To Chuck weedkiller over fence ?

[incognitodorrito]

I recently paid £7 K to fence in my garden. Both neighbours very tight and I wanted a safe garden so I've paid the lot. I won't ever be able to afford to finance this again. The neighbour on one side is allowing her garden to go to pot and I've got thorns and weeds and branches growing over and pushing against my new lovely fence. She did not allow my fencer to cut anything back on her side which ok fine, but now it's pushing against my fence. Her garden is so absolute mess but she doesn't seem to want to do anything about it any I don't want the fence damaged. AIBU to cut back what comes on my side and Chuck weed killer over the side ...?

I did it with my neighbours jungle. I mixed a bucket full of salt and white vinegar with a little washing up liquid.and poured the lot over.

@OhGiveUp

I did it with my neighbours jungle. I mixed a bucket full of salt and white vinegar with a little washing up liquid.and poured the lot over.

Oh did it work ? What ratio did you used ?

Rocksalt or road salt is your friend here! Tip it over and along the fence line

It did work 👍
I put two tubs of salt and six bottles of white vinegar with just a small squirt of washing up liquid in it.
Mix well until the salt dissolves.

Get it from Aldi, vinegar is around 30p per bottle and salt is around the same.

Don't use weedkiller ever, toxic, poisonous, causes cancer, kills wildlife. You would be beyond unreasonable to put it anywhere where someone didn't know it was there.

Don't even think the vinegar/salt thing is ok - accept that the boundaries are protecting them from you as much as you from them.

I think you're a bad neighbour op.

@lannistunut

Don't use weedkiller ever, toxic, poisonous, causes cancer, kills wildlife. You would be beyond unreasonable to put it anywhere where someone didn't know it was there.

Don't even think the vinegar/salt thing is ok - accept that the boundaries are protecting them from you as much as you from them.

I think you're a bad neighbour op.

No I'm just really really annoyed at a CF - I forgot to add that she also had a wasps net at the front of her house that I had to end up getting rid of at my cost as she left the house usually through her side door and refused to acknowledge the swarm of wasps at the door that my kids were scared of. She was fine though to allow access to that once she knew she didn't have to pay.

Definitely don't throw weedkiller over the boundary fence, @incognitodorrito - you're leaving yourself wide open to a potential claim of criminal damage... not to mention other nasties!

A few years ago, my parents NDN put down some weedkiller on their side of the fence, to get rid of their garden weeds. It seeped through the soil against the fence and killed not only a shrub of sentimental value to my parents, but also poisoned their cat (who never left their garden, and liked to lie in the shadey soil under the shrub. Because the cat died (a horrible death, too, as it happens), as the vets couldn't save him - my parents had a post mortem done on him. When they realised the shrub was done for, too, they actually took the neighbour to the small claims court for a replacement shrub, the vets fees and the cost of the PM/toxicology reports - and won. My father (ex-policeman) also explained to the upset neighbour that they were very lucky that they'd not been reported to the police - but that if it had been their dog who'd ended up poisoned/dead, they wouldn't have hesitated to press charges (dogs = property, whereas cats don't).

My parents and their neighbours are no longer friends - and all because they didn't think about the potential consequences of getting shot of a few dandelions around the bottom of their rose bush...

It's really not worth it, OP.

Bloody hell! No you absolutely can't throw weedkiller (or anything else) into your neighbour's garden! What are you thinking??
What your neighbour does with their own garden is absolutely none of your business, however annoying you find it. You need to stick to your own garden.

I have this same problem! Next door has thorn bushes growing all along the fence, they reach over our 6ft fence and I have young children! I had no idea you could put weed killer on the ends of plants I thought it had to be at the root. Would it work on thorn bushes though?

Seriously though do people not care about wildlife? We have a huge garden that the neighbours trees and bushes have grown over as the years have gone by, it wouldn't cross my mind to trim them back, it's nature and its greenery! We have lots of different types of trees and bushes in our own garden, we have lots of wildlife, hedgehogs and birds, it's lovely, I'd hate to think I'd poisoned anything.

I care more about my time being taken up with unnecessary gardening and an aching back.
If the wildlife want to play, they can play in my neighbours jungle.

Did you buy my old house?!

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/2661296-to-pour-weed-killer-over-the-fence-to-next-doors-garden

Spoiler alert: I poured weed killer over the fence. And painted it on the leaves of anything that poked through the fence
And tipped it at the base of the fence

@Sparechange

Did you buy my old house?!

