Asking neighbours for money?

[DunePeyton]

So my elderly neighbours have a big corner plot garden which is ridiculously overgrown. Enormous sycamores, including one which has a forked trunk which fans out and blocks a fair bit of our daily sun, and a eucalyptus tree which sheds its bark all over our lawn (but that’s not my main issue). Hundred of shrubs, vegetables,
nettles etc.

My main issue is I feel continuously invaded by all of their out-of-control greenery that grows over (or through) our border line, leaving me no choice but to constantly cut it all back and fill up our green bin with it. I don’t even like the thankless task of gardening!

I have a fairly large back lawn and a bit of grass at the front and a full cut fills up my entire green bin and I haven’t got space for their crap also! I have jokingly suggested to themthat maybe a gardener might be a good idea, but they are adamant they will do it themselves-
onky problem is they aren’t doing it!

AIBU to ask neighbours for a contribution towards our green bin subscription as I strive to keep a low maintenance garden and so much of the garden waste that fills our green bin is from our neighbour’s garden which doesn’t seem fair. I get invaded on the other side too, but it’s not quite so bad as they have a gardener once a week. Am I right to be pissed off? I spent about an hour today getting pricked while cutting back their rose bushes which are always creeping over our walls.

Jesus op 3rd world issues. Your neighbours are elderly…..elderly l! Help them if you’re more able bodied than they are and stop whining. They’re trees for goodness sakes!

3rd world? I think that’s more starvation, war, pestilence.

Okay……..is it?! So because elderly neighbours who cannot maintain their property don’t need support or help?! Because they’re not starving or at war………Mmmmm that’s worrisome

The OP’s problems are not 3rd world issues. The saying is 1st world problems I.e. get a grip, it’s not really a problem, get perspective.

You get a perspective you’re diminishing the fact the neighbours are elderly. There’s no war ffs the neighbours are moaning about having to maintain a garden for goodness sake. Yes, categorically these are not problems people in 3rd world countries worry about. Get a grip!!!

Aren't you a peach!

Put it in their green bin

Your opinion is factually wrong and based on the usual lazy, ageist assumptionsaround here. No, not everyone who owns their home has money spare and many live on the State pension never having been able to get private pensions.

Sorry but imo u r deluded.
Especially when winter fuel bills quadrupled and food costs rocketed.

They may have money, they may not, but don't assume everyone over 70 in their own place has money, because they don't. My father at 70 could barely afford to buy food but didn't want to move because he loved the location.

Could you invite them round for a cuppa in your garden and point out the problems that you think are an encroachment on your garden? They may not know how overgrown it is on your side.

The comprehension skills on this site are why threads are often crazy. I assume you had a few snifters @BaconChops

I am not referring to the bloody neighbours. The problem is clearly OP’s, caused by the neighbours. The problem that is a first world problem is the OP’s. Geddit? The elderly neighbours are not diminished by OP over reacting. In fact it is ruder to her.

No wonder people take offence at shit.

@Dacadactyl how wrong you are! Our neighbours in their 80s own their house which has a huge garden. He was born there and the property was inherited. They live on state pensions and would not be able to afford a gardener.

put up a high fence and leave them to it.

ScotInExile · 19/07/2023 00:43
Why can't you use their green bin for their trimmings? If they are not doing any gardening then their green bin should be empty.

THIS! 👆🏻

Have u told them that is encroaching on ur land and the work you need to do to maintain it?

Just tell them it's getting too much for you and could they please cut back whatever is on the boundary line. Saying things in a jokey way doesn't work, they'll just tell u what you want to hear back in a jokey way, you need to be direct. You need to tell them you are in your garden having to cut back their greenery and filling up your own bin.

There is an anti social hedge law don't know if that applies but it basically says speak to you neighbours. If no success you have to go to the council. But yes otherwise I agree explain you will be returning any cuttings to them

Can't you just leave the roses? That will cut down on the waste. The other stuff I'd only cut it once a year, the more you cut it, the thicker it'll grow. Don't keep chopping it back.

OP has already explained that the neighbours do not have a green bin. The subscription for a green bin is very expensive.
I only have a tiny garden and I have a compost bin that I bought, and a green bin that costs over £100 a year, gets collected every 2 weeks for only 8 months of the year. I would be annoyed if I had to deal with my neighbour's garden waste too.

@Dacadactyl my mother is in her 70s and lives alone with a chronic health condition that means she is no longer able to manage her large garden. Although her mortgage was paid off in her 60s she has struggled by on benefits for many years, and now receives the bare minimum from the government as benefits/pension. She cannot afford basic repairs to her house, heating, holidays, a car or anything else. Certainly not a gardener. You sound as though you are mixing in very privileged circles if you don’t understand that a gardener is a luxury that many people -regardless of whether or not they are elderly homeowners - can’t afford.