Neighbours growing plants on fence

[Whateveritsallmadnow]

It's their fence, its broken and rotten so they are trying to hide it. Looks awful our side, we would just replace it and pay if they can't afford to but there plants are just going to wreck that too. Anything we can do we have spoken with them.

You could put concrete posts in and then those vertical boarded fence panels. These slot in easily, the panels are easily replaced and are pretty tough compared to standard lap fencing. Then just once a year lift them out and cut the brambles back.

You'd think so, but brambles are sneaky so-and-so's - they'll send out suckers and shoots and go under...

I made the mistake of planting one bramble plant some years ago. I now spend a great deal of time dealing with its offspring. The damned thing even got into the greenhouse.

Can you get a new fence which will mean cutting it right back. Then while it’s being installed, do some gardening and “accidentally” put some heavy duty weed killer in the soil around the fence area?

It'll slow down brambles, but it's unlikely to stop 'em permanently. You have to keep at 'em. 'Tis a permanent war...

gazes into middle distance

We had the same issue.fence belonged to neighbours. Brambles so big the burst the fence,so had stems of 5 inch diameter..cut them yearly!!! Obviously, never dealt with 80 foot long fence with brambles 2 MTRS high! Solicitor said put a fence inside theirs on our land. That wouldn't work because of trees, and then their broken fence and brambles would have ruined our new fence. We ended up paying for it,as it's THEIR fence,you can't stop them planting or doing anything else with it unfortunately.

Put up a fence inside your boundary line then you can chop back anything that grows onto it.

If you put up a second fence inside your boundary line, and the brambles (plus bindweed and dandelions in our case) they grow from the bottom,you cannot reach to remove them..trust me,we tried everything for several years! Brambles are like roses, they love to be pruned, they grow back even stronger. Never found a single weed killer that worked.

@Nannyfannybanny I think I see your thinking.
Let the neighbours fence fall down , don't erect another and this will leave better access to chop down near the roots .
This is good advice.
Speaking as someone who stands on a step ladder to lean over a fence to chop ( and reinvigorate) the brambles from next door.

The fence was falling down and ruining our garden,it always fell out way,in storms whatever. DH "asked" if he could replace the fence (like they're going to say no!) we removed it,took it to the tip and replaced it...he dug out the brambles that he could. That's the only way to deal with them permanently. Oh, I forgot to add,thick ivy to all the blasted weeds coming over!

You could try buying some bags of table salt and pouring them around the area of the roots OP, my sister managed to kill a tree by doing this, so it may work.

Thanks all sounds like can only hope neighbours are reasonable but suspect they know the rules so will do as they please, they seem that way inclined. Some good tips about potential options 😀

You aren’t maintaining their plant, you can cut what grows into your garden, you don’t have to.
No it’s nothing like you throwing rubbish and oil on their way. This makes you sound mental that you can’t understand the difference between them growing plants on their own fence.

Probably because I don't want their weeds in my garden, like they wouldn't want my rubbish

Additionallly making the entire fence look like a complete eyesore, but yes I must be mental wanting a nice garden, I wouldn't dream of throwing rubbish or weeds their way cause I'm nice and respect others

And having to cut a plant back is maintaining

Now read your other posts @Sofiewoo not entertaining you any further.

You can't put salt or anything else on someone's plants to kill them, tempting as it is..every time our neighbours fence fell, because it was so rotten,it fell on our garden, ruined our plants. The fence posts were rotten at ground level. We're retired, they're younger wages coming in. They never offered to pay or helped physically, not even a thank you. Technically,we aren't allowed to grow plants up it. I had hoped that because we paid for the fence,it belonged to us. I had an elderly friend who was a gardener,he told me it unfortunately didn't. I paid for an hour's consult with a solicitor, she confirmed this, said we should keep the old panels, give them back to the neighbours, can you imagine doing this, sadly, they can do what they like and they have caused a lot of damage to them. We're not talking a small amount of work or money here, the fence is over 150 foot long. A lot of friends said we were mad, but we paid a lot of money for our plants, some have moved with us and are over 25 years old. I cannot for the life of me understand why people who don't like gardening buy property with a big garden

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So final vote in I'm being unreasonable by 72% apparently. Just curious out of those how many have their garden ruined by a neighbours choice rather than those that just like plants and have either nice neighbours or massive plots of land. More than love a nice plant just not when it wrecks a fence that makes my garden look dire

I mean, I just cut back any branches that come through my fence on my neighbours side... we did keep any bushes or hedging trimmed that grew on our side but it's harder to trim when it's backed to a fence unless you enter your neighbours property to do so. We also would have grown ivy etc over our fence which looked nice and added privacy to the fence but kept it well clipped.

Comparison to throwing rubbish into someone's garden is a big stretch... this to me is part of living in a terrace. Would you be happy for them to come into your garden regularly to trim it on your side?

Ultimately you have zero right to control what they grow on their side whether you deem it an eye sore or not. You can control whatever creeps onto your property.

Missing the point really. It's just rude to expect others to be put out through their personal choices. I am aware of the law just wanted suggestions to try to keep neighbourly when they aren't really bothered

So you expect them to look at your ugly broken fence? Fuck that and fuck you.. Even if it was a great fence, they are dull and I would plant the fuck out of the fence

It's their fence broken they are trying to hide from their side ! We are the ones looking at the broken fence and overground weeds

Brambles are a pita and they will spread into your garden.

I suggest surreptitiously identifying where the main stems are, marking the spots on your side of the fence, and going out one night with a few kettles of boiling water for the roots. Pour it as close to the fence as you can get it, or if the roots are not close to the fence, you can bore small holes under the fence toward the roots to get the water as close as possible. Fill in the holes and put a little sod or potted plants at the places you dug. Boiling water itself doesn't leave a trace.

And next time there's a big storm, you could help the fence across the rainbow bridge, if it really is in ramshackle condition...

You really need to construct your own fence on the inside of the existing one. It's expensive but it's the only way to get a secure structure that's the height and style you want. You'll still have to trim back their lousy weeds every now and again but it should be less cutting to do and you don't have to see their tatty rotten one.

It's not nice when neighbours don't care what effect their decisions have on others, no. But t'was ever thus. My NDN have brambles, nettles and bindweed which spread underground so appear under our fence regularly. I spray them with weedkiller when I see them so it doesn't get too bad. It's annoying because it creates work for me, but it's just the way it is.