Neighbor's weeds in my garden, or when diplomacy fails, build barriers
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Peaceful neighborly relations are not to be thrown away, although maintaining mutual harmony beyond the boundaries of one's land is sometimes worth the extra work. For example, if they expand from your neighbor's neglected land to your carefully maintained, various weeds. How to solve it?
You can start with the hardest. Fine diplomacy. It is tactful to warn your neighbor that his wild jungle looks beautiful, but you don't want it to overflow with you, it's really not easy. Especially if you want him to do something about it.
Can you give him some advice, rent a lawn mower? The problem is that each of us sees beauty in something different, and he needs to be extremely satisfied with the party that is growing. After all, protracted neighborhood wars have already begun with smaller squabbles. Therefore, most of us prefer to focus our energy on preventive measures to prevent weeds from spreading. Where to start?
Diplomacy may or may not take place (Photo: Shutterstock)Set boundaries, specify the type of uninvited guests
Start by clearly defining the boundary. You don't want to build an obstacle on his land, do you? But some obstacle to the spread will be needed. Evaluate what weeds are all about. Do rhizomes spread through you, through roots, or are their seeds transported to you by air? The latter case is the most complicated. It is enough to put a barrier in the way of the roots, for example in the form of buried root foil. It doesn't take up much space, depth is important. When you get to half a meter, you usually win.
Karel Čapek has already written about raspberries as a militant "neighbor" species in the book The Gardener's Year
Against the rhizomes above the ground
The overlap of the rhizomes and the expansion on the surface will be solved by a "wall" above the ground. What will it look like? Once again, you can stay at the above-ground edge (there are many plastic / aluminum combinations available), with a minimum height of 30 cm. This is a sufficient barrier to propagation and yet not an unsightly optical barrier. You can, of course, try something in natural design. Need a half-meter wall with stacked stones. It looks nice, you line your plot, and at the same time it does not give the impression of an unfriendly wall.
Raspberries require an "underground wall", but it's up to you whether their harvest wouldn't suit you either (Photo: Shutterstock)Fence, fence, palisade?
Depending on your capabilities, you can also try a low fence or a wooden edging used for the edges of flower beds. Yes, the investment here is entirely on your side. Otherwise, it is more about a civil dispute, resolved through the local government. Which usually (think of good relations and diplomacy) doesn't pay off in the long run. For partitions and fences, it is true that only a wire fence cannot separate weeds. Therefore, if you do not fill it with a string, an additional protective net, you will not cover it with a reed.
Fencing is often not enough (Photo: Shutterstock)A hill or a moat?
Therefore, you usually have to set the boundary by changing the topography of the terrain. Wall, or moat. The advantage is that these elements give a natural impression. You can think of them as a boundary rock. Alternatively, you can create a partition here (for example, from old boxes), on which you place flower pots. Again, this is an obstacle that will get in the way of weeds and make it difficult for them to penetrate your lawn or garden. Then you have to multiply your activity along this border strip: regular engraving, and if you are a fan of herbicide applications, they should head here. Yes, also preventively.
A neighbor's watchful eye can be bad, even schizophrenic (Photo: Shutterstock)Prevention means a lot of extra work, but it will not work without it
It is necessary to preventively inspect and pull out uninvited guests, even with their roots. After all, it's about not spreading anything else. Don't have time for that? Sometimes it is easiest to create a path along the land with paving. It is an obstacle that no more crawling weeds can jump over. The spread of the same width film is similarly functional, albeit unsightly. Especially if it is plastic and dark / black, it can "cook" everything under it in two or three sunny weeks. And it's effortless. A variation on a given topic can also be a wide border "flower bed", with a richly stratified mulch.
It 's desperate (Photo: Shutterstock)The best defense? Strong nerves, patience and a good lawn!
And when it comes to weeds whose seeds spread through the air? Nothing easy will help here. The ideal solution may be a border hedge, the full growth of which you will wait for a while. But it is a better solution than a safety net on the fence. The hedge is also a visual barrier, so it will provide you with more privacy on your land.
In general, the best defense against weeds is an existing and fully involved vegetation area on your land. No foreign weeds are pushed into the well-grown lawn. He will have nowhere to go. However, it means that you should not mow the lawn so often along the boundaries of your land. Properly exposed soil and disturbed compactness of the lawn opens the door to weeds. That it's a lot of extra work? Maybe in the end it really pays to ask a neighbor if he would like to do something about his weeds…
A good lawn is a good protection, because you always mow everything at the same time (Photo: Shutterstock)Weeds are not like weeds
Above-ground shoots spread, for example, gooseberry, common bird, ivy or creeping buttercup from the mother plant. If they "reach out" to you and hit the open ground, they will take root and create a new plant. The surface barrier will help here. Horsetail, goat's foot ivy, dioecious nettle or "indestructible" creeping spider are spread by underground rhizomes. There is an underground barrier on site. But just a pair can grow from separate roots, so you really have to pull it out. Dandelions and thistles, or comfrey, for example, are propagated by buds growing from the roots. The solution is to eliminate the entire plant rosette and the root. This also pays off for morning glory, tinsel or sleeves. But when you see that a neighbor is constantly growing a bent licorice, white gooseberry or eel, start calmly planting a hedge. These weeds have up to 200,000 seeds waiting to be transported to your garden.
Weaves around the fence (Photo: Shutterstock)
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