We own our front gardens let’s use them!

[Bostonten]

Why is everyone still snobby about the use of front gardens? With land being at a premium at the moment, why shouldn’t people use them as they wish without snobbery?

To public imo, also right by the bins / bike shed and doesn’t get any sun. Back garden much nicer for us but if you prefer sitting out the front then crack on, who cares?

My front garden is an overgrown mess and would take a lot of time and money to sort out - I have neither 😂 my mother is mortified every time she comes over, thinks a person's front garden reflects the kind of person they are 😁 but hey there's a wonky path to get to my front door and the bees love all the overgrown weeds. But yeh, I can't sit out there 😂

When I lived in a back to back terrace house we used our front garden. We hung washing out, sat and had a drink of an evening, whatever we wanted really. Now I live in a house with both a front and a back garden, I do those things in the back garden instead as I'd prefer to, and the back is a bigger garden. Isn't this about preference rather than snobbery?

My front garden is west facing so gets no sun in the morning but in summer gets baking hot in the afternoon and early evening. I’d rather sit in the back garden for privacy.

I sit in ours for coffee sometimes. Morning sun makes it a super sun trap. Also dry the washing there.

We are on an estate and have a semi private ish front space.

The sort of lie between a public and a private space dont they. Privatley owned but in open for all to see.
I used to sit in front of my last house a lot as it got the sun and a few neighbours did too but in my new street people sot in the back.

@BarbaraofSeville

"You can't say 'tone deaf' because it's disablist language I learned on here yesterday. You have to tell people to 'read the room'."

Tut. But that's offensive to those with print impairments, such as dyslexia.

Our front garden is our main garden. We spend hours out there every nice day, kids pottering, dog pottering etc. It's on a main road so lots of nice passerby's to chat to. Love our garden. The back is a small concrete yard with all the drains and no sunlight.

I live in Brisbane, Australia and it’s considered a bit ‘bogan’ (chavvy) to use front garden for anything other than decorative plants. The back garden is used for bbqs and socialising.

It’s all a bit weird but I’m originally from a rather rough northern town in England and I don’t remember it being frowned upon there. We had a bench outside the front door.

Thankfully our house here is in a complex of townhouses, all with a balcony at the front off the master bedroom facing on to the street upstairs. We use that all the time.... maybe we are looked at as bogans.... meh. It’s a great place to sit in the evening and watch the sun set with a glass of wine. Drink my morning coffee out there too.

I think we should all use whatever space we have however we like. As long as it’s respectful and not disrupting anyone.

Our front garden is bigger than our rear garden so we use it a lot for the kids to play. But we live rurally so not a lot of folk pass by to notice which might make a difference.

I have plans to use ours. It gets evening sun later than the back so I’m waiting for the shrubs to grow up a bit and then I’ll put a bench there.

We often use our front garden. It's away from the road, no other houses face us, no footpaths, so few people passing. And it's far sunnier than our back garden, so makes sense to use it. I wouldn't go and eat a meal out there, but we'll often sit and chat, or read a book in the front garden. I've filled it with flowers and plants, I want to enjoy them.

I am smiling at this because my dear(RIP) mum was a bit of a snob about sitting in your front garden. It implied (shock, horror!) you had no back garden. If I had sat in the front garden , I guess I would have been called inside!!!

I had never heard of this before mn. Are people really bothered?! Everyone round here uses their front garden - in fact the couple next door have a permanent little seated area in their front garden where they often have sit to have a drink after dinner and chat to everyone walking by. We've always used both gardens too.

We have just moved to a house with a nice back garden and a decent front garden. The previous owner had two cars and we have none so we are changing a lot, we're making the front a wildlife (mini) orchard. We've put in dwarf trees, and next to go in is a wildlife pond. I'm fully intending to use the space for gardening, pottering and will have a small bench. I've so many plans for plants.

Gardening in the front has helped us meet neighbours already, just to say hello to. I'm naturally shy so prefer small interactions.

Eating in the garden, or sunbathing, or putting the tent up will go on in the back.

The drive will be for growing plants in pots. This will make the whole side of the house more private and less brick-looking.

@MargaritasOnMe

I had never heard of this before mn. Are people really bothered?! Everyone round here uses their front garden - in fact the couple next door have a permanent little seated area in their front garden where they often have sit to have a drink after dinner and chat to everyone walking by. We've always used both gardens too.

It really is! There was a massive thread a few months ago about someone whose neighbour was drying clothes in their front garden and people were appalled! It RUINS the AESTHETICS of the STREET don’t you know

I ‘hide’ in my front garden with an early evening G&T. A little bench tucked away.

The kids have no idea where I am.
I can hear them “where’s Mum?”.
I watch the bees and listen to the birds but keep my earphones at the ready to quickly pop in my ears. “Oh sorry! I didn’t hear you”

I leave it for the wildlife and that brings me joy. We get a lot of tourists who used to wonder around my garden when it looked nicer. I would find tourists in my shed and had them knocking on the door to use the toilet. I don't want random people on my property so I let it go wild and put in lots of security and made the whole place less inviting. My neighbour thinks it is a wild neglected mess that is making the area untidy. I have refused many offers from my neighbour to mow it for me. I now get lovely wildflowers including orchids. I have seen newts in the grass and I get plenty of bees and butterflies. The back garden is a beautiful well looked after cottage garden which few people can see or access.

My ‘front garden’ is a concrete driveway. So I much prefer my back garden with its grass, flowers, birds and bees.

My "front garden" is the pavement...

Mine is small and is in shade most of the day and has trees and plants plus steps leading down and a rose Bush. Also has compost bin and rubbish bins area. Never sat in it but do sit on front steps sometimes and have sat in front of garages opposite with more sun with chairs over lockdown.

Front garden gets sun till midday. Often I’ll sit out there on the bench with the cat for morning cup of tea ….it’s cottage garden style. Chat to people if I.m gardening…

Back garden gets sun in evening so bbq, drink after work….

I’ll sit out front in evening when it’s warm enough.

No one else uses front garden, it’s either parking or just lawn….

Nearly all in my area are tiny, including mine. It's just big enough to keep 3 wheelie bins and some potted plants or a small flower bed. The big issue round here is also security - I've had potted plants stolen from the front windowsill before so would never leave anything out there (like washing or garden furniture or even nice lights). As it's right by the street it also feels more polluted so I wouldn't want to grow any edible plants there even though it gets lots of direct sun.

carefullycourageous

Please put something that hedgehogs can use to get out of a pond, they can swim but often can't get out of ponds so drown.

We sit in ours in the evening with a glass of wine because our back garden loses the sun at 6 in the summer.

We are in a quiet cul de sac so the only people we see are our neighbours when they take their dog for a walk.