The neighbor weed whacked MY property QUESTION ADDED

[ktgrok]

Oh, and not excusing him being a PIA, but if anyone is curious, mowing when the lawn doesn't really even seem to need it is referred to in lawn circles as a "charity mow". Like, the lawn is doing you a favor letting you mow it when it doesn't need it I guess...?

[ktgrok]

11 minutes ago, happi duck said:

The noise would truly tank my mental health.

(hugs)

I can't picture this situation but I hope you get clear, enforceable answers from the township.

Me too. I don't mind hearing normal lawn mower noise, but the ride on mowers and such are SO loud. I hate when the lawn service people do my neighbor's lawn. It's louder through the walls of my house than it sounds when I mow my own lawn, with the mower in my hands. 

[Tanaqui]

Firstly, you should have talked to him earlier. It wasn't "nice" to not tell him to stay off your yard. It just caused him to think he could do whatever.

Put up highly visible cameras, post no trespassing signs, and have a lawyer send a cease and desist letter. Any lawyer can send one out in their sleep. I think you ought to put a fence up, but since you don't want to do that you need to be extremely clear that he is NOT allowed to do ANYTHING on your property - period. 

And stop being a pushover. If you have a problem with your neighbor, tell them to their face the first time.

I mean, look at it this way - if YOUR non-essential behavior was driving your neighbors to tears, wouldn't you want to know? Of course, because you're a good person, and you try to be nice. You'd want to find a compromise. Nice people want to know, so nice people *tell others* when they're being put out.

[Amy in NH]

I'd get a large PA system - the kind they use for rock-n-roll concerts. 

I'd put it in my window facing toward his yard. 

And every time he goes out to mow and trim I'd blast loud classical music through it. 

I'd rather listen to that than horrible mower noises all day.

[Kassia]

4 hours ago, Harriet Vane said:

Yes. It does feel like an industrial zone. Naturally there are other neighbors who also service their lawns with machinery, and the wealthy guy at the end of the lane has a landscaping crew weekly. All those other people at least get the job done in a much more reasonable time. I know when our other neighbor starts working on his lawn, he'll be done making noise within a half an hour. We can live with that. But when you add up all the shorter bursts of machinery with the obsessed guy who is constantly operating machinery, it's so.much.noise. And all in this bucolic, forested, big-yard neighborhood. So ironic.

That's exactly what we are experiencing. Next door, where the neighbor died, the wife now has a service come.  They are super loud but they get in and out and are done once a week in the summer.  The guy across the street starts and stops his equipment so it's start/stop/start/stop constantly.  And our neighbor on the other side is always finding some huge yard project to do - sometimes involving heavy equipment so it's loud in the summer.  And he also shoots guns and has people over for target practice frequently (we have miles of protected wetlands behind us).  So, if it's not equipment, it's gunshots.  

Still better than when our elderly neighbor was alive and he'd just spend day after day outside running his lawn equipment.  But I just wanted to say I understand both issues - the property line and the noise.  Both are stressful.  And it's horrible being in your own home and not be able to escape the noise.  I'm sorry.  

[Harriet Vane]

1 hour ago, Tanaqui said:

Firstly, you should have talked to him earlier. It wasn't "nice" to not tell him to stay off your yard. It just caused him to think he could do whatever.

Put up highly visible cameras, post no trespassing signs, and have a lawyer send a cease and desist letter. Any lawyer can send one out in their sleep. I think you ought to put a fence up, but since you don't want to do that you need to be extremely clear that he is NOT allowed to do ANYTHING on your property - period. 

And stop being a pushover. If you have a problem with your neighbor, tell them to their face the first time.

I mean, look at it this way - if YOUR non-essential behavior was driving your neighbors to tears, wouldn't you want to know? Of course, because you're a good person, and you try to be nice. You'd want to find a compromise. Nice people want to know, so nice people *tell others* when they're being put out.

While what you say is true and hindsight says it is necessary in this case, it's equally true that sometimes we give others grace in their foibles. There really is give-and-take when we live in community with others. We do not live in an area with a home owner's association, and we never, ever will, because we're just not willing to fret about what color someone else paints their house or how they choose to landscape. When the neighbor started encroaching, we figured he was just a little over-excited by his fun leaf blowing and we shrugged it off. We've unfortunately learned over the years that this guy considers himself THE unofficial HOA for the area, and now we are in this dumb conflict with him.

