for a neighbor that couldn't come to your door and talk to you about it in person, i'd do nothing. his cactus is his problem and he should have thought ahead when planting it. obviously the cactus roots will spread into your property as well- it's not like roots will respect property boundaries. has the marshall told you to do anything about it? if not then let him solve his own problems...

Xill- Well we informed the Marshall we would change the watering. (so no trouble) In this case, we just turned it off for a few days. Do not want to go to court or something. We need to figure out what to do. Something I did not add was this person has caused issues for his neighbors on the other side of him. Then this morning I went out to that side of our backyard and was just standing there very quietly and the next thing I know this guy(65yrs old) puts his hands over on the 6'wall(pulling himself up) and is looking over into my yard straight at me. What the blazes! CAUGHT! Some people children! I think he will continue to be a problem. Got any drainage ideas?

lol quite the neighbor you have there! hopefully i don't get one of those (one of my neighbor's houses just went up for sale over the weekend). as far as drainage, can you post pictures of the problem area? off the top of my head all i can think of is turning the area into a low water garden, or building a swell to divert the runoff. hard to say without seeing it though. for the wall, attach a trellis and plant some vines. bougainvillea sound like a good plan, very thorny and dense :p let him complain about the bract litter, serves him right.

Oh dear. You've got one of THOSE neighbors. Maybe you should carry a camera and take this peeping tom's picture next time he looks over your wall - what a creep!

Anyhow, if your water is running into his yard, your lawn isn't benefitting either. Have you tried reducing the rate of watering so it goes down into the lawn, instead of running off?

Perhaps you should aerate the lawn so the water has a chance to soak down, or do 2 watering sessions at half-rate, instead of one?

When the soil is real dry, water tends to run off, especially clay soil. Sometimes I'll do 2 waterings on back-to-back days. The first one softens the soil so it'll accept the water, the second one allows the water really soak in.

Jutta- We have been watering the same since April 2x a day once in the morning 40min and once in the late afternoon 40min with out any problems from them. The water is soaking in but being the footer of the fence is not big and we are higher then him it must be going under the footer. I have never seen whats happening on the other side, but I think from the sound of it, its not accually running like a stream more along the lines of soaking. Now thats its getting cooler, the day of the marshall vist we were acually talking about reducing it to once a day.
I will take/post a picture of the area

... and lawd knows, his cactus is probably loving it. What an arse.

Juttah does bring up some really good points about reducing the run-off. Only for the sake of not getting this guy riled up to where he makes a real pain of himself - well, MORE of a pain - you might consider lowering the amount you water, pushing the edge of your lawn back away from the wall, installing a swale (like a shallow ditch) below your lawn to divert any run off ... that's easier than adding some sort of barrier at the footers of the wall. There are also low-water use lawns - did you see Lazy Garden's picture of her buffalo grass lawn? It's a lot less care than a normal lawn.

I would also call the Marshall back in and find out exactly what *your* rights are. Do you have an HOA?

Oops - just noticed I was duplicating some of xill's suggestions.... ah well, great minds and all that malarkey! I agree with Bougainvillea suggestion - at the very least, I'd sprinkle some gravel on the top of the wall - if he's going to be a peeping tom (which *is* illegal, I believe!) he should at least have to work for it.

Great idea, except I'd sprinkle broken glass on top of the wall!

But really, 40 minutes TWICE a day is a crazy amount of water! Does your lawn really need that much?

If so, it's time to replace it with a low-water lawn, both for some neighborly peace and to lower your water bill. I'm not sure that much water is good for the footer, either.

