- Regulations on minimum distances are different in all German federal states
- Attention: Observe the statute of limitations
Tightly upright growing columnar fruit is particularly popular with gardeners who only have a very limited space available. This makes the aspect of the minimum distances to be maintained to the neighboring property a central question of the variety and location selection.
Even columnar fruit should not be planted too close to the neighbor
Regulations on minimum distances are different in all German federal states
The question of the minimum distance to a neighboring property when planting certain fruit trees is regulated very differently not only in each country, but even in the German federal states. The regulations are very different depending on the plant species and federal state and distinguish between different "plant genera" in functional terms:
- trees
- fruit trees
- hedges
- shrubs
As a rule, the minimum distances to be observed are graded according to the height of the columnar fruit or other plants to be planted. Since the prescribed distances can often be 2 m or more, design challenges in narrow terraced house gardens are almost the order of the day if no amicable agreement with the neighbors is possible.
Attention: Observe the statute of limitations
Many hobby gardeners underestimate the growth potential of columnar fruit that is planted in the garden and fertilized regularly. If you yourself are threatened by the possible shadow cast by the columnar fruit planted by your neighbor close to a property line, an early reaction is advisable: In many federal states, there is a statute of limitations of five years if the specified dimensions are exceeded or fallen short of. Once this has expired, there is hardly anything that can be done against illegal planting, even legally.
tips
With the regular pruning of columnar fruit, which is necessary anyway, disputes among neighbors should generally be avoided. In an emergency, if columnar fruit has grown too large, a regulation can perhaps also contribute to de-escalation, according to which both neighbors benefit from the usually quite high yields of columnar fruit.