Gardening and weeds

the_pink_panther_2

I've been caught off guard a bit and I'm not really sure where I stand with this.  I haven't used MSE forum for some time and have forgotten how to navigate it, if I've posted in the wrong section, feel free to move it so it's in the right place.  

My neighbour came to me saying that brambles, which are growing under my hedge (which runs alongside her driveway), have grown under her 20 year old block paved driveway and have grown up through her driveway so are causing damage.  She has told me to get a professional gardener to come and dig into my hedge and pull up every bramble root and runner.  I took this at face value at first, but then googled around a bit and from what I can work out, if a blocked paved driveway has been laid properly, brambles can't break through (it basically said the exceptions are tree roots and a selection of weeds which are controlled, but bramble wasn't one), and far more likely weeds are just growing in the gaps between the blocks.  I took a look at her driveway since and can see that most of the jointing sand between the blocks has gone, there are massive gaping holes between the blocks, ants are colonising between the blocks which is softening any soil which is there which I guess makes it very easy for weeds to establish themselves there, there are other plants growing between the blocks, such as a sapling that's got to be at least two years old and as I don't have any similar plant in my garden it can't have spread from my property, so it looks to me as though the more likely option is that she has a bramble that has taken hold between the cracks, which may well have come from my garden, but equally is also as a result of her not maintaining her block paved driveway.   I've googled selective weedkillers for brambles, bought and used SBK week killer to kill off the bramble as regardless of fault/responsibility, it's worrying my neighbour, it's taking a bit of time to sort though as I've read the stuff can kill hedges if I don't do it properly, so I'm upping the dose bit by bit and hopefully most of the bramble will be killed off, without damaging the hedge itself.  I have two questions for anyone who may be able to help on this forum though; 1) can anyone clarify for me whether brambles can reasonably in fact break through from under a block paved drive, assuming it's been laid correctly, and secondly, even if a bramble did decide to spread over the top from my border into my neighbour's driveway cracks and take hold, am I responsible for ensuring this doesn't happen and damage caused if it does?  it just seems that as there aren't loads of brambles, then any neighbour can be held responsible for avoiding fairly normal weeds coming over into others' driveways or gardens, but if blocked paved drives aren't regularly weeded, or are fairly empty of jointing sand, weeds are very likely to take hold in those places.   I know that this probably gives the image of a very overgrown brambly hedge, there are  brambles, but not loads, this is the case in the area where my neighbour has brambles in her driveway.

Davesnave

Yes, brambles can grow under a block paved driveway and get through it eventually as there is usually just sand under the blocks, blinding the hard core, and not everyone concretes-in the edges properly.

But that's not the point; which is that your neighbour has a duty to tell you about any weeds coming from your garden into hers and then leave you to fix things, not tell you who to employ!

If said neighbour has been tardy, not maintained her driveway or had a bunch of cowboys lay it, those are not your concerns. Do our best to treat the brambles and keep an eye out thereafter once they're gone, but don't take 'advice' from this neighbour. You could, more easily, do nothing at all, and then what would she do?

the_pink_panther_2

Thanks @Davesnave, she says she'll make me foot the bill for repairing her driveway and I guess if she gets more growing through her drive or if these ones don't stop.  I'm happy to put SBK weedkiller and try to resolve the brambles this way, but to get someone to get in between hedge roots to dig out every single runner and root seems like an expensive, futile task and if the SBK doesn't work I can't see an alternative.  I don't think she's maintained her driveway and am worried I'll be having to pay endless sums of money with no real reason or benefit if she doesn't get rid of her bramble in her drive.  

