Tyrannical gardening-obsessed shaming neighbors

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a neighbor across street. Younger couple maybe 42-45. Two kids maybe 8-10 moved in four years ago.

Front laws don’t have fences. Somehow they bought the house from an 85 year old widower who owned house almost fifty years and in three years turned front lawn into a massive dandelion patch with seeds flying everywhere.

The guy had a typical WFH job. Wife does not work kids in school all day. Dude spray them, dig them out or at lease keep lawn shorter so they don’t shoot up.

No one cares except the two neighbors left and right get weeds everywhere.

One of man child dads off bike riding or something while his weeds are everywhere

Dandelions are good for your soil due to the tap root and make your lawn healthier. They are also pretty and good for pollinators and children love them. Why are you complaining about something good? pick something bad and damaging to the world to obsess over -- there are so many options.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What does you having children and listing their ages have to do with this?

You can’t imagine that parents of a toddler and newborn might not have gardening as their top priority in life?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is your yard really bad, OP? And do your “junk trees” drop on her lawn/garden?

None of the neighbors business. You sound like a nosy Parker yourself.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. A classic phone conversation with her went like this: (I swear to god I’m not making this up)

Obsessed neighbor: I’m just calling to discuss your grass experience with you.
Me: (desperately wondering whether she’s for real) What is it you would like to know, Margaret?

Why are you entertaining this nonsense?

[Anonymous]

Are your trees invasive species?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What does you having children and listing their ages have to do with this?

You can’t imagine that parents of a toddler and newborn might not have gardening as their top priority in life?

She has a law service. Kids or not, she said she wasn’t going to do the yard.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a neighbor across street. Younger couple maybe 42-45. Two kids maybe 8-10 moved in four years ago.

Front laws don’t have fences. Somehow they bought the house from an 85 year old widower who owned house almost fifty years and in three years turned front lawn into a massive dandelion patch with seeds flying everywhere.

The guy had a typical WFH job. Wife does not work kids in school all day. Dude spray them, dig them out or at lease keep lawn shorter so they don’t shoot up.

No one cares except the two neighbors left and right get weeds everywhere.

One of man child dads off bike riding or something while his weeds are everywhere

Dandelions are good for your soil due to the tap root and make your lawn healthier. They are also pretty and good for pollinators and children love them. Why are you complaining about something good? pick something bad and damaging to the world to obsess over -- there are so many options.

The chemicals needed to have a perfect weed free lawn are bad for my kid's, bad for the bees, bad for the environment. Violets and dandelions are fine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are your trees invasive species?

Until “junk trees” are outlawed it still doesn’t matter-a neighbor could mention something maybe once if they thought their neighbors weren’t well informed but absolutely not repeatedly.

[Anonymous]

OP - What are the "junk" trees? And are there specific "weeds" that your neighbor is citing?

I would like to hear the other side of the story. While I don't say anything to my neighbors on one side, I am constantly dealing with non-native invasives that encroach from their property -- English Ivy, Oriental Wisteria, Japanese Honeysuckle, etc. Lawn services typically don't get rid of these things unless you specifically ask and pay them to do so. I am the one paying landscapers each year to help me deal with the mess that is coming over from my neighbors' yard, which is a real pain.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a neighbor across street. Younger couple maybe 42-45. Two kids maybe 8-10 moved in four years ago.

Front laws don’t have fences. Somehow they bought the house from an 85 year old widower who owned house almost fifty years and in three years turned front lawn into a massive dandelion patch with seeds flying everywhere.

The guy had a typical WFH job. Wife does not work kids in school all day. Dude spray them, dig them out or at lease keep lawn shorter so they don’t shoot up.

No one cares except the two neighbors left and right get weeds everywhere.

One of man child dads off bike riding or something while his weeds are everywhere

Dandelions are good for your soil due to the tap root and make your lawn healthier. They are also pretty and good for pollinators and children love them. Why are you complaining about something good? pick something bad and damaging to the world to obsess over -- there are so many options.

The chemicals needed to have a perfect weed free lawn are bad for my kid's, bad for the bees, bad for the environment. Violets and dandelions are fine.

+1

A single species line is not beneficial for the environment or for nature. While I personally pull up dandelions, I keep violets and other flowering plants in my yard. I have no desire for a monoculture lawn, unlike my neighbors who spray spray spray and round up weeds. I have 0 desire to be like them.

[Anonymous]

OP’s yard is a mess and none of you people would want her yard next to yours. Read between the lines.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP’s yard is a mess and none of you people would want her yard next to yours. Read between the lines.

I don't see that anywhere in her comments. I think you are projecting.

[Anonymous]

Is it a Bradley pear tree? Those things are crazy bad and invasive. They definitely need to be burned to the ground. That said, they are everywhere. Your one tree won't make an iota of a difference.

[Anonymous]

If you are letting random, volunteer trees take root and grow in your yard, then your neighbor is doing you a favor by pointing it out. This is a problem that just gets bigger and bigger, literally, and you will regret not being on top of it for your own sake.

Don't be defensive about it -- just thank her and point it out to your lawn care guys.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP’s yard is a mess and none of you people would want her yard next to yours. Read between the lines.

I don't see that anywhere in her comments. I think you are projecting.

I don’t see anywhere in her comments that her yard isn’t a mess. I think you are gullible.