It's actually funny that you tell me not to be a pushover, as I doubt anyone who knows me in real life would ever describe me that way (not that you have any way of knowing that). I'm not usually one who feels threatened by conflict, and I have had to deal with a lot of difficult people especially through our many years with the foster care system.

Edited June 8, 2022 by Harriet Vane

[Tanaqui]

Quote

We do not live in an area with a home owner's association, and we never, ever will, because we're just not willing to fret about what color someone else paints their house or how they choose to landscape.

Of course not, because no reasonable person would consider that those things inherently affect your ability to enjoy your own home.

But endless noise? People taking it upon themselves to damage your property, and then patting themselves on the back afterwards?

There's a difference, and he darn well knows it too.

[MEmama]

I just want to add my sympathies. We have an overeager, motorized equipment year round yard nut as a neighbor too, with a dog that endlessly yaps to boot. And we have a next door neighbor who is moving their long-standing fence to part of what has traditionally been part of our garden, forcing me to remove a decades worth of established plants. Bad neighbors suck. 😞 

[Innisfree]

I’m voting for the cease and desist letter, since it might be hard to make the sprinkler actually practical. Plus, some folks need boundaries (property and behavioral) to be absolutely  clear. Lawyers are good at providing that clarity.

[Harriet Vane]

1 hour ago, MEmama said:

I just want to add my sympathies. We have an overeager, motorized equipment year round yard nut as a neighbor too, with a dog that endlessly yaps to boot. And we have a next door neighbor who is moving their long-standing fence to part of what has traditionally been part of our garden, forcing me to remove a decades worth of established plants. Bad neighbors suck. 😞 

I remember your post about your garden, and I am heartbroken for you. I'm so sorry.

[Catwoman]

9 hours ago, Harriet Vane said:

While what you say is true and hindsight says it is necessary in this case, it's equally true that sometimes we give others grace in their foibles. There really is give-and-take when we live in community with others. We do not live in an area with a home owner's association, and we never, ever will, because we're just not willing to fret about what color someone else paints their house or how they choose to landscape. When the neighbor started encroaching, we figured he was just a little over-excited by his fun leaf blowing and we shrugged it off. We've unfortunately learned over the years that this guy considers himself THE unofficial HOA for the area, and now we are in this dumb conflict with him.

It's actually funny that you tell me not to be a pushover, as I doubt anyone who knows me in real life would ever describe me that way (not that you have any way of knowing that). I'm not usually one who feels threatened by conflict, and I have had to deal with a lot of difficult people especially through our many years with the foster care system.

This is different.

It’s not that you’re being a pushover. It’s that you know this guy is going to live next door to you, possibly for many years to come, and you’re trying to avoid having a hostile relationship with him. It’s a lot easier to have confrontations with people you won’t have to see every day for decades to come. It just is. The consequences of handling this poorly could impact you for years. 

Sending lots of hugs because I know how stressful this is. 

[Caroline]

Does anyone else remember when a similar thing happened to @MariannNOVA like forever ago?

 

[history-fan]

Sorry you’re having to deal with this
I’m not sure the orange fence would deter him, hope so. My parents had a neighbor from=======. We put up an orange fence because he would blow all the leaves into my Moms yard, when confronted he said the leaves weren’t from his tree. After we put up the fence he figured out how to lift it up at the bottom and blow the leaves under the fence.  We thought the fence would solve the problem but it didn’t, I would not have thought he would continue to blow leaves and toss branches under or over the fence but he did.

[fairfarmhand]

54 minutes ago, Caroline said:

Does anyone else remember when a similar thing happened to @MariannNOVA like forever ago?

 

I was thinking of that too!

[Harriet Vane]

2 hours ago, Caroline said:

Does anyone else remember when a similar thing happened to @MariannNOVA like forever ago?

 

Yes, vividly. 😄

[Harriet Vane]

2 hours ago, history-fan said:

Sorry you’re having to deal with this
I’m not sure the orange fence would deter him, hope so. My parents had a neighbor from=======. We put up an orange fence because he would blow all the leaves into my Moms yard, when confronted he said the leaves weren’t from his tree. After we put up the fence he figured out how to lift it up at the bottom and blow the leaves under the fence.  We thought the fence would solve the problem but it didn’t, I would not have thought he would continue to blow leaves and toss branches under or over the fence but he did.