Justagardener

I have never heard such rot. Your neighbour is trying to pull a fast one. Please stand up to this bully and tell her to weed her own drive. I can understand roots from neighbouring trees creating a discussion  but not weeds!

the_pink_panther_2

Thanks @Justagardener, something definitely sounds wrong but I can't work out what.  I've just called round some blocked paving driveway installers to get their experiences - I've had a mixture of responses from them; some say it's unheard of that bramble roots can do this, one said it's possible around the edges where there's a hedge if a membrane wasn't used, pretty much how @Davesnave described.   The thing is that the driveway and (I think) hedge were put in by the developers when the houses were built 20 years ago, but what I think is more important is that there were 4 big poplars with TPOs within metres of the driveway, so I'd have thought that  this should have been enough to warrant some sort of prevention of roots/weeds (if there is such a thing), as without it, surely I'd be at risk of repeatedly running into this sort of problem because of those trees - unless brambles are in some way more destructive to driveways.  

Justagardener

Brambles rarely run underground anyway, they much prefer to scramble over and root from growing tips or germinate from seed. Poplar roots will be far more invasive 

-taff

Tell your neighbour, you're sorry they hare having problems and leave it at that. I'm responsible for digging out the bindweed in my garden even if it's growing through from under the neighbours fence. You are not responsible for the repair of their driveway and good luck to them trying to prove you are. Just keep an eye out for any MCOL letters because they might try to pull a faster one and do it that way.

Otherwise, ignore them, their driveway is their problem.

the_pink_panther_2

@-taff what's MCOL?  I thought that I was responsible for covering the cost of repairs if it was caused by plants which came from my property if it grew from under her drive (I'm not sure if I'd be liable if it grew above ground though), because if it had been a tree's roots I know I'd have been responsible.  It would take a lot of pressure off if it wasn't, I do want to sort it via weedkiller, and I really can't see why she can't just put weedkiller on it on her drive and be done with it.  We were friends, I though, but she's gone in really militant with this and it feels like a real shame.

Davesnave

the_pink_panther_2 said:

@-taff what's MCOL? 

Money Claim Online, otherwise known as small claims court. If someone wants to make a claim against another it's the cheapest way, but those presiding use common sense and usually take a dim view if it's used in circumstances like this, so might well throw any such claim out.

Any such claim would need support from a  professional report saying the condition of the drive was affected significantly by the brambles. Also the effect of wear and tear would be allowed for, which after 20 years would be considerable. There's no way she'd be getting betterment, i.e. a new drive, from such a claim. Such a threat is nonsense.

The only problem with MCOL someone might have is in not responding. People who don't respond automatically lose.

Davesnave

the_pink_panther_2 said:  We were friends, I though, but she's gone in really militant with this and it feels like a real shame.

It's unlikely she was a real friend if she sees she has a dodgy looking drive and then decides to go after you for compo.

the_pink_panther_2

thanks @Davesnave, I'd of course respond to any small claims courts notices and luckily I took photos yesterday of the 2+ year old sapling growing through her driveway nearby to the bramble, the sapling being surrounded by last year's leaves, which had been blown off trees last autumn but hadn't been cleared so are evident in the July photo, as well as gaping holes where you'd expect jointing sand but clearly had been excavated by what I presume was ants and not refilled, so I'd say shows she hasn't been taking brilliant care of her driveway and issues could be caused by other factors, at least in part and if she were to take it to a small claims court hopefully this I could use to illustrate that the story isn't quite so one sided.  She also argued that the brambles in my hedge could cause damage to her car as her car moved within her driveway, though I'd thought (and still think) that maintaining her side of the hedge/boundary/airspace was her responsibility so if it were to cause damage it would only be that she hadn't cut it back on her side, so I wouldn't be responsible for that.   If you're imagining this massively bramble overgrown hedge it really isn't like that,  I think in general you do have to be looking for the brambles to see it's there - it's there, but fairly discretely so I think and it's so blown out of proportion.  It is silly because her driveway is a wide shared driveway and it isn't really true that she's forced to drive down her driveway scraping along the hedge and brambles anyway, it's just all so completely bizarre and lacks common sense and it just isn't how I'd perceived her in the years I've known her. Anyway, thanks again, your input has been amazing, I had no idea where I stand with this and how a court would see this or where I stand legally, but to me common sense would say  - if she puts a weedkiller on this the problem is sorted and it is an easy thing to do, I'm always getting bramble in from my neighbour the other side together with other weeds, but I just take it that's just what to expect if you have a garden.