My neighbors haven't mowed their back yard in over a month! They have always been sporadic with the mowing - they mow the front every two weeks or so but they let the back yard go pretty long between cutting.
This summer has been the worst and they have only cut it once since the nice weather hit in April. Though this looks like we live on a farm, we actually live in a neighborhood.
They also don't believe in weeding as you can see from the bed to the right. Yes, that is a bed that used to have mulch and flowers and bushes.
So, what's a girl to do? Close my eyes? Put up a fence? Plant a row of trees?
It's Feedback Friday...
Would a neighbor's lack of home/yard maintenance bother you?
What would you do if a house next door fell into complete disrepair?
Hmmm, are the neighbors elderly? Is someone ill? Are they working crazy hours? Do they need help? Or, are they just not interested in keeping the yard up? If they just don't feel like mowing, etc. I'd be annoyed. I'd put up a fence or plant some quick growing trees and shrubs.
ReplyDeleteNope, 40ish with teenaged boys.
DeleteMy DH dug up our whole backyard and planted a garden that is too big for us to tend. He doesn't like mosquitoes bothering him when he is harvesting, so he built bat houses and put them on the back of our home. We haven't attracted any bats yet, but if we do each house holds 300 bats! He keeps honeybees even if the neighbor is allergic and wears a bee suit whenever she gardens. He argues that her behavior wouldn't change if he didn't have the bees. She was doing that before he even got them... He wouldn't put weed and feed in our yard if someone paid him and offered to do the work for him. He is intellectually opposed to using chemicals.
ReplyDeleteSo, I took all of the money I had invested before we were married and bought a foreclosed farm site. I am moving him out of a neighborhood and into the country where he belongs. Just as soon as I can clean and paint the house that is on the site.
I think your neighbors yard looks better than ours does. :o(
Oh my goodness, Julie!
DeleteI totally know what you mean! One of our neighbors purchases motorcycles other random things off of Craig's list to fix up and resell. Besides all of the motorcycles he has purchased (about 8 right now) they have a trailer, boat and 4 vehicles (It's just him, his wife and their 2 year old). He is also ADHD and jumps from project to project ~ finishing nothing. He was finishing their basement, but jumped into finishing their garage so... all of those lovely vehicles in the driveway along with a ton of other stuff! Someone in the neighborhood must have called the city as they took pictures and called and warned him he had 24 hours to clean it up before a fine would be issued. It was better for a little bit (a week or so) and now he's back at it ~ UGH! He also has a huge wood/scrap pile in the back of his yard so he always has wood on hand for a bon fire... Other neighbors that live sort of behind us (we have a pond directly behind us) have a cedar fence that desperately needs some love, an above ground pool ~ with a lovely solar heater (super ugly black rubber thing that is about as long as a slip n slide ~ that they built lovely platform for that needs as much attention as the fence and is growing a weed garden beneath it) ~ the lawn is mowed ~ every couple of weeks and be careful if you are playing catch or ball and the ball goes in their yard ~ there are lots of land mines ~ if you know what I mean! Anyway, a couple of years ago we planted 2 maple trees ~ they've grown quite a bit and I look forward to the day when they obstruct a bit more of the view. I just asked my hubby the other day if I could plant a hedge in the corner to hide their solar/weed thing ~ it just might happen :) I do want to mention that ~ we do like both of these neighbors!!!! Alrighty ~ done writing my book for the day ~ good luck with your neighbor! Hey, didn't you weed their flower beds last year?
ReplyDeleteOh my gosh! tHat is crazy! Yes, I did weed their beds last year on my side, I couldn't take it!
DeleteAsk them when they are going to bale the hay that they are growing ;)
ReplyDeleteThey may get the hint.
I like your blog, it's amazing! :)
ReplyDeletexoxo
Susanna
http://susanna-behindmyeyes.blogspot.com
My borough (township) has a rule regarding lawn maintenance. If there is a problem, we can call and they will serve notice to the offending homeowner. Isn't there any kind of ordinance where you live? I would be on the phone like a crazy woman!
ReplyDeleteOur developer never set up an home owners assoc. even though our 'hood is only 8 years old, so we have no recourse. :(
DeleteWe don't have an association either, but what about a city ordinance?
DeleteI'm not sure you can do anything unless your neighborhood has a homeowner's association with rules. In our last neighborhood, we had a next door neighbor who was a single mom with a special needs child. Her yard was a DISASTER! Not only did she have weeds in all her beds, but everything was overgrown, and if her daughter left something in the yard, it stayed for months. It was horrible, but there was nothing we could do about it. There are rules where we live now that prevent that sort of thing from happening. I guess you could go talk to them and see what is going on. Maybe they are just really busy or something. Good luck!
ReplyDeleteReally I'm not exaggerating as to how bad her yard was. As we were putting our house on the market to move to a new city, I was afraid it wouldn't sell because of her!
That stinks! My neighbor is home all day but never comes out. There are two teenaged boys who never help. The sold their riding mower last month for some reason and haven't mowed since.
DeleteI understand the frustration! It's like that one spot is the eye sore of the neighborhood :( Recently a house across the street from us was foreclosed on and us and another set of neighbors have been keeping up the yard. No we don't have to but it looks so much better when it's done. Hopefully our new neighbors will keep it up when they move in...whenever that is.
ReplyDeleteGood luck. Wish I had some helpful advice.
I took care of this house when it was between owners. I never realized that we had it good back then!
DeleteOur city has an ordinance that if the grass gets so high, the city will post a red warning sign in your yard. Then if it's not cut in a timely manner, the city cuts it and puts a tax lien against your property for the fees.
ReplyDeleteinteresting...
