How to use landscaping as a border from neighbors?

[Sunshine]

Not sure how fast you want stuff to grow...but this line of evergreens was actually just wire fence 3 years ago. My dad used to cut out the trees as they started to grow but stopped 3 years ago and now it's growing in thick and it's not our fence so I'm good with it. It creates a denser barrier. This were volunteers so didn't cost us anything.

I bet if you put up a simple fence like this it would eventually do the same thing...maybe put some bird feeders nearby so birds will sit and poop along the fence line.

 

[CalicoKatie]

Barbed wire fence with sunflowers planted thick on your side. Sunflowers grow fast and when they die in the fall, they leave tall tough stalks. They also drop a lot of seeds and will come back year after year. That would give you a fairly quick fix and you could gradually replace it with something more permanent if you want. The problem with putting up a partial wall or a better fence is that they will pile garbage against it on their side. When you put the fence up take a lot of before and after pictures. Ask your county sheriff to come out or send a deputy to take a look. Explain the situation and let them know that you just want to document the problem you've had with the neighbor - moving the survey lines, etc. - so if they cut down or vandalize the fence there will be a record to prove it.

Now that you've had another survey done and it proves the garage was built on your property, you have to do something about it. It sounds like the woman's husband told her he was building on your property so she shares the responsibility. Of course she's being nice, she probably doesn't think you can do anything about it. Now that you know for sure the garage crosses onto your property, if you don't contest it soon, you're giving her that property and it is likely she would win in court depending on your state law. Unfortunately it's up to the land owner to protect their property against land rustlers. Sorry you're having these problems but your BFF for this would be an attorney to protect your rights.

ETA: Oops! I posted before I read through the last posts. I see you've already done some of those things.

 

[SheepDog]

Don't sell them the property! if they want to keep their garage then have a lease drawn up and lease it to them $5 per square foot each month. Making it a month to month contract gives you leeway wen you want to discontinue the lease or raise the cost.

 

[Grimm]

My folks had a rotten neighbor for some years. My dad had a surveyor mark the property line. He then had a concrete curb set 1-2" in from the line on his side. From there he had a planter built 6" in from that. In the planter he had a row of trees planted. He focused on getting them to grow thick for 6" off the top of the soil. They formed a hedge row of sorts and block a lot of the sight. Most people drive past the neighbor's house because the trees block it from the street as it is a corner lot with no front yard. The neighbors spent months trying to kill my folks trees but once they sold the house and moved the issues stopped.

I'll get a picture next time we visit.

 

[Meerkat]

Meerkat, it must have been really bad! I don't know how effective benadryl would be for poison oak, ivy and the like, but it is a good thing to keep in first aid supplies.

I always keep benedryl , vinagar, bakign soda, tea, milk,and calamine lotion on hand but nothing touched it. I wonder if Aloe Vera works for that?
I told the dr just knock me out for awhile,I can't take it anymore. I had on a chop top shirt, short shorts and had that stuff wrapped all over my naked skin, from my neck down.
I

 

[Meerkat]

I had a neighbor that was crazy. I don't mean just nuts but certifiable insane.
He had been committed several times. He would mow his yard and there wasn't a blade of grass on the whole lot.
He would mow my yard down as low as his mower would go.
I talked to him and it did no good.
His wife was as bad as he was.
He coerced a couple of neighbors into signing a letter claiming my dog barked nonstop all day.
County animal control investigated and said there was no problem but if the guy continued I would have to go to court to answer the complaint.
I finally installed a 6' fence. That at least kept him off my yard.
About 3 months later he took a a pair of scissors to himself and really did some damage to his legs,arms and chest.
He was finally committed for a long time and his wife moved before he got out so I never saw him again.
Bad neighbors are a nightmare.I had several in a row before it got better and I hope to never have another one.
The problem with planting something is it would be easy to kill it off so all your hard work and money would be wasted.
Fence it off a little at a time as money is available.

My goodness! Poor man and anyone around him,so sad. Mental illness is one of the worst and hardest to treat.

 

[The Innkeeper]

Bad neighbours are a nightmare. We don’t get to choose our neighbours and even If we did they can change.

