AIBU to create an orchard in my suburban garden?

[MissAppleInSuburbia]

I have a fairly large suburban garden which already have a bit of a “wild garden” feel to it as I try to create a bit of a wildlife haven amidst the manicured lawns next door to me. This summer I also planted some fruit trees thinking it will create nice shade in years to come. I have today added 2 fruit trees and officially have an orchard as I think 5 trees is enough to call it an orchard. However, my neighbours on one side are not happy as they think trees look messy and planting them in the middle of the garden is “insane” and will apparently bring down the value of mine and their property.

Has anyone else done this or do you agree with my neighbour this is an insane look? Have to say I have not planted anything near the fences so no risk of structural damage to property and no fruit will fall on neighbours land.

I have a 2 bed Victorian end terrace. My partner wants to take up part of the lawn to create an RHS worthy rose garden 😆

I'd love a rose garden but it would he completely impractical!

Nothing wrong with an orchard. A couple of friends had a decent sized suburban garden. It was big enough for hedges across the garden with a gate and a small orchard beyond it. It didn't have a negative impact on the house price when they came to sell it and move.

We have 7 apple trees, 1 pear, 1 quince and 3 cherries. 2 olive trees which are covered in fruit this year. I really want a fig tree. They’re mostly ancient trees and are dotted all across the garden. I might start referring to it as the orchard 😂

I like its lack of formality and the birds love all the fruit. If I go to my next door neighbours I do get a pang of envy. Their garden is immaculate and looks like Hampton Court. It’s all symmetry and perfection. Everything is perfectly manicured, the flower beds are geometric and strictly colour coded. They have artistic obelisks, parterres and a Victorian style greenhouse. It’s perfection and they open it up to the public in the summer.

They can only see our garden if they come over, but I bet they think it’s a mess.

I have a suburban wildlife haven/fruit snack larder.
I got apple and pear trees grafted on dwarfing rootstock with two varieties of tree grafted in one rootstock for better pollination, so I get plenty of fruit of two varieties from each 6ft tree.
I also have a hazel tree which I coppice for fence staves/plant sticks each year.
I have a grapevine, blackcurrant and blueberry bushes and raspberry canes all in a smallish garden.
Fruit plants are great for pollinators, beautiful and yield delicious fruit, none of which can be said of a lawn.

I also planted a few fruit trees this year, alongside 2 blueberry bushes and I have tayberry. Both sides of mine have a gardener (one has patio'd over half of the garden and has dinner parties, the other has a formal rose garden sectioned to oblivion) neither of their gardeners have replied to my messages asking if they would like to do mine while in the area, so this year I thought fuck 'em. Mine will never look as manicured as theirs but if they gatekeep their gardeners they really can't complain! I like the idea of a useful garden, especially with all the food supply chain issues we could have. I very much like the idea of no lawn!

I aspire to an orchard, too! I like the idea of a useful garden, rather than plain old lawn. I didn't even think to consult my neighbours on the matter... and most of us make use of the apple trees at the top of the lane, plus foraged fruit from the hedgerows, so a bit of variety wouldn't go amiss! So far, I only have a plum tree and a dwarf greengage, as the others got snapped due to high winds, plus a few fruit plants (gooseberries, blackcurrants, physalis).

If it's in the middle of your lawn, it might look offensive to their eyes, but it won't encroach their garden(s).

Enjoy the fruits of your garden in the future, OP!

Neighbours are bats. There's a bit of a trend for very sterile, Love Island (never seen it) type of gardens at the moment, I think. Is their garden one of those?

Sounds lovely, do their gardens have a strip of lawn down the middle with beds either side and they want you to have exactly the same too?

I have a small garden but have a huge apple tree and a few other high trees and bushes. Adding height to a garden makes so much difference and it’s great for wildlife too.

I have a real love of fruit trees planted on lawns. I only have one, so not an orchard but there is something very beautiful about it.

My parents had around 7 or 8 fruit trees planted on their lawn and it was beautiful. Especially at this time of year when you could gather the fruit that was on the ground. I used to enjoy doing that with my children when we visited them.

