I need your thoughts

[betula]

I do not think I am ever going to get those bins moved Jeannine,not without a big row and I  don't think I could deal with it at the moment.

[Poppy Mole]

Keep going with your gardening - we don't have many weeks of early days. You can't be any louder than road noise. When they complain just smile sweetly & explain that watering has to be done early or late & that it is more comfortable to do it early. Just don't get into a slanging match - noone wins those.

[tomatoada]

Just out of curiosity why do you have to work in that area so early?  Household chores come to mind or would that disturb hubby..   

[antipodes]

OK to 8am to 8 pm but surely that refers to really "hearable" noise, like mowing lawns, music, using tools, banging and crashing etc?? It seems to me that they are objecting to this guy just going about his business!! What if he wanted to have breakfast outside in HIS garden at 6.30? That doesn't seem to be an unreasonable thing to do and I don't see how it would really make more noise than watering plants?
My guess is that it's summer, they have the windows open and they are light sleepers. Maybe the digging would be noisy, but watering? That just seems ridiculous to me.
Face it, some people are just anally retentive   the car parking example seems to give fuel to that theory.
Maybe at least be aware that they are noise sensitive and take extra care about activities that might be noisy but to be honest I would not think they could stir up trouble by you hand watering a garden early in the morning!

[Old bird]

How sad this thread is!  I think that your home is your castle and that if you want to potter round your garden at whatever time day or night it is your right to do just that!

I obviously understand the noise angle if you were using any equipment - but pottering etc is your right as far as I am concerned.  I would smile sweetly and say that I will be as quiet as possible!  End of - no discussion!  How dare anyone try to stop you using your property for your own enjoyment - providing - of course - that you are not making unnecessary noise!

The number of people here also agreeing that they wouldn't "do it".  I find this very surprising as to how many of you feel like this.  If you were having wild parties for days on end etc yes I would agree with them but to have your life "structured" by your neighbours "whims"  Blow that for a game of soldiers!

The number of people that are surprised that you are in your garden at that time also surprises me - I think that I must be very "odd" if I do as I like without any thought for my neighbours sleep!!

And Jeannine I don't think you need planning permission for a greenhouse - just put it where you want it and enjoy it.  Blow whether your neighbours like where you have put it.  It is YOUR house and garden to enjoy 24 hours a day.

Phew - that has got me quite heated!

Ann

[lewic]

They sound absolutely horrible! No doubt they moved to the back room because they thought it was too noisy at the front, and they have probably fallen out with most of your other neighbours too. Pottering in the garden isnt a noisy activity - it isnt as if you are using a strimmer or chopping down trees. They are lucky they aren't living next door to a barking dog or first year students.

Some people unreasonably expect total silence, and get wound up at the slightest rustle, lying there gritting their teeth. It is their anger keeping them awake, not the actual noise. I wouldnt give them an inch, as they will only find something else to annoy them. Offer them some veg, smile sweetly and suggest earplugs or a move to the country.

[jazzidoodle]

We have a communal courtyard at the back of the property and the one thing that has irritated me is the two brown bins,you know food and garden waste live opposite my living room window and are even closer when I sit outside my window,after smelling the stench and watchingthe maggots crawl over it I finally decided to suggest we find another home for them to my neighbours,all I got was they have been here ten years and me ten minutes and why did I want to change everything

Er I would have thought it pretty obvious really...........

Sorry deviating but to me it is unreasonable...to them reasonable.......I am pretty sure they put them there when my property was empty.

Neighbours.....who needs em ?

HI Betula

I would have moved them by now.  You have a right even in a communal garden to not have everyone's bins under your window.  Surely there is another space somewhere!

[jazzidoodle]

How sad this thread is!  I think that your home is your castle and that if you want to potter round your garden at whatever time day or night it is your right to do just that!

I obviously understand the noise angle if you were using any equipment - but pottering etc is your right as far as I am concerned.  I would smile sweetly and say that I will be as quiet as possible!  End of - no discussion!  How dare anyone try to stop you using your property for your own enjoyment - providing - of course - that you are not making unnecessary noise!

The number of people here also agreeing that they wouldn't "do it".  I find this very surprising as to how many of you feel like this.  If you were having wild parties for days on end etc yes I would agree with them but to have your life "structured" by your neighbours "whims"  Blow that for a game of soldiers!

The number of people that are surprised that you are in your garden at that time also surprises me - I think that I must be very "odd" if I do as I like without any thought for my neighbours sleep!!

And Jeannine I don't think you need planning permission for a greenhouse - just put it where you want it and enjoy it.  Blow whether your neighbours like where you have put it.  It is YOUR house and garden to enjoy 24 hours a day.

Phew - that has got me quite heated!

Ann

Well said Old Bird!

[ACE]

I still have not found the permitted level.   But seems I can make quite a noise after 7am.

With that sort of attitude I  can see  why you have trouble with neighbours

I used to have awful neighbours both sides.   I thought this one was nicer but now I am not convinced.  The people the other side are BBQ fanatics so we used to be unable to use our garden at all one nicer weekends. 

Makes me wonder if it aint the neighbours in the middle who are the trouble makers. After all you dont seem to give a d&mn about them, so why should they give a flying f#*k about you.

[grannyjanny]

Digeroo I think for what it's worth & with all that life has & continues to throw at you you must enjoy your garden. Sanity is important to us all & you deserve & need to keep yours .

[Digeroo]

Many thanks for all your comments.  I have been thinking about it and I think that it is not the fact that they want the morning silence but the manner of the complaint.  It was a demand rather than a quiet discussion about the problem.

