Inconsiderate neighbor

Okay, bear with me. It's my turn to vent.

I am sick of picking up seedpods from my next-door neighbor's Honey Locust trees!!! Arrrgh!!! He has two 30' trees in his front yard and he's too lazy to clean them up. The wind blows and they go all over the place, not just my yard. I have to pull seedlings every year out of the lawn and driveway cracks. Three years I've been doing this and I have asked him many times to please clean them up before they go everywhere but he doesn't. He does not have a job. He's retired but that does not mean he can let these things go.

Okay, I'm done for now. Who else has this problem?

Here's his front yard.

Me thinks you should start enjoying the Locust trees!

I know I should. I know it's petty but grrr...

I understand completely. Sorry for you.

Hap

Hi kwanjin! Could you put a low barrier - such as a little fence or a line of dwarf shrubs - down the side of the driveway to stop the wind from blowing the seeds across?

BTW, I envy your view of the mountains!

Get all the neighbors together, sweep up all the seed pods and pile them on his front porch.

Hmm... Along the side of the drive on his side? I never thought of that. I could do a short fence there. Those seedpods skid along the ground and wouldn't go over. Good idea, thanks.

And yes, the view is wonderful. Part of the reason we bought the house.

Either a fence or a barrier of small shrubs. That way, maybe you could not get all of them in your yard. I too enjoy the view of the mountains, beautiful. Hope you get this problem solved.

I can't put shrubs there unless he agrees. That's his property on that side and he would have to clean them out. If I put shrubs or a fence on the other side then they will gather on the driveway.

put sign his front yard by tree free seeds.lol.

great picture with the moutains.

I like the sign and sweeping ideas! Those would be great! I think I might go with the short fence.

The view is even better these days. One tree as big as the one in the center was cut down last summer. Opened it up more.

Although the ground beside the driveway belongs to the neighbor, could you install a raised kerb on the edge of your driveway, in other words, on his side but on your concrete?

No, we couldn't because that is also the RV parking and it would block the run to that. I like the fencing idea. It would be easy maintenance and inexpensive. I do like the idea of more plants, though. Nothing stopping me from putting some on the other side!

Hi Kwan,

Did your neighbor plant the trees, or were they there when
he bought the house?

:-) KM

He bought the house when it was new and planted them himself a few years later. He will tell you the story repeatedly if you let him! LOL

Aha! Then in that case, I'm with you on being irritated.
Of all the trees in the world, he planted Locust for a new
house?

;-(

Yes.
Locust trees. Grrr... Aren't neighbors fun? The trees are pretty, especially in winter. BUT... The branches break, the seedpods go everywhere, the catkins in the spring...grrr, again.

Just clicked on the big picture. Wow. I mean, I'm not
particular about leaves and pods at my house, but I
don't live in such a nice neighborhood.

If I lived there, I'd sure keep my yard clean. Nice!

Yes, we found it by accident. We told our realtor, nothing in West Valley. Too much crime. But we found a 'pocket of civility' as one lady put it.

It's a very nice place to live. Mostly retired people. One block over are the revving cars and parties; the newer development. We never hear them. Everything else we don't like is several blocks away.

I feel your pain. Our neighbor has a huge Maple tree that sends off the whirligig seeds. This year has been worse than any other. They seem to sprout anywhere they land. I'm not looking forward to 2 million seedling Maples next spring. They are covering the entire neighborhood...these babies can really fly!

I was just thinking about a blower in the meantime until you get a permanent solution. I'd blow all the seeds and leaves and any other debris right back into his yard. If he comes out while you are doing it just wave and smile at him. It's his garbage, you're just returning it for him. Obviously, he doesn't care anyway.

No, he really doesn't care, Heather. We have maples in this neighborhood, too, but they don't seem to be as big a problem. I've been wishy-washy (need to send that one to the "Colloquialisms" thread!) on what trees to put in my backyard. I don't want them to be a nuisance like this one is being. A dozen more were in the front today...HE has a blower, why can't he do it? He has time for his precious Harley! AND his boat AND his RV!!!

There I go AGAIN. Sorry.

Maybe I'll ask to borrow his blower and blow them into a big pile for him. Think that would work? Sending a message, I mean?

Just being a wise guy here, you could knock on his
door and ask if he would like to borrow your rake.