That's really awful. What horrible people.

[I talk to the trees]

I am sorry! Bad neighbors can definitely ruin an otherwise perfect home! My recommendation would be to fight crazy with crazy. Put up that orange fencing and stand back and admire it while loudly declaring how much the brilliant color “brightens the place up!” Be sure to adorn the newly installed fencing with plenty of “Birds Aren’t Real” signage, which should be clearly visible on neighbor's side. Show neighbor how concerned you are about his welfare by telling him each time he mows or weed-whacks that he shouldn’t be outdoors so often because the neighborhood bird spies are on high alert. Who knows? He might be just loony enough to take you seriously! 

[Terabith]

Now I'm missing @Impish.

[Farrar]

This is the third neighbors yard conflict I've heard about recently. It's all horrible. But also, at least no one ended up in a screaming match that drew the neighbors. Because that is also one I heard recently from a friend.

My understanding is that easements can be so many things and the rules for them can vary a ton. If you're both using the easement for different things - and planting stuff is part of "using" - then unfortunately you may need to back off if you want him to as well. That's interesting that the parking pad is on the easement.

[Jean in Newcastle]

I went out one day after the straw broke my back with my neighbors who would actually lead their dogs over to my lawn to poop, watch them do it and then bring them home again.  Of course without scooping.  I went to Home Depot and got the Everbilt metal stakes and the Everbilt wire gauge fencing.  It's a bit less noticeable than the orange fence but still made a very big point and in my case, stopped the issue. 

[Miss Tick]

Maybe get him signed up for job postings from local municipalities. Someone is willing to PAY him to run a huge lawn mower all day.

I imagine it would be worth consulting with a relevant attorney so that you know where the extremes are if the bright orange fencing causes him to double down rather than become contrite.

I don't think the easement is for anybody's use willy-nilly. My understanding is that it is for government and utility access. You are required to maintain it, though, and it is your property, there are just limitations on what you can do with it.

[Farrar]

Also, I wasn't clear about whose property it actually is. It's your property but he has an easement or the government has an easement? It sounds like he does. But then it should be clear what he's allowed to do with it. My guess is that if it's your property, but his parking pad is on it, that's the purpose of the easement - it was so he could build the parking pad that jutted onto your property. Here, the owner has to sign off on that sort of thing, but once it's done, it's hard to undo. The other possibility is that the easement is because you mentioned there used to be a fence. Again, here, it's not uncommon for the fence to be built and an easement to be created on the other side of the fence from the owner. It means you're not giving up the land, but there's a few inches or even a foot on the other side of the fence that now the neighbor has use of.

Edited June 8, 2022 by Farrar

[ktgrok]

6 hours ago, MEmama said:

I just want to add my sympathies. We have an overeager, motorized equipment year round yard nut as a neighbor too, with a dog that endlessly yaps to boot. And we have a next door neighbor who is moving their long-standing fence to part of what has traditionally been part of our garden, forcing me to remove a decades worth of established plants. Bad neighbors suck. 😞 

Ugh. When we moved into this house back in October we had a survey done. Then we had a fence company come out, find the survey markers, and mark where our fence would be. It was NOT where the neighbors seemed to think it would be from what I could see from the mowing lines. In fact, the way lots are, our fence would be very close to one of the neighbor's homes. So we went over, showed them where the boundary would be, and made sure that was going to be okay with them. If they said they needed a bit more room we'd have compromised, for sure. (still had to dig up two of his sprinklers that were on my side of the fence - but I dug and capped them off for him)

59 minutes ago, Jean in Newcastle said:

I went out one day after the straw broke my back with my neighbors who would actually lead their dogs over to my lawn to poop, watch them do it and then bring them home again.  Of course without scooping.  I went to Home Depot and got the Everbilt metal stakes and the Everbilt wire gauge fencing.  It's a bit less noticeable than the orange fence but still made a very big point and in my case, stopped the issue. 

