Neighbours neglected garden and weeds

I had this problem for many years. Two years ago, with a new wife, the neighbour decided to finally do something with his weed-ridden garden. He weed-killered it and guess what - he did it on a windy day and my garden got it too.
Loads of the veg that I was growing for our village show was killed, and it was too late by then for me to re-sow. I am pretty sure that it wasn't entirely accidental either!

Take heed -don't risk upsetting your neighbour or he/she might take their revenge at some later stage.

DH uses the salt/bicarbonate/washing up liquid. Mix but it takes ages to get any result.

Salt still works if you dissolve it in water.
I used to use coarse pickling salt dissolved in water., a fairly strong solution.
I thought Roundup had been banned?

I currently have a similar problem with my neighbours. We get on very well but the shared boundary between my drive and their garden has become overgrown and the bushes now brush my car as I go by. I have spoken to them and said it needs tidying up -which they agreed with, I have even suggested we get together to discuss how best to deal with it - I want to have my gardener cut the bushes back and put in a low fence to then hold them back, although they have said they are happy to discuss it, so far I haven't been able to pin them down to when. I am now feeling that maybe I should go ahead and have my gardener carry out the work and deal with any fall out later!

I see mention of spraying the weeds.
Also salt.
Could anyone explain the salt / vinegar approach and also reccommend what to spray with.
What do you use?

It is for weeds/grass in the wrong place. Nettles too.
On the gravel driveway and along the outside front boundary by the base of the
fence.
No pets or children around and no pavement in front of the house so no children or dogs walking nearby.

SBK brushwood killer has had no effect.
Pathclear useless too.

If there isn't a good reason they just don't care. I would do my best to build fence/ wall and just ignore it. I could never live in that mess but we are alk different. My husbands aunts garden was like this - and her house. But she was the kindest person I knew and great fun. Everyone gathered in her house for coffee and chat.

We have dog and small children.

I think H uses something called Resolva but I am not sure.

We can’t use the garden due to difficult neighbours anyway. I recall I kept everyone in for a day or so after the spray but I’m not sure it was necessary.

coolgran I really sympathise. DD bought an ex-council house, where she is very happy. The next door is still a council house and when her elderly neighbour moved to sheltered accommodation, she got a young single parent who is under the supervision of social services - and of course does not touch the garden. Black bags of rubbish littered front and back, she never put rubbish in bins and out on bin day. At one point she had her boyfriend's dog almost permanently in a caged run in the back garden, using DD's fence as one of the sides because he was in prison. The dog used to jump against it and she was worried it would knock it down.

Fortunately, in her case both she and the neighbour the other side spoke to Social Services and they came and insisted that the rubbish must be dealt with and that the dog cage must have 4 mesh sides. Fortunately the boy friend came out of prison, reclaimed the dog and anyway they fell out so he isn't there anymore. DD has a double aspect bedroom and she keeps the curtains on the window overlooking next door's garden permanently closed.

I'm not suggeting that CoolGran necessarily takes action but just wanted to say that there is a UK Weeds Act 1959 which legislates against the owners of private land who fail to keep specified weeds under control, things like dock, thistles and ragwort.

From 2014 The Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act made it an offence not to control weeds of any species.

Unless otherwise specified in the tenancy agreement, it's usually the tenant's responsibility to keep weeds under control. If they fail to do so they could be given an ASBO or a criminal fine.

Extreme I know but the law is there if situations get out of hand.

The local authority may be able to help too. Here are some links:

www.lqgroup.org.uk/community-information/anti-social-behaviour/neighbours/

conversation.which.co.uk/home-energy/messy-garden-theresa-may-antisocial-behaviour-garden-fines/

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weeds_Act_1959

It's too hot to do any heavy gardening this week. I'm suffering from heat exhaustion but can anyone tell me why do weeds grow much quicker than plants

I feel for you, Coolgran. It’s difficult for those who keep their own patch in good order to understand those who live happily in near-squalor, but that’s the way it is, unfortunately, and you won’t change them. You’re doing all you can - raising the fence, biting your tongue - and good on you for that. Without risking a fall out, there really seems to be nothing more you can do. Fingers crossed the house owner will put her foot down and get it all cleared up, one way or another.

