Neighbours that use chemicals on their gardens...

I can understand your concerns, but what you can actually do about it in practical terms is another matter altogether. Have you spoken to the neighbours themselves and outlined your concerns? Maybe they will be willing to stop spraying - but if they say no, I'm not sure how you could stop them. I know that's probably not much help, but I'm trying to look at it from a practical point of view. We grow a lot in our garden too, but none of our immediate neighbours do, so we've not encountered that issue.

I’d just speak to our neighbours as we get on fine, but we are also fully fenced. I doubt you’ll be poisoned, just wash your produce.

People are entitled to use what they see fit in their own gardens. There's not much you can do about it I think. I don't use chemicals and either side of me have slabbed gardens. Since our Council brought in a charge for garden waste, everybody seemed to get their gardens slabbed, or covered in that disgusting artificial grass stuff that even birds don't go near.

I think you are worrying unnecessarily. The over the counter chemicals they will be using are more likely to harm wildlife than humans which is why most gardeners prefer to grow organically. Your veg will be fine. It’s what you put on them that matters.

If they use glyphosate on a windy day and drift affects your plants you have a right to complain but don’t fall out with them if you can avoid it.

Town living I’m afraid. (Though being in the country won’t protect you from sprays either!)

You can’t stop them spraying their own land. You might be able to sue for provable damage like a dead tree, but organic is just a lifestyle choice that is not theirs.

They bought the house knowing mine is a foodgrowing garden (it's very obvious) and she said she liked the look of my fruit trees (which I thought was very hopeful). He seems to be the gardener of the two of them and I spotted him heading for a gardener nearby today with a chemical sprayer and asked him not to and explained about my foodgrowing - and he went ahead anyway.

I'm even more puzzled in view of the fact they deliberately seemed to want a hidden-away house with a neighbour (me!) with security cameras and she explained why (and I saw her pov and was quite prepared to be helpful if she had unwelcome visitors turning up that she fears having she says). I was also quite prepared to share a bit of surplus (which I get from a few things).

So I'm puzzled that they've just "cut the helplines and food donation lines" knowingly in advance (maybe they haven't clicked those "lines would be cut" if they sprayed near my food) - sometimes (frequently imo) some people don't think things through properly in advance and I guess they werent thinking "Potential helpful neighbour won't be/potential food donor wont be if we spray near her food".

So I pointed out the potential problems and asked them not to - and they went ahead anyway.....

Scary to have "chemical users" nearby even if one's garden is just ornamental. But all the more so when it's a food one - and they know it. I've recently witnessed this happen to a guy with a semi-wild foodgrowing garden on YouTube and the next door neighbour took advantage of him being away for a few days and blasted chemicals as far as a couple of feet into his garden on his side of the fence and got out trimmers and hacked into his garden as well that couple of feet his side of the fence. That neighbour absolutely ruined his garden and it's going to cost him a LOT of money and time to put it right and generally deal with it..

Sorry but when they bought the house they didn’t sign up to an obligation to support your chosen lifestyle. Just like you don’t have to support their choice to eliminate weeds and pests by agreeing to spray your stuff.

As for the food “line”. I’d t expect they’re bothered. In fact they probably prefer sprayed food that doesn’t look eaten or scabby.

I grow organically to so Im not entirely unsympathetic but this is town living. You have close neighbours, they live differently, They don’t have to please you.

Surely everyone knows not to spray on a windy day, anyway? I wonder if you could mention that, even if you can't ask them to stop spraying.

One side of us is a controlled wild garden, the other a beautiful and well-maintained garden and ours is somewhere between the two. I don't think anyone sprays here either.

Could you put a cloche over your strawberries?

I would have thought everyone would know not to spray on a windy day. I did point out - to both him and the gardener that it's a windy day and they went ahead anyway. The gardener does this for a living!!! and has been for years - and so should know better.

But I do know some "professional" gardeners don't know as much as one would assume they do/they certainly should do. My starter house was a typical Victorian terrace house - with a back alley behind my back yard and the other side of that alley was another row of these Victorian terraces. At one point a gardener employed by the Council bought the opposite house behind me and only a few feet from my back yard. That house had a kitchen extension (as they all did there) that had a strip of earth done as a sort of raised bed going right along the side of his extension and it was only about 2' high and 1-2' wide - and he planted a young leylandii in it (about 3' tall to start with). I was gobsmacked that anyone would do that - still less someone who was a gardener for his living!

