Neighbors and poison use

[pinkytoe]

A year ago, my next door neighbor threw mothballs everywhere in the alley to deter pests. The smell was horrific for quite a while and kept us out of the backyard. This fall, he has now spread rodenticide pellets all along the fence in the alley behind his house. I am worried for all the critters this will kill. We don't have a rodent issue - he just doesn't like squirrels and in his infinite wisdom thinks that his poison will eliminate them. Now I am afraid to let my cat outside even though he never leaves the yard.

[Gardnr]

I'm sorry! My neighbors know I grow organically. They use Round Up on weeds just 8 feet away from one of my raised beds. (We have "dirt" 10feet between garage walls.) They grow boring zero maintenance shrubs and use Round Up. I grow food-well, not anymore.

I'd be worried about my cat as well!!!

[catherine]

Yes, that would drive me crazy as well..

My environmentally-insensitive neighbors don't use pesticides, but this year they mowed the entire buffer of vegetation between the lake and our yard down to nothing. They don't even observe the 3" mowing rule. It's like shave and a haircut.

The frustrating thing is we are subject to very high waters in the spring--which have flooded a couple of our neighbors' homes, and we also get tons of geese pooping all over the place. The vegetation mitigates both of those things, but they don't make the connection--they insist that they want to see every inch of the lake right up to the shore. I've had one neighbor threaten another if she dares to plant a tree on her own property because it will potentially obstruct the view.

[Teacher Terry]

Last year we had a squirrel eating our garden and our neighbors. The neighbor said he was going to poison it but didn’t because of our dogs. I asked him not to. No food for us that year). This year no problem.

[KayLR]

wow, that would tick me off, too, and I'd be afraid for the cat!

I share a fence with a young neighbor couple. They're very quiet and non-social. I often see them at the fence pulling grass and weeds growing at the base. Their yard is really nothing to brag about, pretty ho-hum, so I find it interesting that they drag their organics bin to the fence to pull errant weeds their mower doesn't get. I mean they're hand-pulling grass; they don't even own any tools.

So....anyway....on the fence toward the corner are some blackberries I don't cut back because I like to pick them. I do keep them manageable, but they're wild berries. The other day I was picking a few and felt something squirt onto my face----Roundup from over the fence overshot onto ME!

They're so odd I didn't say anything, and I was kind of shocked and afraid what would come out of my mouth. So I just went inside to clean up.

I mean, they're free to kill the berries on their side of the fence if they choose to I guess, but that was shocking!

[happystuff]

So....anyway....on the fence toward the corner are some blackberries I don't cut back because I like to pick them. I do keep them manageable, but they're wild berries. The other day I was picking a few and felt something squirt onto my face----Roundup from over the fence overshot onto ME!

They're so odd I didn't say anything, and I was kind of shocked and afraid what would come out of my mouth. So I just went inside to clean up.

I mean, they're free to kill the berries on their side of the fence if they choose to I guess, but that was shocking!

Oh, KayLR! I hope you were able to get it all off. I would have made a loud startled sound - to get their attention and let them know what they did. Not mean- just a "Hey, do you realize what you just did?!" type thing.

[pinkytoe]

I try to coexist when it comes to home landscaping, insect control etc but the lack of awareness about how it's all connected is depressing. DH jokingly says our neighbors attend the Church of Green Grass as they are devout when it comes to sterile, manicured lawns. It is no wonder that insects and birds are disappearing.

[frugal-one]

I'm sorry! My neighbors know I grow organically. They use Round Up on weeds just 8 feet away from one of my raised beds. (We have "dirt" 10feet between garage walls.) They grow boring zero maintenance shrubs and use Round Up. I grow food-well, not anymore.

I'd be worried about my cat as well!!!

Same here. Used to have an herb garden but neighbors kept spraying and the herbs died. Needless to say I don't plant anything there anymore. They also have kids that play on that yard. Makes no sense to me.

[iris lilies]

https://academic.oup.com/jnci/article/110/5/509/4590280


I know that academic studies by objective governmental agencies are not nearly as persuasive as headline news fueled by hysterical court outcomes, but given all that, I like my glyphosate.

I signed the gardeners agreement that I wouldn’t use Roundup in our community garden along with everyone else, so I do not use Roundup in our community garden. Meanwhile, I watch the amateur weeders pull up my iris, lilies, and everything else purposely there because they are too fkg stupid to learn basic plants. . I have to put up with it because god forbid they let me use a little weed killer to keep the perennial borders clean. It is either the amateurs do all of the weeding, I use weed killer appropriately, or I have to spend hours and hours weeding. As it is I already do some weeding in “their” areas to keep them from destroying plants.

[Gardnr]

Same here. Used to have an herb garden but neighbors kept spraying and the herbs died. Needless to say I don't plant anything there anymore. They also have kids that play on that yard. Makes no sense to me.

Yea, without discussion, they took out $100 worth of ornamental grasses and somehow all of my purple coneflower disappeared! They also keep backfilling the basin around the Red King Maple I put in 20 years ago. Sigh...............and they bought this place as their final retirement home and we are also here forever....sigh....I don't talk about any of it. Not worth it for the long haul.

He's also about the perfect, green manicured lawn. Fortunately that is on the other side of the fence and we don't have grass.

Oh the fence? It's a wonderful aged wood fence. He came over a few years and wanted to replace it. I told him there's nothing wrong with the fence and I really love the aged look of the wood.

Sigh..............