I am a bit shocked how many people think its ok to put weedkiller in other peoples gardens

Coolgran65 My point was that not everyone has the ability or resources to deal with their Gardens. I managed the lawns and shrubs of mine, but I can’t stand on ladders as I suffer from dizzy spells, and DH couldn’t? I had 3 children under 8 years to manage including a baby,on my own, beside being a carer and working! and I had a tiny income with no help! so I was at my wits end with the hedge, as it was so high, and I didn’t have the money to buy a hedge trimmer, or pay someone to do it for me!had one of my neighbours offered I would have been grateful.
I am just pointing out to people who assume that if someone isn’t gardening it’s because they chose not to or can’t be bothered/lazy!
I accept yours is a different scenario with your neighbours, young, fit and childless; but there have been some general comments earlier, that seemed to assume that if a garden was neglected it was because people couldn’t be bothered! or were lazy etc and I was just trying to point out that it is not always straight forward.
I am now in a much better situation and my children have all grown up and left home. I am now in the fortunate situation of being able to pay for help when I need it, but lots of people arent?

etheltbags1 I agree with pull out any weeds and live and let live. However I spent last summer battling these weeds that came over. At present there are hundreds of weeds next door .... It's like the weed army waiting and thinking of their approach?

jenpax many years ago I was also faced with a large garden that needed attention. It was up to me to see to it. My garden was the one that made everyone else's look good. It took me years to get it in order.I worked full time, had a 3 year old, and a husband who spent 22 hours of a 24 hour day in bed, he was paranoid schizophrenic and very ill most of the time. I do understand how hard that would have been for you and hope all is more positive.

I do understand that not everyone is a gardener. Folks can do absolutely what they want with their garden. But in the interest of being a reasonable neighbour they shouldn't be causing a negative impact on another neighbour.
These are two young and seemingly fit folk in their mid twenties. No children. They actually don't have grass. The weeds are in the shrubbery and growing out of where the paving flags join each other.

Do what you want but please be considerate of causing work for others.

I think a "natural" garden can be quite attractive but not one that is just covered in long grass and weeds, with dog poo and abandoned equipment everywhere.

I would find it very upsetting but am not sure what is the best way of dealing with it. Given that your request for them to turn down their music created some bad feeling, there is perhaps no point in you asking them to clear the garden. Hopefully, at some stage the mother will say something about it, because if the house and garden are neglected it will affect their value.

Continued. I moved it to lie against the new one and at half 7 one morning she raged at me to move it threatening to report me to the council and claimed I'd caused bother for 37 years. I haven't lived here for that long and we have always been friends. I agreed to move it as shes 81, but I said I would do it when I was dressed. She returned to the garden raging again and the fence was moved. Some people can't be satisfied. I can see both sides of this thread, however why don't people just pull the weeds out that come through from neighbours and live and let live.

I don't mean to offend anyone but putting weedkiller on someone's garden is terrible, wrong and probably illegals. I would report anyone doing this to me. I hare weedkiller as I think of the wildlife it and the thought of it getting in the waterways. Some people just hate gardening and some love it, I love it but just don't have time, my neighbour starts every Easter asking if I am going to sort the weeds from her garden under my fence. I solved the back garden by putting mulch under the trees and after years nothing now grows under the fence. A few weeks ago I had ten leylanii taken out at the front and it left a horrid broken fence. Having no spare cash I left it but she offered to replace it. There is now a nice new fence which I would love to tie her to. They removed the old fence and put it in my garden but it flattened my plants

Our neighbour has hated our hedge since he and his wife moved in. He sees it as his duty to chop it back, even encroaching onto our property which legally he cannot do. He is a law unto himself.
We let it grow during the birds breeding season for obvious reasons and we have so many gorgeous birds breeding. There is also a law that states that you do not cut hedges during the breeding season.
Ours get cut back after that period.
He ignored us last year.
Result? Absolute devastation
1 decapitated wood pigeon sitting on a nest, and babies that could not survive.
All because my neighbour wanted what he wanted.

