People again...

We started getting letters from the city saying someone complained about our yard and it's now a nuisance property. We were required to mow it on mother's day which we were gone so then we risked breaking the noise ordinance mowing the front. The rest is supposed to be fixed by the 13th.

Despite the soaking rain we went out to the back and found a new neighbor one house over is doing lots of fancy landscaping with expensive materials. Hmmm.... wonder who complained.... It seems they don't like our creative use of materials. Sorry I am not rich and I come from a farm. Yes the back yard is cluttered but everything out there was stuff I was planning to use as I built my garden and I have it as contained as possible while it rained for an entire week straight and is raining again, and it's the BACK yard people. Half of it had a privacy fence put in and other portions at least have the chainlink blocked so you are seeing a few chunks of my yard with plastic weighed down over the vegetable beds to stop weeds and extra plastic and cardboard piled in one specific corner for use in other areas. The fence they are complaining about is the one that was here when we moved in and is made of all sorts of pieced together materials. We are replacing it so pieces of it have been stacked in certain locations and due to the use of odd screws we have not been able to finish removing it yet. the falling down trellis was also falling down when we moved in but now it has no grapevines so we can see it and remove it... etc... It is now recognized that I have chronic fatigue syndrome so explanation why I can't jump out there with tons of energy in cool, rainy weather without risking a bad physical/emotional/insomnia crash. I didn't move into the house with all the tools, money to get them the first year, or physical ability to immediately alter it into a beautiful landscape. I moved in ready to set up functional vegetable beds on a budget while I worked on making the more asthetically pleasing garden areas over time.

Still we went out until we looked like we took a shower with our clothes on. We crammed new garden fencing not attached yet and weed barriers not in use yet into the crowded shed, my husband mowed while I hauled posts and long, heavy sections of fence off where they weren't visible, and then I went around cutting the volunteer trees and some weeds. Nothing is supposed to be over a foot tall anywhere unless it is a purposely planted flower or food plant. I'm so gonna get hell when my guinea pig grazing pen is done. I'm sticking it behind field fencing with some chicken wire and the raspberry vines are on that side so provided the neighbor on the other side isn't the one with an issue maybe no one will notice enough.

Just back off for a year people! It will get there. There will be controlled fruit, flower, and raised vegetable beds but not at a snap of your fingers. This is long term planning.

So so glad we have no neighbors that can see onto our property.

Some people just have to try to spread their misery and meanness onto others.

We've lived in our place for seven years, and our garden and home is still a work in progress. Right now, we have old windows piled up for a future greenhouse project. The landscape timbers that were lying around just got made into a new bed yesterday. Thanks to a bad storm Saturday, we have a couple of huge trees out front that fell and will need to be cut up...eventually.

Do what you can as you can. Even after the years here, it is still so satisfying to check even a small item off the list. It does get done.

That is why I hate neighbors! I have some right now that are driving me nuts!!

It continues.... I am giving up and chopping down my guinea pig forage/butterfly garden. It is considered noxious weeds or grass that is 1' high which is not allowed. We just found out we have to remove all the creeping charlie/ground ivy. The place is just full of the stuff. I have been ripping it out since we moved in. It comes back as fast as you can remove and takes over a garden plot if you ignore it for 2 weeks. How am I suppose to get rid of that? How was I supposed to get rid of it in a little over a year? Also there is bindweed all up the fence. I ripped down the old vines the first year and have been going after them aggressively but again how am I supposed to have gotten rid of it in a year and a half? All there complaints are stuff that was here when we moved in. I am too tired to get back up again. I don't know what will happen. There's a hearing tomorrow at 1:30pm. If it goes badly I dunno if it will just be some high fines or they will come out and do things to my property. Neither are great, the latter is worse. I'm trying to tell husband to just explain the stuff was here when we moved in and we have been working on it. The bindweed and creeping charlie didn't pop up overnight (although it seems to spread that way). The fence was covered and the yard was covered in the other when we moved in.

The amount of regulations you have is, frankly, amazing to me. How in the world is ground ivy an issue? Does it even grow over 1' ?

