Harassment of gardeners?

I got the idea from Dorsetmike's thread "Harassment of photographers" and it got me wondering if anyone has ever been harassed while doing some gardening maybe by a neighbor moaning because you chopped down a tree in your garden? or trimmed a hedge which screened there garden?

I remember when I was with the college making a peace garden for the local community of a place on the island and we had loads of complaints off some of the residents from some batty old squirrel lady moaning that we were destroying her precious squirrel watching site to some stuck up man running towards us ranting raving about ruining his afternoon with all the smoke which was coming from our bonfire (his house wasn't even in the direction of the wind and we only just got it going...) it turns out most of the residents had lost a court case to decide who actually owned the land:rolleyes:

I would also like to mention that this particular area we were working in is renowned for having a few of the most stuck up know it all snobs on the island:thumb: (IMO...) who didn't like the idea of 17-24yr olds building them a beautiful garden

 

Ocasionally, usually when im doing tree work. (as recalled in the noise thread)

One really funny story was on a recent job I did, I started at 10am and had been going till around 12.30 I was about to start the back cut on a 45' leylandi when I heard a blood curdeling scream like someone was being murderd eminate from the next door garden. I cut the chainsaw engine and looked across to see the woman next door who then proceded to yell that I was to stop making sutch a bl**** racket as she was about have her F ing lunch and she had sufferd it all morning.

No one tells me what to do and especially not when they scream when im using a dangerouse machine so i told her that Id make as mutch noise as I liked and she could go to hell, I then strted the saw up, cut the tree down and started to sned it up (deebranch).

More screaming from the woman, who had totally lost it and was insisting i stop, I pointed out that how was I suposed to make a living if I was suposed to stop my chainsaw every five mins for to which she replied you could use a F ing axe. I told her were she could shove the axe, and said if she had a problem with the noise then she could phone the council ofice and that I was in the right.

I carried on cutting and a half hour later the woman came out and with a bad grace apologised as she had phoned the council and I was corect.

The funny thing is though that she keeps chickens along with an entire cockerell that squwaks insesntly and can be heard for miles!!!!!!!!

 

what a timely thread i was out today cutting back a over hanging tree that next door has ,i do it every year as it loses a lot of leaves and they stick in my dogs paws otherwise i wouldnt bother ..it must be the first time she has noticed as she come flying round straight after work and asked what the hell am i doing cutting her tree back..i was nice and tried to explain..but have you ever tried to calm a ravin fruitbat down ..in the end i told her if she was willing to walk across them holly leaves bare footed i would empty the bag on her drive for her and i would watch..round 2 in the morning as the bag of branches and leaves is now sitting proudly in front of her garage...well as she rightly pointed out they are hers:thumb::thumb:

 

brilliant inter, thats a sweet revendge

 

Well, as you probably know Pro....you are entitled by law to cut off overhanging branches on your property of everything....however the bits you cut off, do belong the person whose garden it is growing in...so it's your duty to ask if they want the cuttings.:thumb:

 

Strangely never unless you count harassment by cats but then all of you have heard the about our late night poop flinging haven't you?:confused:

For those of you who don't know here goes but be warned it's dirty work!:D

Ever since we moved in the young woman next door (who had 4 or 5 cats) refused to allow her cats to use her own garden as a litter tray and made sure her cats didn't get a chance by filling all her garden borders with bricks.

Needless to say they were soon over our hedge and doing their 'thing' in our garden they even dropped their load on our paths!:eek:

So enough was enough me and my partner in crime (Bob) would collect all the cat poop from our gardens in the daytime and sneak out late at night trying so hard not to giggle too much and would fling the cat poop back over to 'catwoman's' garden. Dirty work I know but so satisfying we would struggle sometimes to walk back up the garden as we were laughing so much I think we would have got caught if Bob had his way and shouted 'incoming' everytime he flung!:D Hel.xxx.

