... in spraying poison on next door's weeds?

[RainyWednesday]

The ground floor flat on one side of our flat is currently empty, but even when it's rented out people tend not to bother looking after the garden as it's a rented property. As a result, there's a huge mass of bindwind and brambles just over the fence which is constantly scrambling over, under and through the fence and into our beds. I don't mind the brambles so much but bindweed is horrible. On Sunday, I got so fed up of battling it that I lent over the fence to give the mother lode a good dousing. On Monday, I woke up feeling guilty

AIBU?

If anyone's going to flame me, it might make you feel better to know I got a faceful of poison for my trouble when the wind changed!

Message withdrawn

I'd have done it too RW! I HATE our brambles they're coming in from next door under their fence.

God no. Who will care? Eat loads of chocolate or something to re-focus your guilt.

Excellent

I thought I was going to get accused of criminal damage and all manner of overstepping boundaries (some literally).

Now I can give them another going over in a couple of weeks with clear conscience!

Do you know which agency is renting out the flat?? There should be a clause in the contract that they have to keep the garden in a respectable state, not let it get overgrown etc.

I wish somone would poisen my weeds, we can't afford weed killer atm so are pulling the feckers up by hand EVERY weekend. They're not creeping into next door tho

It's a private rental and the woman who owns it is a little erm odd (she accused me of being racist a couple of weeks after we moved in because I parked outside her house ).

Most things I pull up by hand, not least because I don't like using chemicals if I don't have to, but the bindweed and brambles are just unrelenting, plus it's such a PITA having to painstakingly unravel them from everything else then try to isolate them so I can squirt them. Grr!

Our former next door neighbour once rang our doorbell to ask whether we would mind if she killed the weeds that had come through from our garden

Urgh bindweed- definalty not BU (sorry Riven, i see your point but bindweed is EVIL)

i dont blame you.... bindweed is the devels weed. wink

It's Round-Up, which says on the bottle that it biodegrades and doesn't leave harmful residue in the soil. If it was just brambles I'd leave it but bindweed is just too vile.

My garden provides plenty of homes for wild things We have a few birdboxes, a pond, a woodpile, a hedgehog/toad box (empty alas ), a family of foxes at the end of the garden, ast least one bastard squirrel and a rampant raspberry bush on the other side of the fence to the brambles - plus the fact that our birdfeeder needs refilling every other day suggests that we're the only garden in south London that has one!

Depends what kind of weedkiller you used. Glyphosate is a systemic weedkiller - it gets into the plant but doesn't affect the soil and has very low toxicity generally. I would use it for something like bindweed if it's been left to get completely out of control

Riven I know but I only found that out on Sunday when I went on their website to find out whether I'd done me or my unborn child lasting damage by spraying it into my face. My mum bought it for me - I won't be getting it again!

Absolutely NBU.

I had a house (privately owned) left empty next door to me for several months, with no-one taking responsibility for it, the neighbour on the other side and I took turns at mowing the front lawn and weed control just to make it less obvious that the property was empty!! (Open plan frontage, no fence/hedge.)

Take advantage of the opportunity while it's empty. An agency won't care one way or the other as long as they don't have to bother. But you could find out whether there is likely to be a new tenant soon. The owner might get the garden sorted for them moving in. If she is not using a management company to maintain the property, it is her responsibility while the place is uninhabited.