LOL.

"Hey, I couldn't help but to notice all those toys you
have. Poor guy, your payments must be out of this world.
You can't even afford a rake? Hey, I feel for you, buddy.
You're welcome to use our rake any time."

;-)

Heh heh heh. That's a good one, Wuvie. And one other thing. He has a dog. A cute-as-pie golden lab. She's sweetheart but...she barks whenever her master isn't home. Which means when he goes away for a weekend...bark, bark, bark...the whole time he's gone. Day and night. ALL night. We fixed that one, though. Doggie treats and a stern, "Go lie down" works every time.

Kwan,

We actually have had the same problem lately with the
dog across the road. The owner's wife works, and he
went on what we guess is a horse trail ride.

The little dog not only barks incessantly, but stands in
the middle of the road, even comes to the driveway to
bark at our dogs, who stay in a fenced yard. Any other
time he stays home and remains quiet.

He made the mistake of strutting (all 11 inches of himself) across
the road to act like Mr. Big, but didn't realize hubby had let our
dogs out of the yard to visit the opossums we discovered in
the trash. When one of our dogs went after him, he ran like a
chicken across the street. It was hilarious!

That's good, Wuvie! Bet he won't come back!

When I used to horse back ride I would end up with a HUGE PACK of dogs following my horse and I. I was always embarrassed because the dogs caused trouble, pooped on yards, and did the normal doggy things. I did NOT even OWN a dog! I'm sure people would see these animals and wonder why I didn't keep "my dogs" home when I rode!

That's funny about the dogs, psychw2. But probably not while it's happening, though.

Update on my neighbor...He cleaned up this morning! Yea! Talked to the man on the other side of him and he said he asked him to clean the seedpods up as well. "It takes a village..."

It looks very nice over there now. Thanks, everyone, for your input and suggestions. It helps if you have support.

I'm so glad that your neighbor did the right thing and cleaned up after himself and his tree!

Me too. Now all I have to worry about is all the leaves and maybe one or two stray pods. MUCH easier to deal with.

Whoo hooo!

A good thing! :-)

I'm going to second that "Whoo-Hooo"!!! Thanks, again, everybody. I try to find the good in things and be an upbeat person but sometimes...Anyway, thank you.

Aw, Kwan, I think you're only feeling things that are perfectly natural.

In a nice neighborhood, it only seems keeping things neat and tidy
for the better of the area is a given.

Look at it this way, if those pods were beer cans, well. LOL.
Glad the neighbor found time, made time, whatever to do what he
should.

KM

That makes me feel better. :0)

What about just using your blower everyday and blow them all back in his yard, caport, etc. Surely he would eventually get the hint? I try to pick up any dropped limbs from my trees that land in the neighbors yards but I don't worry about the leaves and they surely don't worry about their limbs or leaves dropping in my yard. But I do have a blower that is cranked up everyday. It just seems there are those that don't think outside the box sometimes.

Thankfully the guy finally picked them up so Kwan didn't
have to resort to using a blower. That wouldn't be cool for
her to have to spend time and money (gas or electricity)
blowing pods out of her yard thanks to a lump who won't take
care of his or her property in a manner mindful of others.

There may even be a person in the area who detests the
noise, so that may introduce yet another problem. Can you
imagine? :-o

House 1 won't pick up seed pods. House 2 has to blow them
off her property. House 3 can't stand the noise, calls the housing
authority. House 4 stands in his doorway thinking of moving. LOL.

See, Wuvie? There's that sense of humor again. LOL

Here's an update on my neighbor...After several more pods have dropped, he decided picking them up was too much trouble. So, what does he do? He pulls outs the lawnmower and runs over them instead!!! Such a noise the pods made as they where shredded under there! Sheesh!

It was funny just to watch and the REALLY fun part is there are seeds EVERYWHERE in his lawn now.

Too much.

Oh my gosh, Kwan, this is bound to be a great mini series. LOL.

Next spring he'll have ten zillion little babies all over the yard, he'll
be out there will spray killer and then he'll have a polka-dotted yard.

;-)

He will do exactly that. The strange part of all this is he CAN be a nice neighbor. On occassion. When he pulls out the weedkiller, he does our driveway, too. Don't understand him.