Why don't councils plant fruit trees?

[NewYearNewTwatName]

I have wondered this since I was a child.

The local council are busy planting trees on any bit of green space available at the moment, especially round residential areas.

Why couldn't some of them be a mix of things like cherry, apple, plum, pear?
may be nut trees too

Never forget this group - they help people to enjoy their area
www.farmgarden.org.uk/

We prune ours, fit and maintain grease bands, treat for pests and they drop (as well as grow) fruit which needs clearing up and composting.

Too much work, I guess.

@OhShitShit it sounds like a lovely place to live, we’re in the south as is all of our family unfortunately!

@TheMarzipanDildo

I think community orchards would be a nice idea- as in specifically designated fields for fruit trees.

We have one near us and someone comes along and wipes out all the pears and apples every year - no one else gets a look in!

@ListeningQuietly has put up a lot of useful links.
While community gardening and community growing might not be for everyone, there are a lot of people who are in favour of it. Ultimately someone needs to look after and maintain fruit trees, so many will be linked to community gardens.

That fruit tree provides an early source of pollen for our pollinators, a habitat for hundreds of creepy crawlies, a home and food source for birds, who will eat the garden pests and the slugs that feed on fallen fruit. They will eat the fallen fruit. Even the villainous wasps pollinate plants and eat garden pests.

There are lots of school programs trying to educate children as to how food is produced, and how to grow plants. If that knowledge is lost, along with which berries are edible, what wild garlic looks like, when an apple or tomato is ready to pick, what hopes for our children's futures?!

I find that with community gardens and streetside planters, the general public are reluctant to pick it help themselves unless you are specifically standing there telling them it's ok! So I'll tend to harvest and give surplus to the local Food Pantry which provides fresh food to people in food poverty or struggling to get supplies. I do this with my own fruit trees too. If I've got to many apples or pears, I'll offer them on local Facebook groups, they always go.

@CMOTDibbler

We have a council owned community orchard in my town

I love the sound of that! We had a small orchard when we were growing up. It was lovely.

Morningstar
We have one near us and someone comes along and wipes out all the pears and apples every year - no one else gets a look in!
That is very odd because even the few fruit trees in my garden ripen over a period of 6 months
and most community orchard plans wok on a 4 month picking season.

Somebody owns the land. Get them to set up CCTV.

I was just discussing with my kids what to do with our surfeit of rather pitted pears
and we think that a pear and plum chutney
(to go with curry) will deal with most of next year's crop.

Wines and ciders and perry are great fun and can work even in urban areas

Actually, we've got quite a few street crab apple trees down my road in SE London suburbia, which is handy for pollinating my apples when they can be bothered to blossom (bumper crop last year, can't be arsed this year).

It's quite green in this area so clearing up any dropped fruit just happens alongside clearing up autumn leaves.

TheNestedIf
you could make crab apple jam or jelly.

www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/blog/2018/10/crab-apple-recipes/

If anyone lives near Tunbridge wells/tonbridge there are woods running behind Southborough, there are loads of sweat chestnut trees in there.

My local council have planted a community orchard with apple , plum and pear trees. I never seem to time it right though. Whenever I visit the fruit is all gone

We have a lot of fruit trees and it comes down to maintenance, which for the council would mean clearing the fallen fruit, treating pests on the tree, inevitable wasps nests increasing nearby, and the fact that fruit trees aren't as long lived as other trees. They also need a lot more pruning than some other choices.

Where we used to live, there is a little Orchard at the back of the park. Half a dozen or so apple trees, plum trees & also sloe & blackberries growing nearby. We collected fruit every autumn, but I think a lot of people don't realise it's there & pay for fruit at the farm down the road instead! We are still only 15 minute drive away so should go back really.

NewYearNewTwatName

I would love to make crab apple jelly, but the pavements are a bit grim, to be honest, and I wouldn't trust the dropped fruit. Anything off the ground is fair game, though, and I'm a frequenter of the local brambles and elderberry bushes.

I'd love to get involved in a community orchard..you could have kids days, cider days, educational and fun.

All I can say is
GIVE IT A GO
Get in touch with one of the many groups I've linked up thread

things like a fill the cider press day
mean that everybody collects up their apples
takes them in for pressing
and a few weeks later go back to collect their cider

two community events
no wasps in the garden
free booze

what's not to like?

We have a community orchard, it's got 100 trees in, last year was year 3 and it had a small harvest, hoping for more this year. Also have cob nuts, wild cranberries and sloes (but you have to be early to get these) in our village.

We have two community orchards in town. IIRC they were planted by a charity.

Rotting fruit all over public areas - dogs & cats eating them = poorly animals

@Soothes

as for plums and cherries being mistaken for poisonous berries, 🤣 they look nothing like berries and you tell your children to only eat things from the trees you say are plums and cherries and ok to eat from.

The primary school my children went to has a hedgerow along the back of the school field. DS1 was actually given a proper punishment (not just a telling off) for picking and eating blackberries and encouraging friends to do the same.

Well yes, some children can have undiscovered allergies. Could've ended very very badly

@notapizzaeater

We have a community orchard, it's got 100 trees in, last year was year 3 and it had a small harvest, hoping for more this year. Also have cob nuts, wild cranberries and sloes (but you have to be early to get these) in our village.

Year 3 is very young. Do you have a "pruner" ? If not, chat to your local horticultural college or gardening club

but its worth the wait till years 6 onwards

Because people moan to the council about everything so why give them yet more to grumble about

Think of all the households who could use the fruit, or kids walking by and grabbing an apple.

Think of all the people and cars hit by the flying apple the kids have flown

I know our district councils have done some of thi sin appropriate areas - ie where the dropped fruit won't be too much of an issue if not picked. We also have lots in hedgerows. We just bought some fruit trees and they really are not that pricey when young but could be more expensive if potted and a bit older - not sure how they compare to trees without fruit though

The entire length of our street is lined with cherry trees-council planted. Very pretty and great for wildlife. They also planted rowans, also great for wildlife.

NewYear I am only speaking from the experience of having fruit trees in the garden of a house i once lived in but if you leave the fallen fruit on the ground it can get very slushy, slippy and potentially rot in an unpleasant way.

not trying to be difficult here - i am all for "free fruit" if that is the motivation, just think it is not that straightforward