I have always watered in the early morning because in the evening it encourages the slugs.  The pressure is good early too.  Later in the day it is just too hot for watering and I suffer from sun burn.  I always gardened at that time before work since it fitted in with the children. 

Our road is fairly quiet but the milkman sometimes parks outside and rearranges his bottles very early which niggles me since we do not take his milk.   I did have a quiet word with them about it and they now vary the position of there activities to spread the disturbance about. 

Certainly the official night for noise ends 7am, so the nasty side of me is all for starting working very regularly bang on the hour.  The nice side says go round the front instead, but the back is becoming a mess.  While the rational one says trade off not complaining about the greenhouse for a lack of noise. 

But you are right grannyjanny, I have enough problems already without someone creating more unnecessarily.

[taurus]

I'm with old bird on this one.  Good job they don't live by me as I leave for work between 3.30 to 4.30am each morning.  They sound like the sort of people that have to have something to complain about to keep them happy.  One would have thought that before they bought the house that they should have taken into account the closeness of your garden.  Smile sweetly and KEEP ON GARDENING.  BIG HUGGS.
                                                Regards Taurus

[Digeroo]

They sound like the sort of people that have to have something to complain about to keep them happy

Funny you should say that.  I worked at a place with everyone continually moaned.  In the end I made a list of all the moans and set about solving as many of the issues as possible.  When I had sorted about 75%.  They started moaning that there was nothing to complain about any more.   

[Marian]

Hi Digeroo,

I cannot really see what the problem is    It's not like you are banging nails in or digging with a mechanical rotivator ....  Digging and watering plants are not noisy, in my book.  These neighbours of yours seem to be obnoxious and obviously have a problem with someone who is enjoying their garden.  I would carry on doing what you do now and ignore them.  Wear a large hat so that you cannot even see their window.... Enjoy your gardening ! 

[Paulines7]

I think I managed to hit the fence with the water from the hose pipe so it was a bit louder than normal.  

Hitting a wooden fence with water from a hose pipe can make a lot of noise and this may be when it all started.  Did you have the water on a jet setting?  Having woken them then, they will now be listening to see if you are making a noise.  Normal watering on a shower setting should not be noisy even if you did wet the fence with it. 

If you are quiet I don't think it would matter what time you do your gardening but if you are strimming or mowing then best to wait until after 9am.  Not everyone is an early bird!  That reminds me ....I bet the thrushes wake them up hitting their snails on a stone.   

There is nothing more annoying than when we are away in our caravan and the warden gets on his mower and starts cutting the grass.  It is always dead on 9am though and never before.  Now that we are retired (OH semi-retired), we love to sleep in, especially when away.    

[valmarg]

.

.... but they are dictating what I can do in my garden because of their choice of room.

Digeroo, I would tell them firmly, and hopefully (in my case ) politely that the day they own your property, and pay all the outgoings, is the day they can tell you what you can and cannot do on your property.  Until such time they can go tickle up their kilts.

Carry on doing your own thing.  It's harmless, it's a danger to nobody, and it gives you pleasure.  Don't let them spoil your enjoyment of your property.

valmarg

[gp.girl]

This sort of thing is just so pathetic, I can't complain about the bl**dy planes even though I don't fly for this reason among others so why should you be dictated to? If you can drive and make far more noise at anytime I doubt they have a leg to stand on...

About 6 months after we moved in one of the neighbours twigged that it was my car that occasionally left at 5.30 in the morning with a very noisy exhaust (silencer with the back ripped out) for a short time. Mostly I got a lift from OH but somethimes things didn't work out. I did apologise!

On the other hand one neighbour came round to ask about taking 3 foot off the 10 foot monster leylandii hedge only for OH to tell him we were taking it down completely over Easter weekend. The neighbours at the bottom commented that they hadn't realised just how much light it kept out of the conservatory. Although it might have ruined the neighbourhood a bit when the large shredder got fired up......
 
Get some legal advise just so you know exactly where you stand.

[Jeannine]

Didge, this is what you do... now listen to Grandma

You ain't doing nothing wrong, so stop worrying about it, stop thinking about it and go and do what you always have done..

You will drive yourself nuts worrying about two bodies comfortably curled up in a cosy place.. I ask you.  Do you truly think they would worry about yo

Now I know you are in bed as I write  this, so when you wake and read it, go and water your blooming plants and stop it.You could turn yourself inside out and they would complain your bones creaked as you did it.

I promise you they will find something else to comlpain about given time.. like bees buzzing  perhaps.

Nuff said.

XX Jeannine

[Froglegs]

Just tell them to SOD OFF i have never heard anything so daft telling you when you can and cannot do your garden who do they think they are, don't some people make ya blood boil, i bet they moan about the dawn chorus.

[Poppy Mole]

They sound absolutely horrible! No doubt they moved to the back room because they thought it was too noisy at the front, and they have probably fallen out with most of your other neighbours too. Pottering in the garden isnt a noisy activity - it isnt as if you are using a strimmer or chopping down trees. They are lucky they aren't living next door to a barking dog or first year students.

Some people unreasonably expect total silence, and get wound up at the slightest rustle, lying there gritting their teeth. It is their anger keeping them awake, not the actual noise. I wouldnt give them an inch, as they will only find something else to annoy them. Offer them some veg, smile sweetly and suggest earplugs or a move to the country.

Please don't send them to the country - we have enough townies moving here & complaining about  the noise of  the owls, foxes, chickens etc. if they want silence tell them to live on the moon