DeleteI feel your pain. We had neighbors on one side of us (we live in a 'city' but it's a small town city) who didn't have garbage service and never took care of their lawn. For the first 3 years we lived here. We have 1 acre, and most of that is back yard, so we had the worst bug problems back there from the field next door. On top of that they threw their garbage in open bags outside their back door, so we had critters and nonsense from that, nonstop. The city has a 'blight' law, but it only covers the front yard and neighbors would cut that for them so it didn't look so bad. Luckily someone new just got in it and is fixing it up, but it was really crappy for the first 3 years. Now the neighbors on the other side (we actually own the back half of what would be their lot and it's our huge chain link dog run) don't mow the back part of their yard, so we actually mow it quite often for them. We ask them if they would like it mowed first- we don't just do it!
ReplyDeleteI have no advice about what to do with it. We just lived with it until last summer, when we started mowing our lawn, the garbage neighbor's back field, and then the other neighbor's small back yard. The only thing we did was called the police about the garbage because we have young children, so they started piling it in their house. I should clarify that the neighbors with the small backyard have 3 kids and both work full time, have activities with the kids and stuff, and are generally busy. I don't think that's a great excuse for not mowing their small yard, but it is a reason, and we don't get mad about it or anything- we don't mind mowing it, usually, either. The other neighbors, though, just didn't want to do it (the guy told me just like that "I don't want to mow. I don't like it.")
Put up a fence or plant a tree line. Their yard, their business.
ReplyDeleteAnd I'm totally biting my tongue about one of the posters above.
It is so annoying when your neighbors don't take care of their yards. I'd say call the city. I guarantee there is some ordinance in your township which states that grass cannot be more than 6" tall. Then the city will warn them and they'll have to cut it or be fined. Then I suspect they'll do it more regularly. Or if you want to be more menacing, take some weed/grass killer and write some interesting phrases out in their grass. LMAO! JOKING!
ReplyDeleteIf only I had the nerve... :)
DeleteWe joke our neighbors only mow on holidays and while it's a joke, it's actually true. One of their kids' pet turtles got out and they couldn't find it because the grass was so high in their back yard. They also have three little yippy dogs who never quit barking. It's like a glimpse into what the sountrack in Hell will be like.
ReplyDeleteI just laughed out loud at this one!
DeleteI happen to live in a community that has Home Owners Association so this type of yard will be a big no, no in our community. Even though HOA can be a pain in the butt it helps and we as the residents do not have to deal with neighbors like yours that do not clean up their yards. Good luck to you, not sure how I would deal with a situation like that
ReplyDeleteI wish we had an HOA!
DeleteDo you know your neighbors? I guess if you know them, you can see if they are having problems that are preventing them from mowing, and maybe you can offer to mow for them, occasionally. We have a real estate agent friend who lives in our neighborhood and sometimes can give us the info about a particular house that is not being taken care of.
ReplyDeleteThe moms in the neighborhood were discussing it at the bus stop and we think maybe they are trying to make their teenaged boys do it to teach them responsibility?
DeleteI so feel your pain, my neighbors on all sides are terrible about keeping up their yard maintenance. The worst one owns a landscape business!, and his side yard backs up to our back yard and he uses it as a dumping ground, not compost just a dumping ground, cardboard, poison ivy, all the same to him. We have a chain link fence and can't really afford anything else at the moment, or I would have an 8 foot privacy fence asap. My husband edged the sidewalks, (we just moved here about 6 weeks ago) and our sidewalks are a foot no joke I measured, bigger than our neighbors on either side. They also have tons of stuff growing in their gutters, and this is a pretty nice neighborhood. We are at a loss, would love to know a good solution. We have tried talking to some of them about it and one neighbor admitted that she just never gets around to it, as she shrugs and smirks, ugh.
ReplyDeleteOkay, this morning the grass got cut! Does my neighbor read this blog? Hmmm?
DeleteMy poor hubs is working 2 jobs right now, which means very little time at home. I have the two little ones, plus I am now watching my friend's 11 month old son 3 days/week. Honestly, the yard is not on the top of our list, but we do manage to wrangle up some time every other week to cut the grass, do a little weeding, and take care of our veggie garden. We'd love to get out there more, and really beautify, but time just doesn't allow right now. Your neighbor just doesn't seem to give a crap! LOL
ReplyDeleteDon't have neighbors....and like it that way. :)
ReplyDeleteGood luck.
We´re the ones with the grass :) Well... not exactly, since I live on the other side of the world, but our grass is knee high, none of us ever mows it or plans to mow it, and I love it. We have wild hedgehogs, and mice hiding in there, and all sorts of little insects my sons like to collect, and my daughter likes to weave mats from the grass and play hide and seek in it. We can also blow whistle on the halms, something that never really works with grass from a clean cut english lawn.
ReplyDeleteNo, I really like it that way, and I don´t see anything wrong about it. In fact, I´m quite surprised this is even an issue.
Ooh, that would drive me bonkers! Thankfully, I could just report them to our association, but still, who wants to deal with that, I mean, can't people take care of their property. Sorry to hear you have to deal with that, maybe a fence is in your future?
ReplyDeleteI just found your blog when looking for DIY faux deer heads and stumbled across this story. I'm with HelenClyde - very surprised this is an issue! Is it causing problems for you? Or is it just an eyesore? If so, are you looking into their backyard enough that it's a bother? I ask because where I am, granted in another country, I haven't heard of someone complaining about a yard that looks like the above picture. I'm not sure if it's an American thing or not? I did have a giggle at the bit about gossiping with the other Mums about it. It was like a little window into Wisteria Lane :) I'm genuinely interested though, different cultures fascinate me!
ReplyDelete