Sure enough - it grew and it grew and it grew....at the rate of about 3' per year they do grow at and I had to trim back the branches that peaked on over into my side of our back alley (as they were making that area unusable - and I kept my dustbins there). That tree died....totally brown and kaput when it got to about 12' tall.........(probably down to South West Water being a pretty good company at that time and they had been phoned-up before I went to work saying there was risk to their nearby Victorian drains). They were out that morning - taking a good look down their drains.

You can’t control other people, a solution has to come from you. What about using a tunnel in which to grow your food? They sometimes come up second hand on local pages round here.

Do you know what they’re actually spraying? It might be something ‘organic’ like vinegar and water.
If you know what they’re spraying you could find out how it takes to break down into harmless by-products.

SueDonim

You can’t control other people, a solution has to come from you. What about using a tunnel in which to grow your food? They sometimes come up second hand on local pages round here.

I'd love a polytunnel or similar. But the set-up of my garden isn't conducive to having one and the bit of my garden where I grow my strawberries and most of my fruit trees is the main focus of my garden in fact. It's been quite a challenge to turn one of these small "concrete gardens" here into a proper garden and figure out ways to grow food as it is.

Since I moved here and it became obvious how I was changing the garden things have "gone positive" in the other direction. There's a huge garden I'm positively envious of beyond the back wall of my garden and that's gone from having been told it was under threat of being "garden grabbed" at one point (agh! vendor never told me!!!!) to they seem to have taken a good look at my garden and imitated me - raised beds/row of fruit trees (he even asked me what brand of plum tree I'd just given them some plums from - as he wanted one too as those plums were so tasty). I duly gave him full details of brand/plant nursery/cost etc. They do have room for a polytunnel they've put up and I probably visibly start drooling with envy when I spot it.

Since they started up foodgrowing I've now noticed the back garden the other side of them is now imitating me too - up has gone a row of fruit trees...

Very happy with neighbours imitating me in that respect obviously.......very happy with all the organic permaculture little foodgrowing enterprises starting up around here.

Was still too upset to dare say a word to the "chemical gardeners" the other side of me....in case I yell blue murder at him....

If their spray comes into your garden, are your plants still organic? I watched a tv programme a while ago about an (in theory) organic farm but as neighbouring land used chemical sprays their produce couldn't be sold as organic

How long it takes

WelshPoppy

If their spray comes into your garden, are your plants still organic? I watched a tv programme a while ago about an (in theory) organic farm but as neighbouring land used chemical sprays their produce couldn't be sold as organic

Those poor farmers!!! I wonder if they could "do anything" about being robbed of their organic price premium? They must feel sickened to see a lot of their hard work had been negated and I wonder if they got any compensation for that? Still gutting for them - even if they did get a pay-off for that.

I know I've read various articles about farmers who've found that the "powers-that-be" set up testing plots near them for growing genetically-modified plants and that's mucked-up their pure uncontaminated plants - and duly felt very sorry for them and would have quite happily gone out in a white overalls suit thingie and helped deal with the problem plants (ie the G.M. ones).

I spent years of my life feeling restricted from doing nearly as much "positive action" as I wanted to because of the restrictions of having to hold down a job and promised myself to "do anything I want" in that respect once I was freed by retirement from having to hold down a job.

It must be so frustrating to be an okay type of farmer (responsible - organic etc etc) and then other people muck up what you've put all that work and money into. Also frustrating obviously when they'd already be getting it in the neck in the other direction - ie from some shoppers being unable to find the money to pay the "organic price premium" and they know these shoppers will reluctantly be picking up all the chemical-laden produce instead. I had years enough looking longingly at "my" goods to buy on the shelves and having to sigh and buy the cheaper stuff that was all I could manage. Hence part of the importance I give now to growing my own stuff.....so that I can get "my" stuff...instead of the chemical stuff.