Just to add I am sure OP is not in the camp of those who bully it was just how my experience made me feel and I was sorry that not one of my neighbours who might have offered help chose not to

Can I just say that sometimes people struggle to manage their Gardens and it’s not necessarily a choice.
When my 3 children were tiny I found myself unexpectedly in a new town in a house with a large back garden and a hedge marking a boundary. My DH had developed a sudden and debilitating illness which meant he was unable to do anything physically demanding; I am an only child of only children and my only relative was my widowed mother 100 miles away. I struggled with working part time to support us, keeping the house clean and tidy, making sure my children were attending the various classes and clubs they did (without benefit of a car) and looking after my husband. I tried to do what DIY I could such as decorating but was stymied by a low income, so I could not pay anyone to do things for me and struggled to replace things which broke, and did not have the capacity or ability to trim the tall hedge. I struggled just with mowing the lawns which I did every few weeks with a strimer as I could not afford a full sized mower. the hedge was tall between our houses, and required an electric hedge trimmer to keep tidy(which I didn’t own! )
My neighbours, a couple in their late 40’s with a teenage son still at home, were forever complaining about the garden, and that it did not have the lovely striped lawns and tidy plants of everyone else which they said let the rest of the road down!
The neighbour used to stand on a ladder on his side of the hedge, and trim his side and to the top right down the middle of it so he just left my side tall and unkempt! he would then complain continually to the council, and to the other neighbours., he and his wife and teenage son made our lives a misery for 4 years, until I couldn’t stand it any longer and we sold up and moved on! I have never had such unpleasant and spiteful neighbours since then and have always got on with my neighbours so I know it wasn’t just me! My lesson was don’t live in leafy suburbia if you aren’t able to do or pay for help as you will be bullied?

sparkly1000 I appreciate your optimism but definitely they have given nothing over to wild life. We're talking hand brushes, yard brush, shovel etc lying out front with amazing disregard as the weeds grow around them. They actually have to step over stuff to get to the front door.

Anniebach you are so right about their dog. When I sprayed the edge of their boundary last summer they didn't have a dog. Looks like that's me scuppered then unless I have a go at the home made weed killer like Paddyann. Or just use salt as you do. It goes beyond a case of them not wishing to garden and is more of a dump evolving that includes weeds that are seeding. And I'm happy to say that I don't have 'unnaturally neat flower beds or mown lawns'.... my garden is very natural and casual albeit weed free as much as possible.

Charleygirl I had really briefly considered the weed killer but can't risk it with them having a dog.

Bluebelle Your description of your neighbours' back could have been written by me - minus the mattresses. And we do say hello etc. Not bad people just different.

eazybee As stated we already have a brick wall at the back, it is measuring 3 ft tall and this morning we bought fencing of 2ft high to be added to the top of it. (the price of wood !!)
As Anniebach has reminded me, the spraying is now not really an option because of the dog.
Mind you --- I'm sorry you felt the need to take a pop at me.
"""which might stop you taking so much interest in their property and lifestyle."""
Your comment quoted above is mean spirited. I take no more interest than is obvious to the eye. You are inferring wrongly that I being nosy and 'taking so much interest' unnecessarily.

Thanks everyone who commented.

Regarding the front, I don't know. Won't be saying anything to them about their weeds unless we're having a relevant conversation. I guess I'll still be reaching in and pulling what weeds I can. And try using organic, i.e. vinegar/salt/etc.

About the back, we've bought the wood to raise the height at the back by 2 ft and hide most of the eyesore.

Thanks for letting me bounce this off you kind folks.

I will go now and have a seat outside my back in the shade, the apple tree and plum tree give a lovely dappled shade.
I'll do my best to not be nosy show any interest in their property or lifestyle.

J52, it is possible that your neighbour has purposely given that piece of her garden over to wild life, we have done this to a small area at the bottom of our large cultivated plot, it doesn't affect our neighbours gardens though.

Just the weeds Bella, just the weeds ?, still going out in the evening to water my shrubs

Just the weeds, eh Annie?

Bella, i salt parts of my garden