I had a neighbor with yorkies that kept doing this. I KNEW it was her, due to the size of the poop - every other neighbor had big dogs. One day I managed to sneak out there as the dog was doing it - and I said, SUPER sweetly, "Oh! Oops! Looks like you need a bag! I'll grab you one!" and then ran in and grabbed one and handed it to her. She didn't let him poop in my yard again. 

[ktgrok]

Honestly, I'd try to just say to him, "We love how nice your yard looks, but we have our own ideas of what we want done with ours. Please do not touch/trim/mow or blow on our property." If he gives you lip, let him know that if you see him treating your land as communal property, that means you will treat HIS yard as communal property. Sure would be sad if some round up made it's way over to his yard....aka, hit him where it hurts. His lawn. 

Edited June 8, 2022 by ktgrok

[Harriet Vane]

1 hour ago, Farrar said:

Also, I wasn't clear about whose property it actually is. It's your property but he has an easement or the government has an easement? It sounds like he does. But then it should be clear what he's allowed to do with it. My guess is that if it's your property, but his parking pad is on it, that's the purpose of the easement - it was so he could build the parking pad that jutted onto your property. Here, the owner has to sign off on that sort of thing, but once it's done, it's hard to undo. The other possibility is that the easement is because you mentioned there used to be a fence. Again, here, it's not uncommon for the fence to be built and an easement to be created on the other side of the fence from the owner. It means you're not giving up the land, but there's a few inches or even a foot on the other side of the fence that now the neighbor has use of.

If you stand at the top end of the lane, you see a house on either side of the lane, mine and his. No sidewalks. Just two ordinary houses on two corners of a T intersection. 

The lane provides access to three houses further down the lane. The house way at the end is the last. The lane dead ends at that house.

The easement on the surveyor map includes the lane and a strip that runs on both sides. 

The parking pad is clearly and obviously in my neighbor’s yard at the edge along the lane. His short strip of fence is also clearly and obviously on his side of the lane in the side yard of his house.

The garden he has de-mulched and the area he weed whacked are clearly and obviously in my yard on my side of the lane. There is no visual cue what is easement—it just looks like the garden at the edge of my yard.

My question about his parking pad is academic. If he thinks that he can cross the lane to my yard and alter my garden, by the same logic I could park in his parking pad or dig up the bluebells he has in his yard on his side of the lane. I do not actually want either his parking pad or his bluebells. 

Make sense?

[Harriet Vane]

1 hour ago, ktgrok said:

Honestly, I'd try to just say to him, "We love how nice your yard looks, but we have our own ideas of what we want done with ours. Please do not touch/trim/mow or blow on our property." If he gives you lip, let him know that if you see him treating your land as communal property, that means you will treat HIS yard as communal property. Sure would be sad if some round up made it's way over to his yard....aka, hit him where it hurts. His lawn. 

Yes, that is basically what dh said to him, though we did not threaten to do anything to his yard. Neighbor responded saying can weed whack or blow on our gardens if he wants because he is keeping the lane “clear.”

He hates our reforestation. It does not look manicured. It takes time for the saplings to grow and blend into the woods. We mow scrupulously up to the forest area. We planted some spread out bushes and low plants at the edge, but the plants needs time to spread and the bushes need time to grow.  Nothing about the forest area encroaches on the lane. It just doesn’t look manicured. He wants badly to clear the whole thing. We don’t want him to touch it—in the middle we planted trees (and some are seedlings that have naturally sprung up),  and on the edge we planted bushes and some low plants, and his weed whacking will undo that work.

For the record, the lane IS clear. At most there might be a slight little kibble of mulch that migrates onto the lane—there are numerous spots along the lane for all five houses that get some pebbles or mulch straying an inch or two. One assumes wind and animals draw those bits out of the beds. There are also dropped leaves and twigs the whole length of the lane. The other neighbors blow their patches clear once a week.
 

[ktgrok]

50 minutes ago, Harriet Vane said:

Yes, that is basically what dh said to him, though we did not threaten to do anything to his yard. Neighbor responded saying can weed whack or blow on our gardens if he wants because he is keeping the lane “clear.”