Your neighbour has every right to use chemicals but they need to be used safely and with care ie on a still day and sprayed close to the ground. If they do this there will be no drift and you can stop stressing

You could contact environmental health about the spraying. They may not be interested in the organic side of things but your health could be at risk if they don't take certain precautions.
We did this when a farmer in the field next to our house chose the windiest day of the year to spray. All our plants died and I have asthma. We asked her not to spray so near to the house and she said she would do what she liked.
Environmental health sent her a list of precautions to take before spraying. It was a long list. They sent a copy to us.

I an probably going to be slated but we cannot cope in our garddhen without chemicals, even though I grow some fruit and veg. DH knows nothing about gardening (his GF was a gardener!) and has even less interest in it. We planted the dreaded Lleylandii nearly 50 years ago but they never got trimmed properly (we are having the height severely chopped this month), but the hedge is now abt 8-feet deep!

Nor does he bother about weeding or lawnmowing so that is all my job. We have developed ivy, brambles, mares tail, and other stuff which is ugly and highly spreading. And now he is disabled so it is all down to me.

But I simply can't cope with it without chemicals (including the dreaded glyphosate),

I never spray on a windy day and 95% of the weeds are at the not near my veggies.

I wish I didn't have to use chemicals at all but the garden is a terrible mess. Of course I have tried all the non-chemical remedies but they simply don't work.

Neither of my neighbours grow fruit and veg.

You could give them something to use instead of the chemicals.

You cannot choose how your neighbour gardens. It is their property and their garden.

I thought glyphosphate is applied to individual leaves such as bramble, docks, or nettle. I can't imagine why anyone would want to spray it broadcast. A waste of money (apart from the damage to wildlife).More likely to be insecticide against greenfly.

Maybe you could ask them exactly what they are spraying . Could it be plain water?

" 3. Check Legal Rights and Regulations
In the UK, there are regulations that may support you:

Pesticide use must follow strict guidelines from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). Pesticides must not drift onto other people's land.

It is an offence under the Environmental Protection Act 1990 if pesticide use causes damage or nuisance to others.

If the neighbour is a farmer or commercial user, they must follow Code of Practice for Plant Protection Products, which includes avoiding drift."

ChatGPT

AGAA4

You could contact environmental health about the spraying. They may not be interested in the organic side of things but your health could be at risk if they don't take certain precautions.
We did this when a farmer in the field next to our house chose the windiest day of the year to spray. All our plants died and I have asthma. We asked her not to spray so near to the house and she said she would do what she liked.
Environmental health sent her a list of precautions to take before spraying. It was a long list. They sent a copy to us.

Particularly shocked here - as one would assume farmers, in particular, would be more knowledgeable than that = spraying on a windy day!!!!!

It must have been very upsetting indeed to have her kill your plants like that - even if they were purely decorative ones! What a b*tch! Add in your asthma as well....and oh dear!

At the least I wonder if you're in a part of the country where you're not regarded as a "furriner" - just for being from a different part of the country (even though you are - presumably? - as British as she is) - as that can be an issue on local Facebook groups I do know. But - if that's not something anyone could dispute (ie you are still in your home county or home part of the UK) then I'd be very tempted to head for the local Facebook group and ask people for suggestions for new plants that are better able to stand up to other peoples chemicals ("because Farmer X on land Y has just killed all our plants by spraying on a windy day"). You might get given some new plants - and you'll probably land Farmer X in "the court of public opinion" and she'd have to be very thick-skinned to stand up to posts along the lines from the community of "So sorry to hear this - well I have some x plants you can have for free. Hope she doesnt do that to you again".

Followed by someone else saying "Oh yes...I had a farmer spray my home too (or whoever else did so) and it made me ill too and what I did for the illness she caused was x/y/z".

You were pretty restrained just contacting environmental health. Though - good on you for doing that and hope that'll prevent her pulling that stunt again. I expect they get a noticeable number of people onto them about this sort of incident in our very overcrowded country - because someone somewhere can't resist the temptation to get out the chemicals and blow the neighbours.

Madmeg

I an probably going to be slated but we cannot cope in our garddhen without chemicals, even though I grow some fruit and veg. DH knows nothing about gardening (his GF was a gardener!) and has even less interest in it. We planted the dreaded Lleylandii nearly 50 years ago but they never got trimmed properly (we are having the height severely chopped this month), but the hedge is now abt 8-feet deep!

