We've bought a huge olive tree and have no idea how to get it into the garden!

[Crumbelina]

DH and I went to a garden centre today for a short browse and walked out having purchased a £500 olive tree. Damn those half price sale bargains.

We now have the slight issue of how on earth we get it into the garden. The centre will deliver it to the front of our house and then we have two options. A) is to crane it over the house (the centre estimates it may weigh up to 500kg - does that seem accurate from the picture?). B) is to move it down our neighbour's side alley and (somehow) lift it over a six foot brick wall. We can call on lots of help from strong men but I'm wondering if anyone has ever done the same, has any idea how much a crane might cost, or have any other ideas?

The alternative is to say goodbye to the tree and get a refund but we absolutely love it and would design our whole garden around this beautiful tree. Also, this is our forever house and we'll be here for at least 20 years to enjoy it - sob!

wow, that is beautiful.

No idea about getting it in though, sorry.

Thanks Traviata. Made a few calls today and it looks like our best bet is the hiab crane at around £350. Ah well, it is a beautiful tree.

how wide is the alley? Could you hire a fork lift or mini digger to carry it round and tip over wall ? You can cut back all the green growth. That will regrow this season. What is to the other side and back of your house? if you can get through a garden and remove a fence panel that would be easier.

It is stunning. I have olive tree envy!

Can you knock down the wall and then rebuild it after?

No option to knock down the brick wall unfortunately. It's just about to be finished (and is a real indulgence at London prices!). We could probably get a mini-digger down the neighbour's alley (ours is only 70cm wide) but at 500kg it's final planting place would probably be where it lands! The garden at the back isn't an option either as a shed covers the back.

I think we'll have to take the hiab option as delivery from the centre would have been £80 anyway.

Too big to wheelbarrow through the house? What about the garden at the back of your house, do they have better access / fence panels?

Fraid so. The diameter is around 90cm+ and our doorway is around 80cm. I've considered knocking out bricks. Lifting half a tonne onto a wheelbarrow would be very tricky too!

Was it an impulse purchase at the till ?

Can't you just ask for a refund? This all seems a bit ridiculous in the circumstances!

Laurie!

A refund would be possible but I see that as the easy option and I like a challenge. Also, we've fallen in love with the tree and I want to sit at my dining table for the next 20+ years drinking wine and staring out at it. We're in the middle of a big renovation project (3 years and counting) so I need to cling on to small dreams.

Is your garden/soil/amount of daylight suitable for this type of tree? I love and respect olive trees having lived in rural Greece and helped gather the olive harvest, and drink the resulting delicious oil. It makes me sad to see these trees Wuthering in pots in little suburban gardens.

Withering not Wuthering!!!

Is your garden, the light, the soil composition , positioning suited for an olive tree to establish and thrive?

Establishing trees isn't easy and takes a long time before you can tell if there are issues. I've never dared to do trees for the kind of planning etc they take.

Especially tree from warmer climes like Mediterranean areas.

But sorry if you've thought about all this. All the best!

I'd just crane it. It'll be worth it!

Rent a wave machine? They're easy to drive and as long as you aren't going to full height some can be used outside. It'd take the weight if you could balance it then just drop it over.

has used wave machines in a lot of less than ideal conditions and pulled a lot of dangerous shit on them

Yep - all thought out. Sunny spot in a raised border, lots of drainage and grit and we'll have a think about the soil. We'll design our garden around tit and for the price we'll end up paying I'll have a keen interest in not letting it die!

It's all been ethically sourced as well. It's likely that it's not suitable for the mechanical nature of modern olive picking (wrong shape) so will have a good home. We had an olive tree in our last house (much younger) and it really thrived.

Sorry treeofhearts, you've lost me. A wave machine?

Yeah a little one person, lifter thingy. You can get ones with big load decks or 2 person cabins that could potentially support a tree balanced across it. I've only ever driven the little ones made by Crown but you can hire bigger ones and you'd be surprised what they can lift. I've managed loads that are wider than the machine is high.

In the picture is the kind we have but you'd want one of the big fuckers probably, maybe even a scissor lift type depending on how tall this tree is.

www.google.co.uk/search?q=crown+wave+machine&tbm=isch&source=iu&ictx=1&fir=sOXmLNHLo9Ml0M%253A%252CR0lwKHN2xMaB0M%252C_&usg=__MHEK_EghHFlYBjOE3I_SZW5bZck%3D&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj3qemDh8zYAhUDUBQKHdBoBrsQ9QEIMzAB#imgrc=1PnSjCQQqLaL0M:

Seriously, spring for the crane and get it lifted in properly.

any torsion on the rootball can damage the microscopic parts of the roots that take up water. I’ve seen badly handled large trees like that die from a slip up by inexperienced handling.

In your boat, if you really want the tree and will design the garden round it is to have a chat with some experienced tree movers at a proper big tree nursery like Barcham Trees.

You will only get one chance to get this right.

Also, can you crane in from a neighbours garden

I’ve got big stuff into what Look Like, inacessibnle gardens by being creative. Bottle of wine and a small fee to the neighbours at the back of the property, take a few fences down and go in that way. The cost of removing and reinstating fences Can work out cheaper than hiring something big enough to lift over a house.

Have a good hard look at google earth and see if there’s a way in that you hadn’t considered