He hates our reforestation. It does not look manicured. It takes time for the saplings to grow and blend into the woods. We mow scrupulously up to the forest area. We planted some spread out bushes and low plants at the edge, but the plants needs time to spread and the bushes need time to grow.  Nothing about the forest area encroaches on the lane. It just doesn’t look manicured. He wants badly to clear the whole thing. We don’t want him to touch it—in the middle we planted trees (and some are seedlings that have naturally sprung up),  and on the edge we planted bushes and some low plants, and his weed whacking will undo that work.

For the record, the lane IS clear. At most there might be a slight little kibble of mulch that migrates onto the lane—there are numerous spots along the lane for all five houses that get some pebbles or mulch straying an inch or two. One assumes wind and animals draw those bits out of the beds. There are also dropped leaves and twigs the whole length of the lane. The other neighbors blow their patches clear once a week.
 

Is there a clear delineation between the lane and your yard? 

[Harriet Vane]

6 minutes ago, ktgrok said:

Is there a clear delineation between the lane and your yard? 

Yes, the entire lane is in between our two houses. Our yards do not actually touch at all. His home and yard are on one side of the lane and mine are on the other. 

[ktgrok]

7 minutes ago, Harriet Vane said:

Yes, the entire lane is in between our two houses. Our yards do not actually touch at all. His home and yard are on one side of the lane and mine are on the other. 

right, but where the lane itself ends, vs your property? Like,if he says he is clearing the "lane" is is VERY obvious where the boundary between the lane and your property is? Is it paved, gravel, dirt?

[happi duck]

It sounds completely ridiculous that he crosses to your property.  I'm not sure if a lane is for cars or walkers but either way it makes no sense that he crosses it.

As far as I understand, an easement means...treat it like it's yours but nothing permanent and we(the town, county etc) can work there without warning.

[Harriet Vane]

5 minutes ago, ktgrok said:

right, but where the lane itself ends, vs your property? Like,if he says he is clearing the "lane" is is VERY obvious where the boundary between the lane and your property is? Is it paved, gravel, dirt?

The lane is paved with a street sign and a name. It looks like a narrow street. All the houses have yards that go to the paved lane. There is absolutely no ambiguity about what is a paved lane and what is a yard or garden or dense forest. All the yards are this way.

[Harriet Vane]

1 minute ago, happi duck said:

It sounds completely ridiculous that he crosses to your property.  I'm not sure if a lane is for cars or walkers but either way it makes no sense that he crosses it.

As far as I understand, an easement means...treat it like it's yours but nothing permanent and we(the town, county etc) can work there without warning.

Exactly. It is ridiculous and no one would think he can cross the lane to do anything at all to someone else’s yard. Cars drive the lane but since hardly anyone comes here we all walk the lane freely.

[Grace Hopper]

30 minutes ago, Harriet Vane said:

Yes, the entire lane is in between our two houses. Our yards do not actually touch at all. His home and yard are on one side of the lane and mine are on the other. 

Wow, he must have to go out of his way to mess with your property?

[Harriet Vane]

Just now, Grace Hopper said:

Wow, he must have to go out of his way to mess with your property?

Yes. He has to cross the lane. It was intentional. He trimmed a strip that is 2-4 feet wide (varied) and close to probably about a third of an acre long. Similarly, when he blew the mulch off our garden bed, he directed two blowers AT the bed and cleared a 4x7 area down to mud. The mulch was blown further INTO our yard. We raked a bunch of it back into the flower bed. The first time or two we thought wind or something happened. I have seen him at it once and my son has seen him do it 2-3 times. It didn’t occur to my son to say anything. When I saw him (late last summer) I was running late and in a hurry, and he finished and left before I could even emerge from the house. At that point we learned that our son had seen him do this also, so dh said if it happened again he would go talk to him. In hindsight we should have talked to him that day. It was not something any of us wanted to broach with him—he’s awful and often unpleasant.

[ktgrok]

30 minutes ago, Harriet Vane said:

The lane is paved with a street sign and a name. It looks like a narrow street. All the houses have yards that go to the paved lane. There is absolutely no ambiguity about what is a paved lane and what is a yard or garden or dense forest. All the yards are this way.

Wow, okay...I got nothing then. I'd try to film him I guess, and report him to the cops, if he wont' stop. that's just crazy. 

[TechWife]

Your neighbor is trespassing on your property. An easement doesn’t give him the right to come into your yard. 
 