Nor does he bother about weeding or lawnmowing so that is all my job. We have developed ivy, brambles, mares tail, and other stuff which is ugly and highly spreading. And now he is disabled so it is all down to me.

But I simply can't cope with it without chemicals (including the dreaded glyphosate),

I never spray on a windy day and 95% of the weeds are at the not near my veggies.

I wish I didn't have to use chemicals at all but the garden is a terrible mess. Of course I have tried all the non-chemical remedies but they simply don't work.

Neither of my neighbours grow fruit and veg.

I operate on a "little and often" basis personally for keeping an eye on my garden personally.

There was quite a weed problem to start with - but I got shot of it one way or another. Part of it was figuring out what would "blow itself out" after a certain number of years (there's only so long some seeds can remain dormant in the soil), partly by extensive use of that garden fabric cloth over much of the garden blocking them out until they gave up and died on me, partly putting bark chippings down on top of my soil (ie less bare soil for them to get into).

I soon learnt that I'd get several nascent sycamore trees per year blowing over from nearby if I didnt watch it - so Inspection Parade included learning to recognise their seedlings when they were just a few inches tall and I could pull them out very easily.

Ivy - yep.....I pull that out as soon as I see it rearing its little head and hoick it out straight off if I see it wending its way in from adjacent land.

I had bindweed in one area - coming through from "some bordering land I want - but a neighbour owns it and won't sell it to me". But it was all tangled up with two fences that were along that side of my garden when I bought the house - and so I asked the neighbour concerned if I could borrow the use of that land briefly to get bulldozer and builder in and both fences got ripped out and replaced by my wall. The foundations of that wall were pretty deep and I think that was what probably solved that problem - ie too deep for the bindweed to go down to. There hasn't been a thread of bindweed on my garden ever since then - and I've not spotted any on that adjacent bit of land either - and am guessing that neighbour was pretty pleased I'd had it all removed and it wasn't going to come back. I think neighbour had a pretty good deal out of that - as I didn't even ask them for a contribution towards the cost of that wall and just paid it all myself (and it wasnt cheap - as I'm from the West Country and not West Wales - and that meant my style of wall is red brick and not the concrete block walls so prevalent here - as I hate them).

I spotted "potential nasty" once in my garden. In between the cracks in the previous paving stones that were there I saw short green shoots coming up that I identified as "Trouble". Horsetail and I basically treated them with blocking the light and with boiling water. That tiny patch had only got to a few inches high when I spotted it and so I got out my nail scissors and cut to the millimetre as short as those scissors would reach, then poured a couple of kettles of boiling water over it and then blocked off any light from reaching the developing plant by putting spare paving stones on top of it - so that it couldnt get any light to "feed" it. I had to do it a couple of times and that was the end of that. I wasn't going to wait for them to get a chance to grow to a couple of feet tall. I do literally "nip in the bud" stuff on anything unwanted that could prove a problem.

I think, in your position, I'd hire a (knowledgeable and organic) gardener and pay for a couple of hours of their advice and help. One of the first things I did in this house was to find myself someone exactly like that and pay for a little bit of his time for him to come and visit me and give me advice on what I could do with my unpromising little concrete garden that came with the house when I bought it.

I've used "Nasty Chemicals" once since I bought this house and once only and on one little tiny spot. This is an area where I could see Japanese Knotweed isn't dealt with by a lot of people that get it!!!!!!! I was gobsmacked when I've told several people they have it on their garden etc and been astonished when they've just shrugged - and done nothing!!!! I checked out whether I should be safe from that in this little vicinity with someone-who-should-have-known and he told me I would be. At a point after that I spotted a tiny bunch of short dead-looking brown-stemmed stems poking up from an adjacent bit of wild land. I couldnt speculate as to who might have just popped over and threw a whole can or two of petrol straight over the top of that and then covered it with quick-setting cement.........but it obviously did the trick of making darn sure and certain that both the possible contenders for "worrying weed" were knocked-out (ie Japanese Knotweed and bamboo). I think I'd have had 40 fits if a neighbouring owner had landed up inflicting such a problem weed on me...(what do I mean 'think' .....?)