Plants for privacy from neighbours?

Steel_2

Toots wrote: »

Steel,

As you get on so well with the parents, can't you have a chat at least about the footballs?

There is no way I would keep on throwing the balls back. When my neighbour's kids were younger I ended up telling them that I would throw them back only when I went out and happened upon them and I didn't think it okay to just keep knocking them over and then knock on the door all the time expecting them back straight away.

Any decent parents would agree to this.

Gosh ...I am so glad they have grown up now... I just hope they don't have grandchildren soon.

Toots

We have and they do talk to them about it, but with so many kids in the garden any ball just ricochets off them everywhere. If it's a ball they like playing with they're round in a shot ringing the bell for it, which I ignore half of the time anyway. There was a time we let them run round and get them, but we caught them several times having a footie game in the back garden (ours is larger than theirs). The rest of the kids would spot the ball retriever and swarm over the fence for a knockabout using the trampoline as a step to get over. We put a stop to that and asked the father to move the trampoline away from the fence.

You get that feeling that sooner or later you're going to be labelled a nasty child hater if you carry on moaning, that's why we button it now most of the time. Besides I wouldn't want the memory of their childhood to be blighted by a moany cow next door.

Anyway, enough of the moaning. We decided last night we are having a big border! We're going for it! I've marked out ten feet from the fence ready for digging and am picking shrubs and small trees at the moment. It might take a few years for them to establish, but that will be long enough for the neighbours to get used to seeing less and less of us as time goes on. We're also marking off some territory near our workshop that could be fenced off to provide a private sun trap with a hammock. The patio is lovely, but privacy has been slightly compromised by one of their boys poking out the knots in the fence to look through at us. Long story but kinda sweet...

As for kids in the garden, we think it might be easier to get geese and let them deal with the kids...one peck off a nasty gander and they won't set foot in the garden again

kitchensink_2

just a note for all of those thinking about or planting bamboo- please please please surround your bamboo with a rhyzome barrier, or plant it in an old plastic bin or something - i've just spent many weeks digging up a grove of bamboo out of my garden - and it was supposed to be clump forming - duh. Google bamboo and how to get rid of it for some scarey stories!!!!

Dont mean to be a spreader of doom, but i wouldn;t wish what we had to go through on anyone.