Weeds and rude neighbour advice

freezspirit

My mother was rudely told to pass on a message to me about my garden by a neighbour. That she was sick and tired of finding weeds in her garden.

Now I have been attempting to cut the long grass but I am currently looking after my terminally ill father and my own health as got so bad that I am due to have an injection in my shoulder at the end of the month and been told to do light and non repetitive tasks until my shoulder heals.

So I'm wondering is there any laws or acts that say I have to cut my grass and spray weed killer on dandelions?

Strangely my next door neighbour who if the wind blew the weed seeds they would go in her garden hasn't said a thing but this woman backs onto my garden separated by a wall complains.

glasgowdan

Plant loads of aquilegias and bamboo right against the wall... your garden is up to you, I'd encourage you to merrily ignore what she has to say!

elsien

freezspirit wrote: »

My mother was rudely told to pass on a message to me about my garden by a neighbour. That she was sick and tired of finding weeds in her garden.

.

Suggest if weeds in her garden are an issue for her, she could try tarmacking over it so there's nowhere for them to seed?

On a more serious note, unless your garden is so bad it's creating an environmental health problem (which I'm guessing is unlikely) there's no obligation on you to do anything.
If you want to keep neighbourly relations, you could have a word and explain you'll do it when you have time but it's at the bottom of your list of priorities. Or pay to get someone in as a one off. Otherwise feel free to ignore.

esuhl

As far as I know there's nothing in law to specifically say you have to remove dandelions. You can cultivate any plants you like (with a few obvious exceptions).

It sounds like you have a lot to deal with at the moment, and dandelions are quite rightly fairly low down on that list. I'd ignore your moaning neighbour.

If she does insist that you do something, you could always try this approach:

moneyistooshorttomention

Different people will have different reactions.

Personally - I've got nfh but try to be "whiter than white" myself and not give them anything they are/might be reasonable in complaining about.

So my take on your situation would be to think that its not that fair to expect your problems to impact on someone else's shoulders (and..yes...I do fully sympathise with the position you are in at present). So I would take a temporary solution and buy some of that weed suppressant "cloth" stuff one can put down on garden soil (the black stuff with large green squares on it - cant recall the name). That way the weeds underneath it will die over weeks to come and cant transfer into a neighbouring garden.

I think the problem you have is that quite a few people will say about stuff going on in their own personal circumstances as to why they arent doing something-or-other and so your neighbour might possibly have heard this from Person A and Person B and Person C as to why they arent doing something and you end up being Person D in that "queue" and Person A to C were "over-egging the cake" and mentioning personal problems to the other person (your neighbour in this case) and this situation has come on top of that.

I'm not being unsympathetic honestly. I do feel for you in the situation you are. On the other hand - I've had person running a firm sending me goods by post telling me their woes as to why contract wasnt fulfilled as per plan AND driver bringing delivery to my place AND ......AND.......AND.

That's the problem basically - all the people who have "nothing to do with" and are in circumstances where it simply is not relevant to mention their personal circumstances - but they have done so....

So your - perfectly genuine - comment about "why the garden is at is" may very well have come on top of the neighbour getting a lot of other similar comments from others and yours was genuine and the others werent - but it was "last straw syndrome" iyswim.

So - at a practical level - do get that weed suppressant fabric and hopefully that will sort the problem.

Ideally - put some of that fabric down AND put a few inches of bark mulch or gravel or something similar on top and weeds cant possibly get through that - even into your own garden. If you physically cant manage to spread gravel or bark mulch around - gardeners seem to be around £10 per hour and it shouldnt take more than a few hours for one to do it and some will consider one-off tasks.

bouicca21

I'm sick and tired of finding weeds in my garden too. I blame the lazy cow who doesn't get out and do the weeding often enough. That would be me.

Short of some sort of plant DNA test that would establish that the weeds came from your garden rather than any of the many others in the neighbourhood, I'd be inclined to ignore the daft !!!!!!. In fact even if she could prove the lineage of the dandelions, I'd ignore her.

Of course you could always invite her to come over and mow your lawn for you.

moneyistooshorttomention

Re dandelions specifically - one way to handle that would be to go round the garden dead-heading them every day. That way they won't go into seed "format" and start spreading. It only takes me a couple of minutes daily to dead-head the blimmin' ones that spring up in my garden.:(

moneyistooshorttomention

bouicca21 wrote: »

Short of some sort of plant DNA test that would establish that the weeds came from your garden rather than any of the many others in the neighbourhood, I'd be inclined to ignore the daft !!!!!!. In fact even if she could prove the lineage of the dandelions, I'd ignore her.

Not quite the case with some weeds.

I still havent worked out exactly where the dandelions in my garden are coming from - but I do have suspicions. But I have worked out exactly where the bindweed was coming from (ie next bit of land over) and have put BIG barriers down between them and me and that seems to have done the trick.

Some weeds have come in with new topsoil (I bought :mad:). Some are down to neglect by previous owners of my house. Ivy is down to next door neighbour the other side of me.

It is often possible to tell where weeds originated from.

freezspirit

Thanks everyone, I was going to pay someone to do a garden clearance once my savings matured in July but like you all have gathered my garden in fact my bungalow renovation has taken a back sit to looking after my father who has terminal cancer, a mother who has mobility problems and my disabled brother plus my own health.

I am going to ignore this neighbour, I've calmed my mother who was very upset over the matter. I will do the garden in my own time.

moneyistooshorttomention

You've certainly got a basinfull on your plate - and my sympathies on that. Life can be a right b*tch etc etc...

But - is your neighbour generally being reasonable in other respects? If they are - then it honestly isnt fair for your problems to impact on them. Sorry - but it is the case - so its reasonable to point that out.

Soot2006

Wow it's never occurred to me to have a go at my neighbours for their invasive weeds (and they have many); I just pride myself to keeping on top of things from my side. Would I prefer my neighbours to have tidier garden that don't look like bindweed, ragweed, dandelion, and every other weeds factories? Yes of course, that would be nicer for me and easier. Is it a big deal? Not really ... 30 mins in the garden before dark to keep on top of things. Healthy for me and the smug factor of looking out on my lovely garden. Also, I quite like all the bees, butterflies and other things that thrive in both my next doors. I always leave first crop of dandelions for the bumblebees anyway though have mowed them down by now of course. Won't use weedkiller, so it's dead heading or pulling job for me.