Your neighbours are rude and have no taste, OP.

As long as they are on the right rootstock it'll be fine. Friend has 3 apple trees in her back garden - it's made the small garden quite shady and she has trouble getting rid of all the apples at harvest.

Another friend with a large garden has 8 apple trees - they eat a lot of apples.

We’ve got a massive apple tree in the garden and I thought we didn’t have room for more but all these posts are making me think we might! I’m off to google dwarf rootstock 🤣. I’d love a plum tree.

I think you have to strike a balance between what your neighbours want and you want.

My previous owner planted loads of trees in my garden in inappropriate places. Some of these cause a large mess for the neighbours, especially falling fruit and attracting wasps. They make a complete mess around Aug/Sept.

One neighbour has asked that I cut a fruit tree on the border down.

The compromise is that I will cut it back as far as possible to prevent fruit dropping on their side. But I will not cut it down.

Similarly I will cut down or strongly cut back trees on the borders that the neighbours don't like.

But I don't have a policy of, because it's my garden and I want it that I should have it even though other people don't as it does impact them.

I try to reach a sensible compromise, and so far they seem receptive to this.

Edit : I'd be surprised if a neighbour was asking about a tree if it was not on the border.

It sounds wonderful, albeit, I think pleached fruit trees are usually more sensible in a suburban garden.

OP is clear that this was a whinge about optics; that they dislike the ‘messy’ look, seen through a Daily Express filter no doubt.

Why can't you have a rose garden, or rose border? It doesn't have to be huge. I've got 2 borders filled with roses and under planted with various perennials, I absolutely love it, the colour and scent is wonderful.

I'd love the space to do this. My mum has a mini orchard in her own very suburban garden though, so at least I get some of the benefits of one!

We're all very overlooked here, so I can see many of my neighbours' gardens. I can't imagine having an opinion on what they are doing in them, let alone rudely voicing it!

Enjoy your slice of urban paradise OP!

Sounds great, as long as the trees aren't overhanging into the neighbour's gardens, it's not really any of their business. I think having a decent sized productive garden will be attractive to many buyers. I just sold my house a couple of months ago and a few couples in their 20s seemed excited that they would have space to add in a veg patch. The couple who bought it loved that the garden is wildlife friendly, especially the cherry tree I'd planted and the wood pigeons nesting in it.

We moved in to a house where the garden had

• plum trees (Mirabelle which are delicious sweet plums)
• Bramley apple tree
• pear tree

We have added

• two eating apple trees
• medlar tree
• another plum tree
• magnolia
• three acers
• 2 walnut trees
• weeping cherry
• olive tree
• fig tree
• lemon tree

now getting inspiration for more - kiwi sounds fun!

I am reading Caitlyn Moran's how to be hopeful (it's brilliant) and she has a whole chapter about 'wilding' her neatly manicured garden with trees and moss and water, and the amazing impact on the wildlife in her garden, and on her mental health. Torally inspirational! Plant the trees!

A word of advice about kiwis; the buggers grow like triffids and rarely set fruit. Make sure to get a dwarf variety.

We've got a 20ish year old weeping willow slap bang in the middle of our garden. When we first moved the position of it annoyed us ("why tf did they put it there?"), but it's now our favourite tree.
Plant the trees! Our summers are hotter and good shade is so nice. We had a bit of green grass under the trees all summer despite no rain for months on end.

My trees are quite small still, but maybe one day I can lie in a hammock stretched between two trees eating apples watching my neighbour mow his lawn 😂

All these gardens sound beautiful!!

On the contrary OP your house will be more attractive to people as it will be filled with wildlife and pollinators while theirs sound flat and sterile. (Excuse accidental UL)
Also if there are predicted food shortages providing for ourselves is surely a good use of our gardens. Love the idea of hammock among the fruit trees - bliss.

We have rose borders and roses in pots. There are roses everywhere!

He just also wants to remove part of the lawn to have a rose garden in the middle of it too! 😁

Trees will decrease your risk of flooding so can't imagine they'd harm property prices! An orchard is a real asset and so beautiful when it's covered in blossom.