Neighbor Complaining About Our Lawn Care - Weeds/Pests

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

FBO wrote:Your lawn, your rules. Tell him to get lost and mind his own business.

HOA? Check the rules because you may be held to that standard.

OP here. No, definitely no HOA. Part of the reason we bought in this neighborhood!

I'd love to tell him to mind his own business, but we live next door, so I'm trying to do the 'right'/civil thing.

OP, just keep it clean and that's it. As long as it is not out of control, you're fine. Just tell your neighbor - we will address it at some point, our prioritries are just different now - but you DONT have to explain yourself.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

FBO wrote:Your lawn, your rules. Tell him to get lost and mind his own business.

HOA? Check the rules because you may be held to that standard.

OP here. No, definitely no HOA. Part of the reason we bought in this neighborhood!

I'd love to tell him to mind his own business, but we live next door, so I'm trying to do the 'right'/civil thing.

OP, just keep it clean and that's it. As long as it is not out of control, you're fine. Just tell your neighbor - we will address it at some point, our prioritries are just different now - but you DONT have to explain yourself.

I'm sure OP has been waiting patiently since 2012 for your response.

[Anonymous]

I hate taking walks and breathing in the chemicals that have been sprayed on lawns. It smells like dry cleaning fluid. It has to be carcinogenic. Lovely.

I have no problem with weeds. Plant diversity is good.

[Anonymous]

Our neighbor's weeds regularly invade our lawn. It pisses me off.

If you want to be neighborly, spend a little more time controlling the crap in your yard. You don't have to spray. Mow a little more often, spend some time pulling them out. Your lawn your rules, but your lawn is now affecting his lawn.

[Anonymous]

Oh well crap... another old thread. Oh well I'm sure it applies to someone.

[Anonymous]

The truth is - if your yard is full of weeds it will just get worse and will spread around the whole neighborhood. We use NO toxins on our lawn. We dig out dandelions after the rain - it takes 10 minutes. We dig out weeds - another ten minutes. We fertilize naturally. We also have a mulching mower which puts the nutrients back in the soil. We edge our gardens - takes about 20 minutes. If the wind blows down sticks from the tree - we pick them up - about 5 minutes. Our lawn is perfect because we like it that way and we want the neighborhood to look good. In fact, a well kept neighborhood (and yes, that includes your lawn, increases the value of your home. Your home is probably your largest asset. People who let the lawn go to weeds are lazy and rude and the rest of us have to tolerate it. Ugh. Ten chances to one the exercise will do you good. Go outside and take care of your yard for crying' out loud

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The truth is - if your yard is full of weeds it will just get worse and will spread around the whole neighborhood. We use NO toxins on our lawn. We dig out dandelions after the rain - it takes 10 minutes. We dig out weeds - another ten minutes. We fertilize naturally. We also have a mulching mower which puts the nutrients back in the soil. We edge our gardens - takes about 20 minutes. If the wind blows down sticks from the tree - we pick them up - about 5 minutes. Our lawn is perfect because we like it that way and we want the neighborhood to look good. In fact, a well kept neighborhood (and yes, that includes your lawn, increases the value of your home. Your home is probably your largest asset. People who let the lawn go to weeds are lazy and rude and the rest of us have to tolerate it. Ugh. Ten chances to one the exercise will do you good. Go outside and take care of your yard for crying' out loud

It's all about you, isn't it? No HOA, no weeding. What part of that don't you get? You are welcome to "exercise" some more and do all that stuff you describe to my lawn too. When can you start?

[Anonymous]

If you get hot water (like the tea kettle) and pour it over the weed, it cooks it. You know how a burn keeps going deeper unless you stop it with cold? Well that's what happens with the weed...the heat travels down the root, to cook the whole root.

It's easy to kill weeds in driveway cracks that way. On the lawn you may fry a little bit of grass round the weed, but so what.

If you did this just once a day, you'd get your yard clean in no time. And it's kind of fun to do! I steep a cup of tea and use the leftover to walk outside and fry a few weeds; come in and the tea is ready.

[Anonymous]

Your weeds invade my lawn, I spray your weeds.

[Anonymous]

In our neighborhood (average price 900k) very few people spray chemicals in their yards. We have one neighbor in our cluster of eight houses that does it. They use organic stuff but I would still never want that bear my house. Everyone else embraces a natural lawn.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The truth is - if your yard is full of weeds it will just get worse and will spread around the whole neighborhood. We use NO toxins on our lawn. We dig out dandelions after the rain - it takes 10 minutes. We dig out weeds - another ten minutes. We fertilize naturally. We also have a mulching mower which puts the nutrients back in the soil. We edge our gardens - takes about 20 minutes. If the wind blows down sticks from the tree - we pick them up - about 5 minutes. Our lawn is perfect because we like it that way and we want the neighborhood to look good. In fact, a well kept neighborhood (and yes, that includes your lawn, increases the value of your home. Your home is probably your largest asset. People who let the lawn go to weeds are lazy and rude and the rest of us have to tolerate it. Ugh. Ten chances to one the exercise will do you good. Go outside and take care of your yard for crying' out loud

My home is not my largest asset by any stretch.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:From an old article:

Nancy and Walter Stewart of Potomac, Maryland, discovered this truth in 1986. That was the spring their tractor mower broke down one time too many, and they decided to let most of their seven-acre yard grow. Soon shaggy meadow grasses and wildflowers overtook the lawn. The Stewarts loved the natural look and the low maintenance—twice-a-year mowing and no watering or pesticides. But in their posh Washington, D.C., suburb the meadow garden stuck out like a jalopy up on blocks. The neighbors were furious. One sent an anonymous note calling the yard “a disgrace to the entire neighborhood.” Someone started a fire in it. The county cited the couple under its weed ordinance. After the Stewarts threatened a legal challenge- Nancy is a U.S. Justice Department attorney—the county finally amended its weed law to permit meadow gardens with a mowed strip surrounding them.

OP, grow a meadow lawn. I want to, but my wife will not let me.

I have one on the vacant lot we own next to our property. The guy on the other side loves it. My other neighbor hates it - but he wants our shrubs and mulch to match. Might have to plant a border of voodoo lilies on our property line

Husband is not into yard maintenance. I personally weeded and laid over 100 bags of mulch recently. I am now feeling broken and will hire out the rest, but there is a wait to get anyone decent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would kindly suggest to him that he should speak to his lawn service, because they apparently aren't doing the job properly if they aren't preventing/killing off the weeds in his yard. What is he paying all that money for?

As long as your yard is mowed, it seems very reasonable to me. I'd probably change flower beds to require little/no weeding in the future.

Any suggestions on how to make it look decent with little/no weeding? Sounds perfect!

Landscape fabric.

NONONONONONO! I put this heinous product in. The weeds grow right on top of it and through the mulch, then adhere to the fabric to the point where they are pretty impossible to pull. I'm working on this project now and my back is WRECKED

[Anonymous]

We live in Bethesda, and none of the houses on our street are treated or sprayed. We all have weeds. The rabbits love the clover and I love the dandelions. If someone told me to take better care of my lawn, I would tell them that it's just the way I like it.

[Anonymous]

All grass, and treated lawns, are bad for the environment. Plant clover and give him a handout about bees