Our yard has three easements, each for a specific purpose. People can t just do whatever they want to because there’s an easement. 
Utility easement- there is a three foot utility easement on three sides of our lot. Utility companies can bury lines or pipes there and maintain them. This means they can dig without permission, which includes digging up plants. They are required to seed grass when they are done, but they aren’t required to replant anything else. Anything I plant or place there (like a lawn ornament) is at our own risk. 
sidewalk easement - the city has an easement on two sides of our lot for the placement and maintenance of a public sidewalk. That is the only thing that can be done there. 
line of sight easement - we are on a corner lot and this applies to both the alley corner and the street corner. It means when someone is approaching and entering the intersection, they must have a clear line of sight for approaching traffic. This one is a bit of a pain, to be honest. There’s a triangular area at each of these corners where we can’t plant anything over 2’ high and we can’t fence that space. The long side of the triangle is what runs through our property and it’s about 10’ in. 

In addition to this, we have a maintenance easement for the lot next door. We are on what is commonly called a “zero lot line,” which means our house is 13” from the property line on one side. We can go onto our neighbors property at any time to maintain our house. This means the exterminator accesses it regularly and we can be on their property to power wash or paint or any other maintenance. They are not allowed to lock their fence without giving us a key - we can cut the lock off if they do. 
 
The city is the sole enforcer of the easements, and they do overlap. 

Edited June 9, 2022 by TechWife

[Grace Hopper]

1 hour ago, Harriet Vane said:

Yes. He has to cross the lane. It was intentional. He trimmed a strip that is 2-4 feet wide (varied) and close to probably about a third of an acre long. Similarly, when he blew the mulch off our garden bed, he directed two blowers AT the bed and cleared a 4x7 area down to mud. The mulch was blown further INTO our yard. We raked a bunch of it back into the flower bed. The first time or two we thought wind or something happened. I have seen him at it once and my son has seen him do it 2-3 times. It didn’t occur to my son to say anything. When I saw him (late last summer) I was running late and in a hurry, and he finished and left before I could even emerge from the house. At that point we learned that our son had seen him do this also, so dh said if it happened again he would go talk to him. In hindsight we should have talked to him that day. It was not something any of us wanted to broach with him—he’s awful and often unpleasant.

Oh my, now I have a firmer mental image of your set up and I definitely think it might be worth your time to have an attorney draw up a cease and desist letter. You shouldn’t have to put up fencing for that sort of deliberate encroachment (and I can better understand why you would not want a fence).

I am curious to see what your city/county zoning office has to say about the situation. 

[Spryte]

Cease and desist letter sounds good.

Would a No Trespassing sign be appropriate as well? He’s clearly on your property, and the easement isn’t meant for his use. Then if you do film him or catch him doing it, it’s obviously been made clear that you don’t want him on your property.

He sounds like a terrible neighbor.

[MrsMommy]

11 hours ago, Caroline said:

Does anyone else remember when a similar thing happened to @MariannNOVA like forever ago?

 

I do! I had been a lurker on this forum up to that point, and I finally created an account just so I could see the photos!

[ktgrok]

18 minutes ago, Spryte said:

Cease and desist letter sounds good.

Would a No Trespassing sign be appropriate as well? He’s clearly on your property, and the easement isn’t meant for his use. Then if you do film him or catch him doing it, it’s obviously been made clear that you don’t want him on your property.

He sounds like a terrible neighbor.

I was thinking some no tresspassing signs, at least near the stuff they don't want him touching, might be to the point enough

[LaughingCat]

Need an exploding head 'like' for this one!  I was imagining him doing this along his property line (kinda 'pushing' the line) -- but crossing a paved road (even an easement road) to do it is next level crazy!   Even if your bushes or trees were actually encroaching on the lane -- that would still be yours to take care of, not his. 

