AIBU? Garden boundary and Twatty NDN.

[UterusUterusGhali]

Not sure if I'm actually BU or not so thought I'd check before confronting NDN.

I've planted a hedge between my neighbors front garden and mine. We rent the houses from the HA and when I moved in there were no boundaries just one long front garden. The housing officer told us it was up to us to put in fences/hedges.
There was a fence put there by last occupiers but it fell down just before NDN moved in.

I've planted some heding. At least twice now twatty NDN has done his twice yearly strimming of his dandelion patch and taken out the saplings. I can't afford to keep replacing them and I'm cross. I have planted some from cuttings that I took too but he strimmed them too.

The hedging is right on the boundary though. Is that unreasonable? It's a little more towards me so the stems are in "my" bit. I know he can cut it once it's mature but for now it's not in his garden.

Essentially, AIBU to but a hedge on a boundary?

Being a twat is incidental, though. He is in the right about not wanting your hedge to encroach on his garden to the tune of two or three feet. Plus he gets the joy of maintaining it.
Move it inside your own boundary.

Why does it have to be a hedge?

A smallish picket fence or similar would mean he 1, couldn’t cut it down and 2, it wouldn’t encroach onto his garden.

YAB abit U to plant a hedge now that will cover his garden by a half hedge when mature.

He is being very unreasonable to keep destroying the saplings.

I think you need to rethink the boundary fencing and then the need to confront him is unnecessary.

Get some of that really thin green edging plastic roll stuff and put that along the boundary with the plants on your side. Willa also encourage the plants to grow more your way than his.

So you can't fit a log roll, which are what? An inch wide? Between the stem and the boundary. And you can't move the stem into your garden by that inch because of raised beds. So there's no where on your side of the garden for those twigs to grow.

So you have planted something that really will grow into his garden. because if there isn't an inch between the twigs and the boundary you have really planted on the boundary. Yeah I might well accidentally strim those in his shoes. Especially if he is just strumming to the boundary. Strimmer aren't precise. I've strimmed away the odd bit of my own box hedge before now

Plant them in the raised bed

If you want a hedge you have one. Don't make him have one he doesn't want

It does seem that it’s you BU if your hedge will grow into his garden.

Chuckling at "(strum)?"

I would dig up and move it all inwards onto your side.

*dig everything up

I'm a keen gardener and unfortunately feel you are being unreasonable. The whole trench for your hedge needs to be on your side of the boundary. Have you thought about how you are going to maintain his side of your hedge? Unless a hedge is regularly trimmed on both sides it doesn't thicken up adequately to do the job you want it to.
Suggest you go for the fence option and disguise your side with plants if you don't like the look.
Pity you don't talk, you could have come to an agreement with him.

Yabu to plant a hedge so close to boindary line. Get a fence or dig up the raised bed and move hedge into your own garden

If you want to block out the view of his garden and the road - so a fence with climbers on it won't suffice - then you need to plant your hedge plants well inside your garden. Placing something along the boundary, like a mesh chickenwire "fence", will protect them from the strimmer. You do need to assure your neighbour that you will be responsible for the maintenance of both sides, if he will let you on his side to keep it tidy.

You really can't plant it directly on the boundary. If you have to move the raised bed then so be it, sorry.

I think you are being totally unreasonable.

You have planted a hedge knowing that the roots, trunks, branches and foliage will encroach upon his garden within (say) a year, or less.
In doing so you are forcing him to have a hedge actually in his garden.

You will also (unless you are going to offer to trim and tidy both sides several times a year) be forcing him to maintain that hedge.

You need to move your hedge while you can.

Put a fence (or the log rolls if you cannot afford a fence) along the boundary line so that all of it is within your property (even if only by a inch.
Then, if you still want your hedge, get rid of your raised bed and plant your hedge about 18 inches from the fence/log rolls.

"He is a bit of a twat."

Your neighbour may or may not be a twat but what you are doing could not be more unreasonable (unless it's leylandii you have planted) and he would be quite justified in complaining to the HA about it.

OP I am assuming this is your first time owning property or you would already know that you are in the wrong, but yabu. The boundary line is not yours nor your neighbours. Your plants and anything else should be on your side of the boundary line, and same for them. If an agreed upon fence is put on the boundary line it should be paid for by both and only then is it shared. If only one person puts up the fence it should not be on the boundary line, but on that persons side of the line. And ndn are not supposed to paint it, hang or grow stuff on it, attach clothesline ect. without permission from the fence owner. Just apologuise, explain that you didn't know the law and did not mean to cause a problem, and move it onto your own property.

Put in a nice wooden fence on your side and grow clematis, hydrangea, honeysuckle or passiflora up it.

For the love of god why a hedge on the boundary? I would be ropeable if I was your neighbour as you would be inflicting something I have no wish to maintain on me. It’s obvious half the hedge will be on his property when it grows.

Either move the entire hedge back far enough into your property so that when it is mature it does not encroach on his property or need any trimming from his side OR put up a fence and plant suitable stuff along it (trimming it so it doesn’t grow over his side).

Bedtime did you mean to sound so patronising? 😂

The hedge is shy of the boundary. I could still put a fence in but I can't afford one.

Does that mean you can't plant anything next to a boundary fence? Every garden you see with shrubs in the border is illegal? :/ I thought the law was you can cut things on your side and chuck the cuttings next door.

I tried to talk to him but before I could broach it he asked my daughter's age then started talking about all the fit students he meets at work and how he has to remind himself how young they are. I actually just walked away at that point because he was making me feel sick.

Well yes, theoretically you can plant anything next to the boundary fence. However planting something that requires the neighbour to spend time they may not have trimming it back when required makes for very poor neighbourly relations. Even people who do have time on their hands may not want to devote their spare time to it, they may rather do other things they actually enjoy. Not everyone relishes the thought of pruning hedges and to force this into someone is inconsiderate. You don’t understand this and think it’s fine as they can just chuck the cuttings back into your yard???

Ok, ndn is undoubtedly a twat-nice drip feed about his comments re students, OP, but yabu to plant a hedge that will encroach on his garden. Save up, put up a fence, grow hedge against it. It’s unfair to stick in a hedge that automatically goes onto his land.

I loitered around trying to talk to him this afternoon but he was testing an alarm (yes really) in his garden. An hour of shrieking ?burgular alarm, trying out all the tones like a kid with their first mobile.

I'd not be adverse to trimming it myself and I'll mention that. I do the other neighbour's anyway. I'm not a total arsehole. I'd be much more thoughtful if he wasn't such an earth shattering twat.

Didn't mean to drip feed! That occurred after my op.

It might be on your side of the line now, but it will grow over the line and encroach on his land.
Put up a fence or more the hedge so that once it's established, it is still completely on your side of the line or kept trimmed to be flush with the boundary.

OMG - I’d be tempted to get landmines as well to keep that creep away from my daughter... eeeeeeew!

YABU. Your fully grown hedge will encroach onto your neighbours.