 

Got a neighbour who is a grumpy old git all the time and he had a conifer die on him via a disease and he blamed us for the death of it!
He's so nasty, he got out local gardener to cut down two of our mini conifers whist he was cutting down a diseased cherry tree. He told the gardener that the two conifers were his. As soon as the conifers were felled, he laughed and told the fellow that they were not his and that they belonged to us..
He likes to drink and can be a even more miserable in that state.
The strange thing is, is if you get angry with him and become aggressive (as I did) he almost soils his pants and goes ghostly white with fear, so you would think that he would refrain from being a b*****d wouldn't you?

 

My garden backs onto anothers and whilst out watering that end of the garden once I inadvertently caught their fence with the water.

I heard some whinging about it though nothing from them directly. A few days later I got a letter from the council about there being a complaint about me for harrassment. A few eeks later the other neighbour told me he had been round that night to see if other neighbours would back him up about it. Tit!


All because I caught the bottom of his fence with water.

So fine Ithought, just replanted my nice plants somewhere else and have since allowed the brambles to enjoy them selves.



Wonder what winds him up more?? Hmmm?

 

I haven't had any probs with neighbours whilst I'm gardening. It's quite friendly round here. When I'm gardening out the front everyone says hello as they pass.

 

Me too!
It's a small block of council flats - I was in fact offered the flat on the understanding that I would look after the garden. Well, it's a terrace with pots; apparently it had been completely neglected before, and I brought all the pots from my previous accommodation, where I had been harrassed by the landlady for getting a compost bin....(There is a thread about this, it all happened nearly two years ago).
There is one rather batty old lady who was complaining about the caretaker, apparently (a) he hadn't collected her rubbish (no, you put it in the chute) (b) he doesn't sweep the terrace. (No, that's MY responsibility, not the caretaker's - and I HAD swept it!)
Mostly my neighbours are delighted that there is now a garden which is being looked after - they'll be even more pleased when they get tomatoes and courgettes to eat!

 

The self same neighbour had previously been round complaining about the oak trees being too big and blocking out his light. I did point out to him the oak trees were there when he bought the house and they will be there when he sells it again. That is what started him off I think. Otherwise I never get anything about gardening from anyone else.

Just need to make sure the wind is in the right direction when I start burning the the prunings I can`t fit in the composter

 

my god the stories...what a positive picture we draw of our country.

I live on a big plot in the country. One neighbour was upset by my hedge, the other only talks across the fence. I have had previous neighbours from other houses over the last 20 years visiting me here, but none of the current ones will receive an invite !!!

 

Ah many time in my capacity as council gardener :-)
One memorable instance a woman insisted, in a loud voice, we explain why we were cutting down "protected" trees (self setter sycamore saplings growing through a fence) we told her with straight faces that they were infected with fellatio fungus ;-)

 

In all my years, I have never had any problems with neighbours..ok the usual thing, their kids getting out of hand etc, but nothing that couldn't be sorted with a friendly chat.

Mind you, did have one neighbour who tried to murder his wife with an axe, but he really was a lovely fella, couldn't help me enough.:thumb:

As regards gardening and veg growing. Any neighbours I had who were into that hobby have been great, used to swop seeds, plants, veg etc. still do...maybe I have been lucky...but you sometimes have to use the give and take theory if you can.

 

I once converted a derelict 'drying around' in my village in to a wildlife garden. The drying area hadn't been used for 40 years and was covered in car parts, asbestos, broken bottles and 1 metre of round grass. Everybody hated this patch of land, so with the consent of all neighbours that were connected to the site, I build a picket fence around it, planted an indigenous hedge, cleared and dug the site and planted many shrubs and flowers.

Happy ending? No, one neighbour (not connected to the site) complained that due to my intervention, he could nolonger 'turn his car around' on the site!!! How he ever managed to cope with all of the junk and broken glass is beyond me. He tried to kick up a fuss, but later backed down with pressure from all of those who approved of what I had done.

The irony is, it's same individual who has registered many complaints to the council about 'rough-spots' and general untidiness within our village.

Some people you can't please.