Neighbor Complaining About Our Lawn Care - Weeds/Pests
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Anonymous
| put a walkway or a border of some kind on the property dividing line... |
Anonymous
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Without an HOA, you have the right to do anything you want with your lawn, but it is extremely rude not to take care of any flowering or seeding weeds that will spread themselves in the wind into your neighbors yard. That's the plant equivalent of letting your dog out to wander and poop in the neighbors yards. As long as you keep your weeds in your yard, you're fine.
So, what to do? I would treat an area of your yard along the border between your properties, say about 3-5 feet wide to help create a barrier so that weeds don't send roots towards his lawn. Also, you should treat any flowering weeds within about 10 feet of his yard. What to treat with to avoid anything harmful to your pets or children? You can use vinegar. Pour or spray on plants and it will start killing them in 15-30 minutes. You can also use 1 teaspoon rubbing alcohol in 1 liter of water. It will kill plants by dehydrating them. As I said, I would treat a strip of your yard by your neighbor's edge and then spot treat any weeds that are flowering or releasing seeds. You're free to do whatever you want, but the neighborly thing it to be respectful of a neighbor who wants a weed-free yard by making sure that you're not spreading your weeds into his yard. |
Anonymous
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OP, we are in a similar situation. DH loves to work on our lawn and landscaping. Since having kids, I no longer let him use chemical herbicides, so he sticks with corn gluten meal and other organic treatments.
Our yard is always beautifully mowed and trimmed. The flower beds are weeded. However, a huge patch of clover has taken up residence in our lawn and we have had little to no success in eradicating it. From the street, you'd never know, our yard just looks beautiful and green. We are frustrated, but not enough to use chemicals. If this is the case, I feel badly for your neighbor but he can use chemicals in his yard if he so chooses. We do have neighbors with lawns like other PPs are referencing. Half-hearted, infrequent mowing jobs. Never using an edger so that the curbs and sidewalks are overgrown. Bushes and shrubs aren't trimmed. Just horrible. That annoys me! |
Anonymous
| Big fence. Frequent mowing to keep weeds from seeding. |
FBO
Member Location: NoVA
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Member Location: NoVA
Offline
|
How many weeds can really be making an impact on the neighbors yard?
Serious question... What does it look like? |
Anonymous
. keep sending the neighbor the bill for pine needle / cone cleanup. Same with weeds, and they might do something. |
Anonymous
| I agree that it's your lawn, and your decision about how to care for it/maintain it. (Crabgrass does migrate very easily and quickly, however, so he wasn't bullshitting about that part.) |
Anonymous
| I just make sure I spread the weed/crab grass killer into the neighbor's few feet of lawn to create a barrier. |
Anonymous
Is that what YOU did? |
Anonymous
60% of the time, it works every time |
Anonymous
Any suggestions on how to make it look decent with little/no weeding? Sounds perfect! |
Anonymous
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I guess we're "lucky" in that our neighbors on both sides have "natural" yards, so nobody complains about the fact that we have as many weeds as grass. In fact, when I asked one of them (who also has young kids) if we should use weedkiller, she was horrified.
One thing I have noticed in other neighborhoods is that some people with natural yards put up a little sign that says "Natural Yard - No Pesticides Used." It makes clear that you're not lazy, but rather that you are intentionally not putting chemicals in your yard. |
Anonymous
Landscape fabric. |
Anonymous
That's actually illegal. You can't dump chemicals onto your neighbor's lawn, no matter how much you want to do it. I sympathize with the neighbor, since I have a neighbor who lets his crab grass and dandelions go to seed. The seeds blow right across my lawn and it's an awful struggle to fight it. If they mowed every week, this would not happen. Perhaps a fence might keep the seed from blowing into my yard. I have thought about it but I am taking the approach of hand-weeding and reseeding any bare spots. If I can get the lawn to grow in thick enough it might choke out most of the new weeds. We'll see. |
Anonymous
| Oh to answer one question: the reason your neighbor hates the crabgrass is because it is a grass, so there is no good spray to use on it that will not also kill his lawn. He can kill dandelions with a broad leaf herbicide, but once the crabgrass grows he has to take it out. |