Under invasion!
bluecurlygirl
Posts: 1
Hi guys. New member but regular user - I've learned a lot on here. I'd really appreciate it if someone could help me out. My neighbour planted some shrubs in her garden a few years back. Lovely plants. After a while, shoots started appearing in my garden. I told my neighbour and I explained that she hadn't spent good money on plants so I could grow then and I offered to happily dig out any tubers and pass them back under the fence for her to re-direct. She accepted this. And I did this. For 3 years. She never took the tubers through once. Eventually, and after flaring up my sciatica twice from pulling out metre long roots etc., I stopped digging. I just couldn't. The bloody thing grew and looked lovely and then we realised it has now sent tubers 3/4 of the way across our garden and heading for the neighbours on the other side. A few weeks ago I spoke again to her, after damaging my back from digging up the plants on my side as best as I could - there are roots like tree stumps all over the place. I told her I couldn't go through digging it out again. She told me I wouldn't have to worry, they were putting up a new fence and taking it out. The new fence started going up and the plants were still there. I went out and asked her what was happening with the plants and she told me they were staying. I reminded her of what she had said previously and she again said "We like them. They're staying" I broke down crying. I've been very patient so far. I'm recovering from a mental breakdown and I'm ready to explode now. They bought their house from the council and we're still renting ours. Can anyone please advise me on this. Can I force their hand in this? One of the stumps is just under the fence board and several others have damaged boards on my side too. Thanks for reading this guys. Any help would be mighty. Cheers.
Posts
Not knowing what type of plant it is it is a bit difficult to advise, could you take a picture of it and put it on here then we can hopefully advise a way forward.
welcome to the forum and remember gardening should be therapeutic so don't over do it try to enjoy it.
Dear Curlygirl, So sorry to hear how you are suffering in mind and body. Neighbours like this you don't need, though perhaps she doesn't realise how much distress she is causing. Have you been to the council housing dept, I believe some more enlightened councils employ trained mediators to deal with neighbourly disputes. You say "We're still renting ours" so it sounds as though you don't live alone. As you are emotionally a bit fragile, is there someone else in your family that could negotiate with the neighbour for you? Maybe you could invite her in for a coffee, show her the garden from your side, and explain why it's a problem for you? Maybe you could reach a compromise, such as that she'd agree to take out half of the troublesome plants, or come and give you a hand removing them when they encroach on your garden? If she has a neighbour on the other side, they may be affected as badly as you, and there's strength in numbers ..... I do so hope you get all this sorted, that you can enjoy your garden and be on good terms with Mrs Nextdoor.