I didnt start cutting grass this year till it was 3 feet high on purpose. I am cutting it with the modern day cycle (weed wacker). And drying it for the rabbits, they love it. Half the yard is still 3 feet high. I am surprised that the neighbors havnt complain. I live on a acre lot just out side of a small country town. Next year most of the grass will be covered in raise beds for a garden. :lol:

Turns out there is a noxious weed list you also have to follow that is just plain stupid. It includes standard sunflowers, all dock species, and various unavoidable stuff. Bindweed is on there and we have it but both the owner of the house and the neighbors let it grow all out on the fence until it was 1-2' deep when we moved in. I have been ripping it down and laying plastic along the fence line since we moved in. Also no tree under 3" in diameter that wasn't purposefully planted. I wonder if my volunteer mulberries are a problem but if they want me to get rid of them I'll just plant 2 I purchased : The bigger one is producing fruit right now. Not quite ripe but it was still tasty. Turns out much of this could have gone in the yard waste bin if we'd known about it but ours was stolen and we didn't think we needed to get another. It takes a good 1-2weeks to get a new bin delivered. <br /><br /> __________ Tue Jun 07, 2016 12:37 am __________ <br /><br /> You have to start cutting grass may 1st and nothing you haven't purposely planted as decorative or food can be over 1'. We did pass their mowing inspection.

I have dock and bindweed, and plaintain growing all over my property, in city limits!

Too many rules to live by.
I feel that, in the end, my own sense of right and wrong is nowhere near as important as other people's freedoms, because...It's their only life too. Something like that..

We really need less legislation, less rules on a small scale.
Massive corporations definitely need policed,as necessary, because they can and do impact the environment in a big way, but man, leave people's backyards alone!

What I'm tying to say, is that the indignation you and I feel for being told to remove what would grow naturally is legit.

Neighbors probably complained due to dreams of perceived potential property value, and some idea that they must enforce their values upon the houses around them in order to boost their own worth. It is a basic human control issue.

I have no idea why the city has been given the right to enforce it. :?

Bindweed is awful on our farm in CO, and we do spray for it as well as thistles and other noxious weeds, but that is all to better our farming operation as a whole and actually takes place out in pastures on the prarie, and is not a required ordinance.

Definitly too many rules to live by! What you have in your back yard is your business, as long as you are not violating an animal crulity code or its a health hazard.

This country does have too much legislation, and people freedoms should matter. I pay on a mortgage to live in city limits, pay plenty of taxes for water/sewer, and am quiet and generally easy to get along with. Why shouldnt one be able to have their own freedoms on the property they pay for? I realize that sometimes things can get out of control, but your situation doesn't sound like its reached that. You should be allowed to do what you feel is right. Keep working and fighting for what you want to do with your place, and I hope your hearing went well. I would consider a different state or town, if the rules are really that strict......

We actually think now it is the realtor. The abandoned house got forclosed. The bank has listed a starting bid of $96000. Our considerably bigger, larger yard, better foundation, well cared for house was $50000. That house was full of garbage from corner to corner and they have been gutting parts of it. This is not the few blocks over with the expensive houses. This is considered one of the problem areas to live. They aren't getting anywhere near $96k no matter what they do unless it's tear down the house, fence, and garage and build new. I'm betting they get $40,000 or less. Annoying me is not going to help them.

I am probably going to live here another 3-5 years so I'm not giving up. We shall retreat until they stop checking our property and then the guinea pig forage/butterfly garden is on.

We're in the country, but people can and do sometimes complain about yard untidiness. One argument that the county here is taking seriously regarding unmowed areas is that they are good for the pollinators. Pointing out that your yard is a haven for bees and butterflies may gain you a point or two. Just a thought.

I actually want to leave some creeping charlie as annoying as it is because the bees love it. I had waist high quickweed that looked like it's own bush with yellow flowers. I found last year it is very edible to the critters. I had planted regular sunflower (BOSS) and that's not allowed. There was some crap about how it spreads too much and damages row crops. I'm miles from a farm field so any row crops will be my own. We are trying to leave some of it. We got a reprieve because our yard waste bin was stolen and they will get us a new one to have everything cleaned off the property by the 20th now.