I have just finished reading Fritz Haeg's book Edible Estates: Attack on the Front Lawn.
Since you are not here to read a report on landscape design, I will spare you the details and give you the sparsest summary. Basically, the front yard as we know it sucks, and we have all of us been conned into growing the most resource-intensive (yet inedible) crop grown in this country, turf grass. Haeg and his crew have created "edible estates" in yards around the United States and in England, by ripping up the turf and replacing it entirely with herbs, ornamental plants, fruit-bearing trees, and vegetable gardens. This philosophy takes the localvore movement to the extreme, since it doesn't get any greener than your front yard.

I read Haeg's book in one sitting, which is remarkable since I am a tediously slow reader, and since the last book I read in its entirety (regardless of number of sittings) was Harry Potter--Goblet of Fire. There are at any given time a number of unfinished books on my night stand, which sit there unfinished as I have been distracted by some other material, and which sit there for an unspecified amount of time before they migrate back to the bookshelf. On this particular evening, I stood at 3:30 in the morning in my front yard, imagining the paths, the beds, the decorative features. I imagined not just setting the table in my garden, but tending the bar in my garden.

Can you imagine? Imagine a garden rich enough that the cocktailian could walk into it at any time regardless of season and fill his shaker with the abundance of nature. Imagine, if you will, creating a garden the produce of which is not destined for the table, but for the cocktail glass...

Here are some of the things that I can grow in my region (asterisk denotes ingredients already in production):
Watermelons, Honeydews, Cantaloupes.
Figs*
Stone fruits like peaches and plums*
Apples and pears
Persimmons, pomegranates
Blueberries*, Strawberries, Blackberries--also mulberries
Grapes
Mint*, Basil*, Oregano*, Rosemary*, Mexican Mint Marigold* (tastes like Tarragon), etc
Meyer lemons*, satsumas, Mexican limes, loquats*; possibly grapefruit, navels
All sorts of things to pickle for garnishes: okra, green beans, asparagus, garlic, onions, and even olives.
Cucumbers*, tomatoes*
I haven't done anything with sweet corn* but I think something's possible

I understand that many cocktail enthusiasts outside of the Sun Belt will not be able to grow many of these things; nor will the apartment mixologist. Our counterparts in California, on the other hand, could grow so much more than we can in brutally hot Texas. Today we invested in two meyer lemon trees. The Drinkable Estate is under way. I will post updates of our successes and failures as things progress.