40min 2x daily! holy cow!! is that all for the same zone? i water my lawn for 15min at 5am 3x a week and that's it. the gravel and glass made me think of when i would visit Tijuana. over there they would line the walls with the bottoms of broken glass bottles. i always thought it was odd until they told me it was to keep stray cats out of the yards (and garbage cans) and to keep pigeons from perching on the walls

Here is one view

This is another view. As you can see the lawn is only 12 ft wide at the fence area. I noticed when taking the photos that is does have a slight slant to it. French drain or anything simular maybe would not work, there is no place for it to drain and I don't know where on the other side of the wall it is leaking. Never saw what he was complaining about. Behind the fire place is all gravel. Maybe we were watering too much, but like I said no problems for 6 mo and the grass never had a problem of being soggy. Please remmember this guy complains even when its mother nature who watering. Thanks all for your help The glass thing is funny along with the bougainvilla(dont grow here)have no Hoa. With it get cooler we will problely stop water intirely. But this will probley happen again next year, hopefully we can sale this house and get out of here.

You have a very nice yard! But I still think 40 minutes even once a day is WAYYYY too much water... especially in Camp Verde, which is considered "high desert" and therefore cooler than the low desert.

By way of comparison, I'm watering 60 minutes every 10 days here in Tucson (however, I have a low-water lawn). Try cutting back over a period of time until you're watering maybe 30 minutes 2 or 3 times a week, max. If your lawn can't handle it, it's not suited for your area and you should look into a low-water variety suitable for your region.

I'm not sure of drainage laws in Arizona, but I think (?) that "downstream" property owners bear the burden of runoff due to natural events, like storms. He chose to live "downstream" so he has to deal with it. On the other hand, if you deliberately or negligently drain water onto his property, he may have some legal recourse. I don't know if innocent overwatering or a high-water use landscape is considered deliberate or negligent, though. Let HIM hire and pay for a lawyer to find out!

Hopefully the Marshall will tire of this clown -- if he hasn't already -- and eventually tune him out. If he's caused problems with other neighbors, he might already be on the 'ignore' list. Maybe you'll get lucky this winter and a good hard freeze will take out his cactus garden, hee hee!

I have some neighbor issues of my own, so I can appreciate all the views here. I don't advocate making a bad situation worse, however. Your water isn't running *off* if it is leaking **under** the footer. You are watering so much, I'm surprised you don't have a certifiable bog. I agree with those who advised you to cut way back on water; I don't water nearly that much and I'm in Phoenix where it's much hotter than Camp Verde. Plus, the suggestion to go with buffalo grass or other low water grass is good advice, too.

I'm going to make another suggestion that hasn't been made. Go to your neighbor and ask him to show you his side of the fence and tell him you're working to solve the problem (if indeed there is one). It is easy to demonize someone you don't know and not so easy when you actually make an acquaintance. You don't need to be best friends, just good neighbors. He was wrong to call in a third party, but you can ignore that and take the high road.

Tomatofreak- I do know this man and we are not "trying to make a bad situation worse" or "demonize" anyone we are trying to solve this problem. Lived here 8 years. He always has something rude to say to us or about someone else and he has created the same situation with others(he called the Marshall on other neighbors)so we all just try to ignore him as much as possible.

Ok as for the watering sounds as though we were watering to much. From now till about Nov, 2x a week for maybe 30 min. ea does that sound good? After Nov we stop completly.

Its a relief to know I won't have to tear out the grass or dig a trench. Just cut back and hopefully that will be it. Don't know how this will solve the rain issue, but at least we won't be the culprit.

Thanks to all of you. You were a great help and I knew I could count on my garding friends to figure it out.

Your lawn should do OK with the watering. In fact, don't water it at all, until it starts looking stressed (thin blades, slight color change) then give it a good drink. Over time, this will 'train' your grass to become more drought-tolerant and send its roots deeper.

I really sympathize with your neighbor situation. There was once a retired, frustrated sheriff up the street who took out his law-enforcement urges on his poor neighbors (he died of a heart attack, go figure). Best of luck to you, and hopefully this old fussbudget doesn't start complaining that his cactus aren't being watered!

