Before you plant that apple tree in your yard
Talk to your neighbors about pest risks, maintenance and human strangers as guests
Before I saw the fruit start to fall off the tree, I already knew what was about to happen next door. As a child, I’d planted an apple tree in my grandfather’s backyard. I also used to go apple picking with my Girl Scout troop. I knew how much work went into keeping pests off the lawn or orchards.
My grandfather went from pesticides to a BB gun to keep rodents from eating all of his fruit and vegetables. And he stubbornly kept that garden going for as long as I’ve been alive up until his early 90s. I thought about this recently while looking at social media influencer Tabitha Brown’s apple tree and how the possums had a “Last Supper” in her backyard.
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Our condo already had an issue with mice, primarily my unit, which I later found out was due to immediate need of tuckpointing. So, I was dreading the idea of mice (and rats) finding another reason to be in our front lawn or gangway. Without our association’s knowledge, the neighbors planted an apple tree. Shortly after, our lawn became a stomping yard for strangers.
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Avoid the complaints early, warn your neighbors
I’ve been a vegetarian for 18 years (17 if you include my failed attempt for one year of going vegan), so the idea of having fruit and vegetables nearby would sound amazing — if not for the reaction of passersby. The way the tree was planted made all the branches (and the apples) lean on our side of the yard. Squirrels, bunny rabbits, rodents and humans alike all decided our lawn was a hangout. In a freshly mowed lawn that we’d spent more than a thousand dollars on grass seed, weed removal and new soil, strangers would drag baby strollers through our grass. When birds weren’t picking away at apples during the day, pests would have the Taste of Chicago every night.
By the time families were bringing their dogs to run in our yard while they picked away at apples, I’d had enough (as a former condo board member). I put a sign on the neighbors’ door and said they could at least warn us when they were planting these fruit trees that would become our problem. Ninety-five percent of the falling apples ended up on our yard, and I started throwing them onto their property so they could deal with the pests.