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..

https://www.carpetright.co.uk/artificial-grass/artificial-grass-care-guide/

Thisnone sets out the appropriate care and it does include herbicides

No of course I don’t play music outside. I’m not a selfish arse.

YANBU but feeding birds = rats sadly.

I have a friend who replaced a nice small grass and shrubs type garden with artificial grass and raised boxes for a few plants as she didn't like how it looked 'messy' ie not uniformly green and pristine at all times. She replaced it with plastic grass and now spends her time complaining how hot it is, hosing it down with bleach as her dog shits on it all the time and wondering why the few plants round the edge keep dying....

Someone's back garden is just one aspect of their life.

I have about 100 trees and 2 ponds. I also have fake grass. Most of the trees and the ponds are on my allotment. The fake grass is in my back garden.

Jesus. How utterly outrageous having leaves blown in a garden. People are just morons. Probably the same people who you see sweeping leaves on a windy day 😂. Friggin bonkers. Go and live in a high rise flat if you don't want a garden with trees and birds in. What's wrong with people. Don't get me started on fake grass. That just epitomises what's wrong with the world today. Quite scary.

My neighbours all have paved and fake grass. It looks nasty. Devoid of wildlife.

I have lots of mini ponds and small trees, wildlife garden front and back with wild flowers and tall grass.

I get frogs, caterpillars, bees, spiders, butterflies, dragonflies, snails, etc.

My garden isn't large but it attracts everything.

I would never have a pond or a tree.

Why do I have to?

The corvid family of birds (crows etc) are known to be highly intelligent and have problem solving skills!

We have a huge laurel magnolia in our garden. Leaves are a bit of a pain but I’d never cut it down. The neighbours love it and would be very upset if we did.

Re wildlife, I found a chicken’s egg in a container in my garden the other day. It was clean and fresh by the weight of it. I wondered if a cheeky squirrel (they do eat eggs) or fox had nicked it from an open boot while someone was taking in their weekly shop. Though I’ve never seen any urban foxes round here but we do have squirrels. Anyway the egg was gone by the following morning.

I'd suggest getting rid of the water feature. We inherited a pond with one - when we removed the fountain we got so much more wildlife! I use oxygenating plants instead.

I get the water feature irritation. We have a pond and have repositioned our pump so the trickling is almost silent. Sterile gardens as I call them do make me feel sad.

We have a small wildlife pond that attracts frogs and insects. Also a wood pile where the frogs hibernate during winter. Trees for shade, plants for butterflies and insects.
we live in a city, but see hedgehogs and many birds butterflies and other insects

Stripped our back garden to gravel and paving, zero maintenance. Hedge replaced with fence and will be replacing the front hedge next year.

Gardening hold zero interest for me, so I'm making it as hassle free as possible.

@KimberleyClark - I had a foxes place whole eggs in my planters. Like a snack box.

It’s one thing to hate plastic grass, but a whole other thing to think everyone should have a tree and a pond in their garden. That’s ludicrous.

Common sense alone should tell you some gardens are simply not suitable and ponds can pose a risk to children or some folks with additional needs or signficant mobility issues.

personally I don’t agree with either uou or your neighbour, you’re both too extreme.

I don’t understand people who dislike trees. The oxygen they provide, the carbon retention they provide.
fantastic sounds of the leaves rustling in the breeze. Privacy. Water retention and increases infiltration so reduced flood risk….

I’m sure research was done that found houses in leafy streets were on average 12% more valuable than those with no trees- as the aesthetic was so much better.

I couldn’t live on a street with no greenery- it’s an instant put me off. When I look on Rightmove I check the street view before nothing to make a booking to view.

You'll still get weeds in that gravel, eventually, they are hardy buggers. I also hope you didn't use fine gravel as I have bad news for you if you did.

Gravel. Promises so much weeding

Yeah, my parents had a little graveled area and my mum said it was way more annoying than the rest of the garden to take care of.

I really think aomd people ahould juat leave houses with gardens for people who want garden and get themselves flat or something with small yard.

Good luck with paving and gravel when sun hits it on hot days

I agree OP.

People who don't like plants and nature, plus the insects etc which they encourage, are absolute morons and are one of the reasons this planet is going to burn up even sooner than we originally thought.

Just been helping my daughter prep her ground-floor flat for sale. I was sorting the lovely courtyard area which was a bare yard when she moved in. She had put up trellis and planted lovely clematis, rosemary, sage and many aromatic plants all of which create a heavenly oasis of green calm - and attract many different sorts of bees and butterflies. It looks gorgeous from the living room too, and gives great privacy.

But I'm well aware that the next owner might just be one of THOSE people who will immediately rip it all out because they don't like 'bugs'. So depressing.

OP - we've got a container pond (no young children to worry about) and gave up on using solar pumps after they kept failing. It seemed daft to create a wildlife pond but then keep buying plastic that's hard to recycle.

So this year we got some non-invasive native plants to oxygenate the water without needing a pump. Cheap to buy and work a treat. Our little pond has been gorgeous all year and is still a lovely, cooler bit of the garden on a hot day. It's also made bees, butterflies and a slug-eating toad very happy but looking at some other posts apparently that's A Bad Thing.

I miss the sound of the water but understand that listening to it 24/7 might wind other people up. Pumps can be noisy and your neighbour has already complained about that - so this might be a way to have your pond without annoying anyone.

Although it does sound like your neighbour is just looking for things to complain about.

I don't like the noise they make (I am autistic)

The fallen leaves make me panic and nervous that I will fall (I am also physically disabled)

I struggle with leafy avenues to walk along them without a panic attack and I especially hate when the roots lift the pavement

You'll still get weeds in that gravel, eventually, they are hardy buggers. I also hope you didn't use fine gravel as I have bad news for you if you did.

It's been done for 5 years and don't get many at all, spot it and pull it up, job done.

"Chemically wash it" a couple of times a year does the trick. It's happily weed free.

Morons? Really?

I think your garden sounds lovely and his sounds horrible. I would just ignore him and smile. Keep conversation to an absolute minimum.