Do you have a front garden?

dragonette

Yes

the 'front garden' for my rented flat is a 2m deep strip between my front windows and the pavement. There are some plants set formally within the stones. I just have lots of house plants to help make up for it!

ETA: Also, mine is 'traditional' - just not suburban! Tenements traditionally didn't have large front gardens.

pawsies

No

No and I wouldn't want one. We have a huge corner plot so have plenty of space to garden semi-privately (we are overlooked).

I see the neighbourhood perfect front gardens and think thank goodness I don't have to compete with that!

Errata

I have one, next door appear to have a council tip instead.

Oakie

No

We recently had our front garden paved.Our local council will only grant two parking permits to each house,and as a grown up family of four we have 3 cars between us. I'm planning to add a few pots and a hanging basket soon.

margaretclare

We have a small front garden - gardener is here just now mowing the lawn! We're 'not gardeners' either - age and infirmity have crept up on us. Up to last year DH was mowing the lawn, but a couple of falls that could have been disastrous put paid to mowing. He attempted to move a tree-root with his head and had to call me on his mobile from indoors, to go and move a plastic garden chair so that he could use it to lever himself up. We've more or less allowed the back garden to become a wildlife sanctuary, although our gardener does mow the lawn for us and weed a couple of the beds.

I was warned many years ago not to allow the front garden to become neglected and unkempt because this screams to any passing ne'er do well that older or disabled people live there and may be vulnerable to burglary or confidence tricks.

A lot of the gardens around here have been completely paved. However, when it rains heavily there is nowhere for the water to go, the drains get overloaded and there are floods. Leaving some grass, soil, wood-chip, even gravel, allows for rain-water to become absorbed.

LilElvis

Ilona wrote: »

I have a lawn, and borders with shrubs, at the front. Big garden at the back. Hate those paved, graveled over etc. There are a few in our village, I think they look awful. One is a corner plot, I walked past while they were ripping their lovely garden up, their excuse was .'We're not gardeners'. :mad:
Gardening is good exercise.
Ilona

Running a marathon is also "good exercise". And doing so whilst wearing a diving suit and singing Nessun Dorma would be preferable to gardening. Not everyone enjoys gardening!

missprice

Yes

Ilona wrote: »

I have a lawn, and borders with shrubs, at the front. Big garden at the back. Hate those paved, graveled over etc. There are a few in our village, I think they look awful. One is a corner plot, I walked past while they were ripping their lovely garden up, their excuse was .'We're not gardeners'. :mad:
Gardening is good exercise.
Ilona

Gardening is awful, all those creepy crawly things, mud, grass cutting, where to get rid of the waste etc.
Can think of better ways to keep fit.
Saying all that we have huge gardens in both houses. And I compost a lot of stuff, but before we moved into this house it was left for about a year to grow untouched. So the shrubs are now trees etc.
The drive here has a median between us and next door, full of ivy, holly trees and all manner of prickly plants, its too wide and the cars have to be driven into these bushes to fit. Til its dug up this summer.
The other house is in the process of being mostly paved. Shame I know but no one wants to garden and round here there are fines levied for really untidy gardens, not small fines either.

I prefer plants in tubs myself, think it looks better and its way easier to "garden"

Gra76

No

We're on a large corner plot and the house is in the front corner of it. When the builders built it they made the full front area for parking (which suits us fine) so we don't have a front garden strictly speaking, but we do have plenty of parking and because the house is right at the edge of the plot we have a large side/back garden so it more than makes up for it.

SailorSam

Yes

It's a shame but lots of people find it necessary to pave over their gardens just to have somewhere to park the car. I think i'm very lucky living on a corner plot with plenty of space.

PenguinOfDeath

Ours is paved over but since moving we've added shrubs on pots, and aim to put in a raised bed in a corner at some point.