That is a lot of water I water 40 minutes once a week and my lawn seems to do ok

That is a lot of water I water 40 minutes once a week and my lawn seems to do ok

TF, I know where you're coming from, and in the right situation it would be really great .... sounds like it won't work with this clown, but in a lot of situations it would be a really smart way to handle it.

Just another example, CampV - when I lived on an irrigated lot, we would get flooded every two weeks. My bermuda lawn never had any problems with browning and was quite happy; too happy, lol.

Something else all that water can get you, though, is a ton of bugs - mosquitoes, gnats, flies and anything else that likes moist conditions to breed. At current rates, your soil won't dry out and makes for a perfect breeding ground.

Well, Sheryl, when we're reading online like this, it's difficult to know who the "clown" really is. I have one neighbor who causes me a lot of difficulty with overgrown oleanders and trash trees (that #$%#^%*$ 'tree of heaven'!) and despite the fact that's she's a real prickly pear, I still approach and tell her what I need to solve the problem on my side of the fence. Then, there's the truly evil b*****d who I never speak to unless it's to tell him where to go. I can't get any relief from his code violations unless I invoke help from the city. Even then, I make sure he knows I'm the one behind the complaint. However, I did not come to this point before exhausting all other approaches.

Boy could I tell each one of you a few tales about this guy. Like the time he took out my plants next to my house and planted his(yep just pulled them up) or the time he painted/stained all my plants in the back yard that you see in the picture, trees, statue, sun dial, M.lights etc. Never called a third party on him!
I try very hard to get along with everyone and so far I can say that I have really great neighbors except for one. YOU KNOW THERE IS ALWAYS ONE and he will be there until he dies or I move.
I will just keep the watering down and maybe there won't be any more issues. Thanks everyone for your support

Forgot to add, the plants he pulled up WERE white lilacs next to my gate- 7' from the property line. Thanks again

Well, my tales would include the time E.B. drove his broken down van *through* my front fence, **through** the eunonymous hedge that was decades old and ***over*** a Chinese elm that had only been planted about a year and INTO my house! I heard a huge BOOM! and the house shook, so I ran outside to see what the heck. He was standing *in - the - street*, claiming that he was "working under the hood" when it just "ran away". Trouble was, the hood was down and the engine was off. Amazingly, he had insurance.

Seriously bad neighbor. One thing you might want to try is making a border for your grass about 1 or 2 feet from your neighbors yard and planting something tall to screen him out.

You might want to discuss with your other neighbors creating some kind of other diversion for him to attach his attention to. Sounds like some bitter guy with nothing better to do.

Having had some seriously bad situations with neighbors, ya'll have my deepest sympathies. The neighborhood I have moved into now is full of *really* nice folks who have really opened their homes and lives to us, despite the fact that we (or, at least me!) have diametrically opposed politics, lol. Ah well, other than that, we have a great time together. I enjoy it even more, having had those creeps in my neighborhood.

geez. Would you please move next door to me? there's a house here for sale (Peoria). If I was your neighbor and there was water coming into my backyard, I'd move the stupid cactuses and plant a big garden or maybe a mini orchard right along that fence line LOL... Free water! now who would have a problem with that here in the desert? only a moron of a neighbor.

Perhaps - despite all his failings as a nice human being (?) - the guy is seriously concerned about water use in AZ and is a dedicated xeriscaper.

tomatofreak- He is not dedicated to anything or anyone but himself. He even yelled at the little kids next door for being to loud while they were in the pool.
I was tolled by his wife "We are all suppose to have nothing but cactus in our yards period" and besides "they were here first" (4 whole months our house took longer)
I know you are trying to be nice and look at different prospectives but unfortuately its not working for me. This guy is just bad news and I believe in Karma soooooooooooooo

You can deduce from my prior message about neighbor from h3[[ that I, too, often wish for karma. Trouble with karma: It often comes too late - or not at all. A few years ago, the EB ticked some guy off so badly that said guy threatened to kill him. I thought perhaps karma had come at last, but no.... :(