Tall pot plants to out along my fence to help minimise noise?

[MargheritaAndMargaritaPlease]

We have a small garden in a mid terrace house.

When neighbours are out we can hear every single thing they say and do. I'm sure it's the same for them when we are in our garden.

I don't want to dig into our garden as it is extremely stoney / rubble-y (new -ish build and the builders seem to have dumped the rubble under the gardens which I think is common practice).

Can anyone recommend anything?

Bamboo.

The trick for a sound barrier is to try to create a double layer. I'd put bamboo in pots along the fence, then some other plants of varying heights in front of the bamboo.

Also, introducing a sound which you can focus on instead of the chatter is another trick. Bamboo is good because it rustles in the breeze but I'd also introduce a water feature and (dare I say it) a wooden wind chime.

It’s good thinking ,OP. I’m always mystified by some houses nearby that have massively long front gardens, just tarmaced or laid to lawn although they face a huge and busy roundabout.
I would dig into the soil, plants in pots struggle to get big enough to deaden sound. Plant a fig, they love stony soil, also grasses, particularly miscanthus, they both deaden the noise and make lovely rustling noises.Shrubs are good. Dogwood, mallow, raspberry and currants get tall quickly and are fairly cheap and will do the job. Lots of these will also work in pots, as will bamboo, if you look after them. Or a tree.Amelanchier is lovely. Catalpa has big leaves and lots of them so could work well.

Thanks for these! I think I'd need some proper kit to plant anything in the soil...but could maybe get a gardener in to do it

@MargheritaAndMargaritaPlease

Think about putting raised beds in - you could get someone to put beds made of sleepers or brick raised beds. The plants will eventually work their way into the soil. It would be much easier to keep watered and alive than pots. You could put a small well behaved tree in - a sorbus or amelanchier. www.gardenersworld.com/plants/20-trees-for-small-gardens/

A water feature helps deaden noise.