 

[Meerkat]

Bad neighbours are a nightmare. We don’t get to choose our neighbours and even If we did they can change.

Personally I don't care what people do but I just hope they return the favor.
We had some nice old neighbors in their 50s and 60s who at dinner one night jumped up the woman pulled up her shirt and said " lets get naked and get in the pool" the man reached for his belt buckle. I reached over and snatched her shirt back down and told them we ain't into to that. I was very shocked.
These people had just invited us to their church a week before. So we keep to ourselves too but did help them bury their animals a panther tore up a couple years later. It is lonely but it works.

 

[Fundy]

I had a neighbor that was crazy. I don't mean just nuts but certifiable insane.
He had been committed several times. He would mow his yard and there wasn't a blade of grass on the whole lot.
He would mow my yard down as low as his mower would go.
I talked to him and it did no good.
His wife was as bad as he was.
He coerced a couple of neighbors into signing a letter claiming my dog barked nonstop all day.
County animal control investigated and said there was no problem but if the guy continued I would have to go to court to answer the complaint.
I finally installed a 6' fence. That at least kept him off my yard.
About 3 months later he took a a pair of scissors to himself and really did some damage to his legs,arms and chest.
He was finally committed for a long time and his wife moved before he got out so I never saw him again.
Bad neighbors are a nightmare.I had several in a row before it got better and I hope to never have another one.
The problem with planting something is it would be easy to kill it off so all your hard work and money would be wasted.
Fence it off a little at a time as money is available.

Hot dogs and anti-freeze sometimes works...

 

[Fundy]

Try Euonymus japonicus. Makes a huge hedge, evergreen, various colors, and grows thorns when mature. Can be shaped as one wishes.

Friends do not let friends grow privet or Nandina...both invasive. Nandina (sacred bamboo) has pretty, but toxic berries.

https://www.bhg.com/gardening/trees...66#slide_2e7f6b2e-1fd9-44dc-ade4-21775056fe66

 

[Spikedriver]

I'm a fan of arborvitae. If you can get them going, they make an excellent and nice looking line, and they grow pretty fast. If I had neighbor problems, I'd protect them with electric fence until they're established...and I'd get pics of the fence and the property line markers together. Just in case...

 

[Weedygarden]

Angie, I'm wondering how things are going with this situation? What have you done to help your situation?

 

[Bacpacker]

When we bought our property is was just an open 5 acre grown up feild, with the exception of maybe 1/2 acre on the back corner of the property. After I bush-hogged the whole place and see for sure what I had to work with, I met with a buddy of mine who was a forester for the state. After discussing what we had in mind with the place, he recommended planting white pines on any border we wanted to block. The nearest house to us was empty at the time and not knowing who might buy it that entire side (which is the longest of our place) and along the road passing our house got planted with 3 rows of trees. I staggered the rows and have them planted 10 feet apart in rows 15 feet apart. This was 28 years ago. I planted something like 800-900 seedlings, over the years some died, some got took out in 2011 during very bad storm. But they have grown together to the point a man can't walk thru them without crawling. Some trees are 50' feet tall.
The guy that bought the house next door turned out to be an awesome guy and his dad lives on the other side of him. But I don't regret the trees at all. He's even commented how nice they look.

 

[Weedygarden]

The cones from white pine trees are what I like to use as the base of pine cone wreaths. We don't have so many of them out west.

 

[Bacpacker]

We get tons of them. I hate summer mowing around them when the cones are coated in sap.I always get that crap all over me. LOL.
They are pretty cones though

 

[Weedygarden]

We get tons of them. I hate summer mowing around them when the cones are coated in sap.I always get that crap all over me. LOL.
They are pretty cones though

I made wreaths with a friend. We would soak these pine cones and put them in a wire wreath form, then let them dry and they would expand. I do remember that they were sappy, but they are beautiful pine cones. I made and sold many a pine cone wreath in my day. I made some good money at craft fairs.

 

[Weedygarden]

After reading all this, razor wire comes to mind! I think I'll go buy some too.
View attachment 5063
Or have a wizard cast a hex on the property line!

I miss you, Gumpy, and wish you would join us again!