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/2661296-to-pour-weed-killer-over-the-fence-to-next-doors-garden

Spoiler alert: I poured weed killer over the fence. And painted it on the leaves of anything that poked through the fence
And tipped it at the base of the fence

Did it work ??

No. No weed killer. Def not. Awful idea on all fronts.

One of my neighbours did that because they were scared of bees that visited the rose I was specially bought (by somebody who died suddenly and traumatically a month before they got the roundup out, so I had the initial shock and then the experience of watching the plant shrivel up and die for the duration of the gap between ITU, death, police investigation starting and then the funeral - for which I couldn't use their flowers as had been intended).

Ever since, they've had a fence (mine, by the way) topped by dead rose and a billion spiders, beetles and anything else that likes dead plant matter.

Dead stuff can stay there forever. Unless they set fire to it, which would take their shed, trampoline, swing seat and plastic fucking grass along for the ride.

Be careful how you proceed. Some wildlife gardeners are more than happy to have a convenient supply of food and shelter for creepy crawlies if a neighbour gets the poisons out.

Boiling salted water kills weeds and is not toxic. You could also get a sharp pair of secateurs and reach under the fence to chop off any weed/bramble stems on the boundary line, then the growth will die back and your neighbour can dispose of it (although they sound like they will just let it sit there, but at least you will be literally nipping the problem in the bud).

I feel your pain, OP, it is frustrating when people neglect their gardens like this and it impacts on nearby neighbours. In an ideal world people who have no interest in gardening, or lack time to keep their gardens nice would either pay someone to maintain them or just move to places with tiny courtyards/no gardens, so others can buy/rent the properties with gardens. It's such a shame when people neglect precious garden space.

Contact the council and report the untidy garden, depending on how bad they have powers to get it tidied up

There may be hedgehogs or other wildlife living amongst it all, so l wouldn't use boiling water or chemicals.
I grow lots of climbers, trees and shrubs up and alongside my fence, have done for years and it hasn't affected the longevity of the fence. If brambles, or ivy start creeping through my fence from next door l just trim it back.
I can understand your concerns but l think your over worrying.

Encouraging wildlife is one thing, but it can be taken too far. Neglecting a garden to the point where the weeds and brambles invade neighbouring properties - that's unneighbourly behaviour. It's fine to leave part of a garden to grow wild, but when people take it to extremes then claim their doing their bit to save the planet it is galling.

Pouring hot water with loads of salt dissolved in it should do the trick of killing the weeds naturally.

@ItsJustASimpleLine

Contact the council and report the untidy garden, depending on how bad they have powers to get it tidied up

Where do you live that the council are the garden police?!

@EvenRosesHaveThorns

Absolutely not, would you think someone chucking harmful chemicals, linked to cancer, into your garden, without your knowledge, was acceptable? You're off your rocker. Just prune back what comes over your side, don't sneakily apply chemicals. If their garden is overgrown, it's likely home to lots of wildlife, which the chemicals could have crippling effects on.

100% this! ^

@HoundofHades

Definitely don't throw weedkiller over the boundary fence, *@incognitodorrito* - you're leaving yourself wide open to a potential claim of criminal damage... not to mention other nasties!

A few years ago, my parents NDN put down some weedkiller on their side of the fence, to get rid of their garden weeds. It seeped through the soil against the fence and killed not only a shrub of sentimental value to my parents, but also poisoned their cat (who never left their garden, and liked to lie in the shadey soil under the shrub. Because the cat died (a horrible death, too, as it happens), as the vets couldn't save him - my parents had a post mortem done on him. When they realised the shrub was done for, too, they actually took the neighbour to the small claims court for a replacement shrub, the vets fees and the cost of the PM/toxicology reports - and won. My father (ex-policeman) also explained to the upset neighbour that they were very lucky that they'd not been reported to the police - but that if it had been their dog who'd ended up poisoned/dead, they wouldn't have hesitated to press charges (dogs = property, whereas cats don't).

My parents and their neighbours are no longer friends - and all because they didn't think about the potential consequences of getting shot of a few dandelions around the bottom of their rose bush...

It's really not worth it, OP.

Oh no, that poor cat. How upsetting.

@LaundryForever

Weed killer has a massive environmental impact on plants and wildlife (birds, insects, hedgehogs, etc) so no you should definitely not chuck weed killer over. Think of the wider impact.

This in spades! ^

You can't just go flinging bloody weedkiller around @incognitodorrito FFS

I agree with previous posters... Cut the offending foliage back, and get over it.

Also, £7K for a FENCE! WTAF? Do you own Alton Towers?