about the community food growing. We have a similar movement in the UK and for many years have had areas devoted to ‘allotments’ (brought in to encourage food growing in the 2nd World War), which have a strong community ethos. More recently there have been campaigns to bring underused public open spaces into productive use and to beautify urban areas. The ‘Incredible Edible’ movement is worth a look; see here http://incredibleediblenetwork.org.uk/ 🙂
WonderfuL! Beautiful! Edible Landscape!