I give up

[debster]

I have finally given up fighting, as some of you may remember last year i had horrendous trouble with my next door neighbours son, my veg got trampled my fence broken and the behaviour we received was dreadful to the point that both the police and the council had to intervene. the mother spends a good deal of the year in turkey with her boyfriend and the boy who is now 18 is left to do anything he wants.
well im glad to report that we no longer have any trouble with the boy he runs when we meet him in the street, however no one does anything to up keep the garden, the grass gets cut only when it reaches really high levels and it is never strimmed around the edges which is the hardest part for me. i had a veg patch that ran along the edge of the adjoining fence, i have to regularly weed and cut back the brambles, grass and trees that are in their garden, well ive had enough of it and im gonna re grass that area i cant cope with it anymore. i am also having to pay to have new fence posts put up to keep it dog proof from where the son broke it down.
it is a council property but they wont get involved with the fence and the garden is kept tidy enough as far as the council is concerned
oh well they may have won the battle but they havent won the war

[debster]

[:(]

Sorry to hear of your neighbour problems. Its bad that the authorities will only act when things are too far gone. I dont know how big the shared fence is but if you put up new panels, could you dig a narrow trench all along and put vertical slabs or weed membrnae along the fence line to keep thwe worst out. other than that moving the veg patch seems the only other option. At least if you grass the area mowing or strimming will keep the weeds at bay.

[pigeonseed]

Oh Debster it sounds awful. Apart from the weeds, maybe it's having a bad relationship with neighbours which is more tiring for you. It's very stressful, you feel so powerless, don't you?

It sounds good that the son is less of a problem now. Maybe he's growing up?

Like weequinie says, there are ways of dealing with weeds coming through from next door - it's terrible in many allotments, where there isn't even a fence, but people do have strategies. Just see how many threads there are where we moan about it!  ::) ;D

So don't give up your veg patch unless you're happy to. Just forget ever getting them to mow, they're just not gardeners, so forget them. Imagine you're next door to a wildlife reserve  ;)

Keep on hoeing and growing!

(or give up and move to Turkey with the mum  ;D)

[Digeroo]

I know it is more work for you but can you just strim round their edges?   Though a pair of shears would be quieter.  Since they have little interest in the garden I don't expect they would notice.

[debster]

sadly the fence that is up is a chain link, there are also very large out of control leylandi which restrict what fencing can go up we are putting up a new chain link fence on our side of the fence, having this and grassing the area will allow me to strim along the edges easily, i will resort to using pots and grow bags along the boundary then, it will change my method of gardening i wont let them make me stop i promise you, we have an amenable relationship with the rest of the family but their blatant neglect of their garden causes trouble for neighbours both sides like i said they won the battle they aint gonna win the war

[Digeroo]

Leylandii will also suck out every last drop of water they can reach so a good bit of root pruning on your side maay do a little to discourage them, The pots/grow bags sound a good idea since they willl have their own water and nutrients.

Keep winning..

[1066]

Aw Debs, I remember the problems you had, such a shame. But it does sound like you are thinking around them, and the grow bags sound like a practical solution

Happy growing and gardening  :)

I meant to add that I know some local authorities are much hotter on the upkeep of properties, including the gardens, so for anyone else suffering like this it's still worth contacting the housing depts, and having a moan and a complain about it, mind you, you do have to push for it!!

1066  :)