Neighbour spraying my weeds

[Clappingforjoy]

Okay so I'm not a gardener and have tried and tried to keep my garden under some kind of control with the weeds but have never had the money to change it in the way of converting it to a concrete jungle to avoid the maintenance.
Upstairs is senior couple who keep theirs neat and unfortunately they look over onto my lovely garden and it's open at the side meaning that I have to go over onto theirs for access to my shed so I get that my garden is thrown in thier face pretty often.
However how would you feel if she came over into your garden spraying your weeds without asking.

Maybe they didn’t speak to you about it as they didn’t want to embarrass you as you clearly can’t cope with the maintenance the garden needs so they thought they were doing you a favour?

Perhaps they meant well but I think it is very cheeky and rude to do what they did.

They should have asked, absolutely NO question about that.

We have a large urban garden and are keen gardeners, but weed killers would never be used.

We see the garden as a haven for small birds, bees and butterflies.

They were very wrong to assume you want your garden sprayed with poisonous crap.

I would speak to them and make it clear that whatever their intentions, that does not allow them to make choices over my garden.

I would try to keep the grass cut as a basic maintenance too.

I’d be very annoyed - especially if it was something that affected insects. Our insect life is under threat and there is no way I would be spraying harmful chemicals in my garden or anyone else’s.

I would be so embarrassed that I had let things get so bad that they thought it was ok to clear up my mess.

I would not be at all happy with someone spraying toxic chemicals on my property.

From Al Jazeera

“Another 2019 study, in the journal Biological Conservation, warned that globally at least 40 percent of the remaining 1 million known species of insects are believed to be facing extinction.

If all this continues, they say, it could have devastating effects on the fragile ecosystem that sustains life on Planet Earth, because a crash of insect numbers threatens not only the birds and other animals which prey on them, but also the plants that rely on them for pollination. And that, in short, means much of the food we eat.“

Save the insects!!

I'd think I had a lovely neighbour who had seen that I hated gardening and didn't know what to do and that she had saved me heaps of time by getting rid of weeds.
I'd thank her.
It would perhaps be a bit more questionable if she was cutting back a tree or a bush on your but if she's just happily weed killing, you've got yourself a diamond, why not see if she wants a hand with any shopping.

I'd go nuts as I don't like chemical weedkiller.

Yeah I'd be really pissed off. Weed killer is really nasty stuff.
The way to get rid of them is to pull them out.
Spraying is dangerous and lazy.

I'd be chuffed and say thank you! One less job for me to do..

I doubt OP can complain about the use of weedkiller or inability to now grow tomatoes, as someone who admits to not liking or enjoying gardening I'm guessing she'd have thrown some down to weedkill and not spent time uprooting or buying anything organic or specialist if she was going to do it herself.

I’d be thrilled and open up the rest of the garden to them

@everderose

True. I have to say I’m really surprised at the responses here though - weed killer is generally very unacceptable where I live in NZ because of its adverse impact on wildlife.

Your shed is in their garden? I’d keep quiet Incase they want their garden back.

It's not great that they did this without asking you. However, it must be really annoying to live next door to someone who neglected their garden completely and just allowed it to look a mess. Well maintained gardens can be a haven for wildlife, ours certainly is, so that arguement doesn't really wash.
I suggest you have a friendly conversion with them about it. I also suggest you sort your own garden out and maintain it on a regular basis of you can. If you really can't them maybe you need to pay someone to come in for a couple of hours every 2 weeks to do it for you

@OhWhatFuckeryIsThisNow

No such thing as weeds, just plants that people find inconvenient. I’d be well pissed off. Weed killers like round up should be banned (they almost were). If you don’t like them, get yourself down there and clear them out.

100% this. An oak tree is a weed if it's growing in the middle of a bowling green.

An oak tree is a weed if it's growing in the middle of a bowling green.

No it isn't. You would transplant it at a very early stage to somewhere else. You wouldn't do that with bindweed, ground elder, bitter cress, chickweed,couch grass,goose grass, mare's tail, rosebay willow herb etc etc etc. Granted some of them have pretty flowers for a short time (not mare's tail!)but they are also frequently invasive and choke everything in their path.

The OP wanted everyone to agree with her. Most didn't. She needs to get down and dirty with her garden!

Thankful

I would be furious because my garden is organic. My kids eat the stuff that we grow.

Then again, if you were arsed about organic it would imply you are already into gardening and on top of the situation.

Honestly, given that you say you have gardening I would be pretty pleased in your position. Sounds like they did you a favour, albeit a slightly cheeky one.

*hate gardening, not have!

Why is your shed in their garden?

The people responding who have an organic wildlife haven free growing Garden ..fair enough. But it probably doesn't look like a dump does it? Presumably you take some sort of care of it.

Imo it's antisocial to have a complete eyesore of a garden. Not everyone has to have petunias and perfectly trimmed lawns but have a bit of pride.

If OPs neighbors are keen gardeners I can see why it would grind their gears over time and theyve probably thought 'fuck it, she won't care'.

You have a garden OP, shared or not- something a lot of people would absolutely love right now. Go pull a few weeds out, you might like it.

Yep! Say thanks!

I have to say I’m really surprised at the responses here though - weed killer is generally very unacceptable where I live in NZ because of its adverse impact on wildlife

Sadly a lot of people in the UK are stupid and lazy and give not two fucks about wildlife.

Sadly a lot of people in the UK are stupid and lazy and give not two fucks about wildlife

Indeed, if this thread is anything to go by. Selfish.