Guerilla fruit planting?

[d000hg]

As we move to the countryside, the surrounding paths are surprisingly empty of blackberries and while I'd love to have fresh berries I don't want them in our garden!

I was wondering about introducing blackberries, raspberries and strawberries to the surrounding hedgerows and so on as well as possibly planting some apple and cherry trees. It's always lovely coming across a wild fruit tree and for instance in Finland blueberries and lingonberries grow wild all over the place.

Obviously it's a bit of a gamble and more of a long-term project... birds will eat a lot too... but it seems potentially a nice way to a)get free fruit b)bless other people who use the paths.

Anyone done anything like this, or got any thoughts on it? Would I be breaking any rules?

[Baldy]

I do it sometimes - the way my raspberries spread on my plot i have to do something with the runners...
If the land is private then there might be some issues.

[d000hg]

It's council maintained I think - old railway tracks turned into paths.

[Baldy]

I'd be inclined to go for it...

[alldigging]

Go for it.

With food poverty being high on the agenda then no one would dare take umbridge at it.

[mothhawk]

All land/hedgerow in the UK is owned by someone. Get their permission first, even if it's the local council. For all you know, they could have spent time and money clearing rampant brambles to make the paths a pleasant place to walk for all, so don't plant something potentially invasive without asking first.

You said it in your post....

.. while I'd love to have fresh berries I don't want them in our garden!

...maybe the footpath owner doesn't want them either!

[Bex2012]

If its council owned, bear in mind that the grounds maintenance teams are likely to come round and literally hack everything to the ground - they dont have the time for careful pruning, they just take a chainsaw to the lot! It looks really ugly for a while until it all starts to sprout back.
As for strawberries, well unless theres a way of growing them at waist height, I wouldnt touch 'wild' ones on a public footpath with a bargepole... Same goes for other berries.... Just think of all the dogs, people and other animals that have wee'd on them!

[sparrow100]

If it's common land, I'd go for it. I have several blackcurrant bushes I don't need and could put into the common's hedging near me. Likewise if I have too many fig and quince trees from cuttings they are going into common land.

If it's council land which is regularly maintained I'd check first.

[mothhawk]

Even if it is common land, it is still owned.
From the gov.uk website:-

Common land and village greens

There are rules on how you can use common land and town and village greens.

Common land
Common land is owned, eg by a local council, privately or by the National Trust.

You usually have the right to roam on it. This means you can use it for certain activities like walking and climbing.

Some common land has different rights, so you may be able to use it for other activities, eg horse-riding.

You can’t:

camp on common land without the owner’s permission
light a fire or have a barbecue
hold a festival or other event without permission
drive across it without permission unless you have the right to access your property

[KevinM67]

I thought the whole reasoning behind guerrilla gardening was to reclaim unused land and put it to some sort of beneficial use without 'asking for permission' ?

[ESBkevin]

The odd hazelnut, sloe or Damson tree would seem reasonable, but wholesale gardening might be unwelcome and other people are likely to help themselves to the fruits of your endevours. Can you not just walk a ways to some blackberries?

[KevinM67]

....... and other people are likely to help themselves to the fruits of your endevours.

You see, I quite like the idea of that - and again, is the 'ethos' of guerilla gardening.

[DannyK]

Cuttings of less vigorous thornless blackberries would probably be ok but thorny ones, no. There are stretches of pavement round here that are really dangerous due to overhanging eye level brambles and dog roses.

When loquats are back in season I'm going to throw a few seeds onto the railway embankment at the local station.

[mothhawk]

I thought the whole reasoning behind guerrilla gardening was to reclaim unused land and put it to some sort of beneficial use without 'asking for permission' ?

But D000hg is not talking about unused "waste" ground, he's moving to the country and is talking about seeding hedgerows. Hedgerows are not "unused". They serve a purpose, keeping stock in on pasture, keeping stock/animals/people out on arable. They are maintained, cut, and cared for by the OWNER, at a cost, who very likely does not want brambles scrambling through his hedging for numerous reasons.

I don't know if you have a hedge, but if you did, would you appreciate someone else coming along and planting things in it?

[KevinM67]

^^^^^ the OP states it's an old railway line converted to a path (probably owned by the Council).

From my experience these old railway lines come paths are normally full of dog cr@p, junky's needles, alky's broken bottles and general fly-tipping bric-a-brac.

The idea of a black current bush or something similar seems like a godsend.