Bloody tree hating neighbours

[Gettingbysomehow]

What's wrong with people? I live in a rural town where grass is replaced with gravel in almost every garden. There are hardly any trees and new estates are being slapped over every bit of spare land.
I believe that no matter how small your garden you should have a tree and a pond for wildlife. I have a flagpole cherry and a big tree that grows up like a pencil so goes up not out and I've put a nice wildlife pond in. None of these things impact the neighbours sun in any way and the autumn leaves only fall in my garden. No over hanging branches at all due to the trees upright habit.
God the moaning.....when are you going to cut those trees down. Get some fake grass, your pond solar fountain is too noisy ad nauseum. Then I got home to find my bird feeders had been thrown into the pond.
What have people got against nature!!!!
The offending neighbour has wall to wall fake grass, no water features and no other plants. Said he can't stand trees. Always has his stinking barbecue on and his dogs bark 24/7..

Each to their own really however I do like to see some greenery.
I'm not keen on water features, hot tubs, artificial grass or barbecues.

I love gardens.

I'm also very noise sensitive so a trickling water feature would annoy me.

I have bird feeders but had to make them rat proof as I was attracting rats.

I'd maybe compromise on these two things OP.

My neighbour moans about my trees. They give great privacy for me but she is a bit like the OP neighbour but in a paved garden with those plastic kids windmills instead of flowers.

I'd be really pissed off about someone chucking the bird feeders in the pond! No need for that.

We stopped feeding the birds a long time ago because of seaguls that smashed up all the feeders on a regular basis, cant keep replacing them

People are time poor and actual gardens require maintenance

I would sympathise but you come across as sanctimonious: I believe that no matter how small your garden you should have a tree and a pond for wildlife. Should? Everyone? As agreed by whom?

I would understand 'could', 'I wish people would' and 'I always try to'.

Wildlife ponds don't typically include fountains. They're aerated by plants. So maybe if you could sort that out, your neighbours would be a little less irritable.

Here’s a little light reading / viewing for those anti tree / anti wildlife / plastic grass lovers amongst you - https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1700525675751620925.html

And do people not understand that if we don’t protect our bees and other pollinators, then our food supply vanishes? All our wildlife is important if there is to be balance in nature. Regrettably, I suspect that balance has already tipped against us.

YANBU at all . Carry on encouraging wildlife to your garden and loving your tree.
we have a tiny strip of front garden as
ww are on the curve of a cul de sac and the first thing we did when we moved on was to plant a small dwarf apple tree .

Don’t give it another thought

Come and live next door to me, OP.

Pond (including a trickle pump), seven trees, thick border of wildlife friendly plants, bird feeders and a healthy bird and insect population. All in a new build garden.

It's an oasis in a sea of the astroturd that is down in the nearby gardens just as a couple of square metres of something green for the dogs the poo on. So it seems. If anyone can hear my pond over the sound of chronically-ignored dogs barking, it'll be a miracle!

I need more like me nearby to create the wildlife corrider.

I don't have a pond but I do have two bird baths and try to make muddy patches for the bees.

I disagree about ponds, I wouldn't have one in my garden with my toddler.

But I'd happily ban artificial grass.

Ideally only those who ruin a garden should be affected by flooding, lack of bees or excess heat but unfortunately it's not fair like that. We'll all suffer.
Unfortunately the water usually slides off to neigbours.

People are time poor and actual gardens require maintenance
That's what apartments with balconies are for.

Are you sure the leaves aren't blowing in their garden?

Seriously? What would be wrong with leaves blowing anyway?
Our garden backs onto woodland and we don't get any significant amount of leaves (we have no trees in our garden), but even if we did, it's leaves, outside, in the garden. I really don't see the problem.

Yes well you will have the last laugh as a proper garden is cool and cools the house in a heatwave.

Your neighbour is grumpy because they are roasting an environmental shit tip which is roughly about 5 to 10 degrees hotter.

I have a neighbour like this. I regard him as an agitated oddball. And he is moving to a dream place with no trees, so he can roast in peace.

I agree with you it’s so sad how dead some people make their gardens :(

When we moved into our house the garden was fake grass and had no life :( the previous owners probably spent like £10k on it but it was awful!!!! We’ve added flower beds and grass back in and we love it and it’s so lovely seeing bees and nature in our garden. I’m going to ask for a little pond (the barrel type) for my birthday to try attract some frogs and things :)

But I agree I’m a bit advocate of gardens being a haven for wildlife etc.

My neighbours water feature is irritating & I think it's unrealistic to have a pond in every garden

I was with you till you mentioned ponds!

fake grass is more of an abomination than gravel and slabs-that stuff shouldn’t be legal

Neighbours trees overhang and our garden is covered with the trees leaves. It causes lot of extra work here

Trees yes pond no but I have 2 young children. We have a wildflower section instead.

My next door neighbour did similar ripped up a well established beautiful garden for gravel then complained to us about lack of privacy as we can see straight into her garden over the 6ft fence. Our gardens are terraced on several levels she wanted us to dig down we told her not a chance and she could plant some taller plants if she was bothered (like the ones she ripped out)

You're being a teeny bit unreasonable. Not all gardens are big enough for trees (some new builds have postage stamp sized gardens and are so densely packed that even the smallest tree would likely interfere with drainage systems or affect a neighbour's sun. Other people have small DC and a water feature could be a hazard. However, in principle you are right. In my current home I've chopped down two trees because they were planted in the wrong place and causing issues (plus one was diseased). In place, I've planted 3 new ones in locations where they won't cause problems even at full maturity. I've also planted a whole host of insect-friendly shrubs that not only make my garden look nice but also help the environment. I don't have a water feature but do put out water on very hot, dry days or freezing ones.

I don’t want wildlife in my garden so I would never have a pond/tree/those ridiculous bug houses popping up everywhere.

How do you stop the insects?

We were horrified when intelligent educated friends moved into their new house and tore down all the trees because they left shade on the grass. It’s a south facing garden in the South - they will regret that.

They requested a neighbour cut down a tree at the boundary and they refused. But then the house was sold and the first weekend in, the new neighbours cut down the tree and put a trampoline at the boundary. They were thrilled!

I despair for this planet.

Plastic grass should never have been allowed past the uses for sports facilities. It looks ridiculous.

YANBU, except this bit - "I believe that no matter how small your garden"

My garden really is genuinely too small. There would be no where to sit 😂

I believe that no matter how small your garden you should have a tree and a pond for wildlife

My tenancy agreement doesn't allow either due to the size of the "garden" (14ftx9ft). I'm guessing you're not renting and have a large enough space to put both.

I don’t agree regarding ponds though. For anyone with kids or grandkids, they’re a hazard.