Hmm. I've been giving this some thought. I had somewhat a similar situation at my home in Ct. They weren't gardeners, couldn't "see" the place, and needed advice. What I did was I drew up a plan and offered to help put it in place, looking particularly for low maintenance things, and using plenty of mulch, landscaping cloth and newspaper. I also trained them on how to take care of the things, and sometimes when I was working on mine, cutting back peonies or grasses, I just did the same for them "since I was in the similar area...."

I'm not sure if this really helps....but at least it is SOME sort of response....

I do appreciate the advice!! I've been checking this thread often, hoping some advice could be found!

My neighbor is just not that keen on doing things around the house. He mowes his grass and other then that, I don't think he'll ever be interested in any gardening. If he'd just mow down the weeds down more often I couldn't complain, but seeing he can't see weeds grow, my main delema is how to keep the weeds from overtaking my planting beds, short of lobbing balloon bombs of Roundup at the "problem."

It's a quite shady area, due to the houses shading it. It gets sun from mid morning to mid afternoon... about 4 hours. There are any number of things that I can offer to plant here, not limited to a few of my Hostas that are in need of division, but I wish to think over some things before I leap. If I start say, near my property line and fix things up a bit, plant a few plants, at what point to I "stop" and how to deal with the remaining area of weedy yard that isn't planted.

Shannon

Lol.. Precisely the dilema I was in! BAsically, I think I would do just as you thought...plant hostas and some other divisions in there which will help to shade out the weeds, but I would more or less stop there.

My neighbors were wonderful people, but they were willing to live with a hole in their ceiling and their bathroom gutted ....for more than 6 years now! Love 'em dearly, and you couldn't ask for any better neighbors, save in the upkeep of property...at least they didn't have any defunct cars!

I actually cared for the front of their house and the side yard. I figured it helped to maintain my property values and helped keep the weeds out of my garden. I always talked to them about what I proposed to do first...and it also made me happy to find some homes for some of my divisions.

Been away from the forum for a while and I just saw your post. How about a screen of some kind? Maybe plant some shrubs to serve as a hedge? I planted some Arborvitae in my yard to screen off the neighbor's dogs and an unsightly "dog area" from my yard. Other, lower-growing hedges might serve you well. Good luck.

Update:

I talked to my neibor and he told me that I had free reign to do what I liked in the area. I started by planting a crabapple (Malus 'Adirondack') tree and a few Hosta divisions that needed planted.

New problem:

Poision Ivy... my neibor cut down the weeds a day before I started working in the area so all there was was the stubby ends of the weeds. Luckily, I ended up with a rash only on my arm. Thank goodness I was wearing gloves. Before doing any more work in the side yard, I am thinking about blasting it with a herbicide. How close to the plants I just planted (wind not withstanding) can I apply the herbicide. Basically how much do I have to worry about the herbicide leaching down to the roots zone of my new plants with rainwater etc? I've never really used Roundup except on weeds around the drive etc where I knew there was nothing else around I didn't want to kill.

Thanks for all the suggestions and help so far!!
Shannon

I hadn't read this post before, but after cruising through it, I have some opinion to add, most in support of Michigoose.

First, Roundup doesn't typically translocate through the soil, water, air, etc. (unless you are applying it with a fire hose or some such). Applied at label rates, it will kill the plants it contacts (that means foliage and stems will absorb the chemical). Don't spray when it's windy or right before a scheduled rainfall, so drift doesn't create a problem and the plants need time to absorb the chemical before wash off.

Poison ivy is notoriously difficult to kill with one application. You might consider the higher label rates if you are mixing yourself. If you have a pre-mixed solution, then you should expect to reapply a couple times.

Co-opt the area in question, esp. if the neighbor is currently friendly and doesn't give a hoot what you do with it (as long as it doesn't threaten him or public health, safety, and welfare). Treat it as your material storage and propagation area, so that you don't have to accommodate that in your yard.

Since the weeds have been cut down, and you recognize the existence of the poison ivy problem, allow some resprout of new foliage before you apply the herbicide. When you don't want to wait any longer for continued resprout after some death, plan to cover the area with your choice of daylight exclusion devices. Wood chips/mulch/stump grindings you mentioned were available; you could underlay this organic matter with newspaper, geotextile, plastic, etc. if you want no plant emergence from below. Note that any organic matter will create a home for seed that falls on it.

This course of action creates an area that you could use to store mulch; compost bin; containers for propagation or prepping of small plants before permanent installation; tool storage; etc etc etc. Alternatively, if you don't want/need this kind of "facility", leave out the artificial barriers (plastic, fabric) and use it as the plant nursery for your yard and site to install excess plants. You'll have to spend more time weeding, but maybe judicial use of pre-emergent herbicides can reduce your effort.

Make sure the neighbor is aware of your steps so that you don't get negative reactions, and don't invest any more than you are willing to totally give up if the neighbor changes his mind, or if the property changes hands. Keep the fencing idea in your back pocket, if it becomes necessary.

Great ideas and very much appreciated!!

When working in the area I did move around the woodchips in the area, but it was only enough to cover the area 2-3" in depth and some of the weed stems were higher then that.

Light exclusion:

I know the home owner has a LARGE pile of woodchips from the tree that was taken down and I'm sure some of these could moved over to the area to build up 6-8" or so to be sure no light gets to the weeds.

Black plastic would seem to be a great idea to kill all weeds and make the area ready for any planting (I don't like heavy mulch around my plants. I use about 3" depth), but I also wonder how effective the mulch would be, but it's free after all.

It seems to me at this point the war is on the weeds (espically now that I realize there is poision ivy-- yucky stuff I'll tell you!!) and then plant up the area in the spring.

Shannon