 

[ktgrok]

I wonder....can you get some kind of "native plant" yard designation from your county or something? Here we have something like that, I think. Wondering if a sign explaining the value of the plants might help make it even more obvious this is stuff you are growing, not weeds? This is what we have - you get a cool sign to display. https://ffl.ifas.ufl.edu/about-ffl/landscape-recognition/

Edited June 9, 2022 by ktgrok

[Harriet Vane]

9 minutes ago, ktgrok said:

I wonder....can you get some kind of "native plant" yard designation from your county or something? Here we have something like that, I think. Wondering if a sign explaining the value of the plants might help make it even more obvious this is stuff you are growing, not weeds? This is what we have - you get a cool sign to display. https://ffl.ifas.ufl.edu/about-ffl/landscape-recognition/

Intriguing. Thanks.

[Resilient]

The noise is really ... beyond annoying. That would result in even more noise at my house--dh complaining every single second of it. A double whammy.  That doesn't mean he would be wrong.  Why are people so thoughtless?  

Besides all the unneighborliness.

:0(

I love the sprinkler idea.  :0)

 

[kiwik]

On 6/8/2022 at 11:45 AM, Harriet Vane said:

Yes, a fence is the obvious answer. But we do not want a fence. The neighborhood has large lots with spread-out houses and lots of forested areas. We love our view. We don't want a fence.

The other thing is the expense. The whole yard is 1.25 acres with a curvy edge. We have already this year had to spend a ton of money on major and unexpected plumbing issues, and that's on top of the basement rehab project we did already before Easter and house trim painting. We do not want to spend any more on big home improvement projects just because this horrible neighbor is like this.

How about a single strand electric fence like you put around gardens to keep Weka and possums out?

Or wire netting or net to protect the plants - that should stuff up his weed eater.

Edited June 9, 2022 by kiwik

[Green Bean]

Lawyer and cops are the only thing that might stop the crazy person. Threatening to sue or charge him for damages and mulch are your best bet.

[ChickaDeeDeeDee]

Skimmed and didn't see the following suggestion, sorry if this is a repeat.  Since you're trying to let nature take over...   I'd put up some signs that say "Native Habitat Restoration In Progress, DO NOT DISTURB" while I figure out what else to do.  You could print it on dayglo cardstock, put it in a sheet protector, and staple it to a hardwood stake as a cheap option.   If you have native plant societies in your area they might even sell nice signs(usually has an organization name so it looks "official" ).  

Here's an example from California:  https://store.cnps.org/products/native-plant-garden-sign   

[ktgrok]

4 minutes ago, ChickaDeeDeeDee said:

Skimmed and didn't see the following suggestion, sorry if this is a repeat.  Since you're trying to let nature take over...   I'd put up some signs that say "Native Habitat Restoration In Progress, DO NOT DISTURB" while I figure out what else to do.  You could print it on dayglo cardstock, put it in a sheet protector, and staple it to a hardwood stake as a cheap option.   If you have native plant societies in your area they might even sell nice signs(usually has an organization name so it looks "official" ).  

Here's an example from California:  https://store.cnps.org/products/native-plant-garden-sign   

Yes, this! That way there is no way he can claim he thought it was weeds, was "helping", etc. 

Heck, we even have medians in Florida that are planted with wildflowers that have signs saying, "do not mow". 

[ktgrok]

Found this - says it is customizable I think - you could put "do not mow/trim/blow"

https://www.zazzle.com/do_not_mow_wildflower_and_natural_habitat_sign-256594829870641550?rf=238241712444678626&tc=CjwKCAjwtIaVBhBkEiwAsr7-cwgVEFAJpn6_yQqCtOviKxtPiiAwabAjmT35QoOMlSrXAwWaMo5yfxoCRb8QAvD_BwE&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=us_shopping&utm_term=z256594829870641550&ca_chid=2001810&ca_source=gaw&ca_ace=&ca_nw=g&ca_dev=c&ca_pl=&ca_pos=&ca_cid=575710024728&ca_agid=130837243143&ca_caid=15861894165&ca_adid=575710024728&ca_kwt=&ca_mt=&ca_fid=&ca_tid=pla-1519308964991&ca_lp=9011806&ca_li=&ca_devm=&ca_plt=&gclsrc=aw.ds&gclid=CjwKCAjwtIaVBhBkEiwAsr7-cwgVEFAJpn6_yQqCtOviKxtPiiAwabAjmT35QoOMlSrXAwWaMo5yfxoCRb8QAvD_BwE

[Selkie]

You can also get your yard certified as a wildlife habitat by the National Wildlife Federation. They have a sign, too.