WWYD -- Neighbors never takes care of fallen leaves

[luvmy3]

Ah falling leaves. We live in NE and have this problem every year. For 25 years now we have been dealing with our neighbors leaves. We have landscapers who do our yard work, so yes we take care of their leaves and have never said anything to them until this year. During our "wonderful" Halloween storm we lost power and about five minutes later I was sitting in our family room and heard a horrible crash. You guessed it, branches were breaking off of one of our neighbors HUGE trees and crashed into a window of our family room just inches away from where I was sitting!! That did it. Luckily the window did not break completely, but there was damaged to our property. The next day I did speak with our neighbors (not very friendly people by the way) and told her that I was very nervous about their trees and was scared that the next time someone could get hurt as the two trees in question are very old and weak. She basically told me that they could not afford to do anything and that was that. What wonderful neighbors huh? So, OP I feel your pain and wanted you to know that you are not alone!!

Have you ever had trees taken down? We have and it can be very expensive. Did you offer to pay any part of that since you are the one that is concerned?

 

[kirstenb1]

I wouldn't say anything. I have been on the recieving end of someone's conversation about leaves and it is not worth it.

We have three large maple trees in our backyard and the leaves never fall off until Early November unlike the other trees in the neighborhood that start earlier. I am not going to go out and spen hours raking when I can wait until the first weekend in November and get the biggest chunk done and then do a smaller clean up later in the month.

Apparently this is not up to a nieghbors standards (they moved in a few houses down a few years ago). He came over and was raking our yard one day. I came home from a class and as soon as I got out of the car he started yelling at me about our leaves. I asked him to leave our property and that I would take care of them in my own time. He left in quite a huff and has been complaining to all the other neighbors since.

Right there with you about waiting til the leaves have all fallen. In the past, I always set Veteran's Day as my day to start leaf pickup. But this year, the trees are still full, so I'll wait another week or two.

 

[aprilgail2]

Have you ever had trees taken down? We have and it can be very expensive. Did you offer to pay any part of that since you are the one that is concerned?

One of my co-workers lives down closer to the water than I do and his neighbors had big trees right near the property line and he was always afraid they would come down in a nor easter or hurricane onto his house so he asked if he could have them taken down and he paid the whole thing. Seems only fair he should pay since they were not the ones that wanted them down- they were both happy with that.

 

[lizabu]

you have a couple options

1. only pick up the purple leaves and knock on her door and tell her she left some of her yellow leaves on your yard,

2. blow them all on to her yard possibly ticking her off when she sees your purple leaves on her lawn unless you sort them first and only blow her leaves on her yard

3. or just pick them all up and be done with it

 

[Disneybuckeye]

Yes, I feel your pain with neighbors and leaves. We have people two house up that have a 80 foot maple tree in their yard and they never pick up their leaves. Many blow into our yard and we pick them up. Our yard looks great year round and theirs looks like crap. I guess it is all about what is important to you. There are way too many leave to mow and mulch also.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

I am not sure what the problem is.

So my response to the matter: If you have an HOA that mandates leaf clean up, it is time to report the neighbor. If not--I would just leave them alone.

 

[IDoDis]

OP here. I am far far far from being an anal-type of person, but for some reason, this particular thing really gets to me. I'm not a fanatic about pulling every weed and mowing every blade of grass to a fine even point. You should see our backyard!

Due to restrictions regarding how much grass people can have on their property, most people save the grass for the backyard (which have walls around them)and do the xeroscaping in the front yard. My yard and my neighbor's yard are adjacent to each other (meaning no driveway to separate them). Our tree has not dropped one leaf yet. It is a late dropper and is always the first tree to bloom in the spring, which is why I love it so much! We have a huge Maple in the backyard and lots of other leafy shrubs, so we know the drill about blowing and mulching.

The problem with the front yard, is you can't suck up the leaves easily because the rocks get sucked up too and will eventually break the mulcher. So the leaves have to be blown to a corner where there aren't any as many rocks, which for us is on the other side of the house away from the front door. It takes a long time to blow them all over there and many trips do so because there are so many leaves and it takes time to get other leaves out of the bushes. Our tree's leaves get cleaned up right away.

And yes, the majority of winds here all blow Easterly, and not randomly. We had a windy afternoon today, so a good chunk of the neighbor's leaves are in our yard. If it rains tonight (It's overcast now) then the leaves will stick to the rocks. And for those who don't have a yard full of rocks, that many leaves in a very small yard do not just break down and full between the rocks. Some do, but the majority of them are visible and look bad. They also cause weeds to grow because debri and dust get trapped in between the rocks and and the weed-control ground cover. So it's looking like we'll need to pay a landscaper to remove all of the rocks and lay a new ground cover within the next year or two because weeds are now growing more and more in between the rocks.

I love fall, too! It's my favorite season! I just don't like when the neighbors get out of their car and carry in their pizzas while we are outside right in their view cleaning up their leaves. They can hear the blower on and off for a couple of hours, so I would think they'd realize it's not just a quick pick-up. At least offer to help, ya know?

So I will once again bite my tongue and clean up the leaves again this year. It's not a quick job though. It takes hours on at least two different days.

Oh, and whoever commented about my getting upset about a few leaves on the porch -- It's not a few leaves. It's a lot. That bush I mentioned where the leaves come from is as tall as the neighbor's house. The leaves are a constant annoyance in the spring & summer. The leaves are like plastic and have sharp needles on the leaf tips.

I guess I'd feel differently if I saw them just ONCE make an effort to clean up even some of their leaves. That would certainly change my perspective on things.

So, IDoDis, are you aware of my lovely wife's love for QVC? No? Well, she's gotten me addicted too.

Anyways, we clicked it on this morning because they're doing a Christmas wish list sorta thing, and guess what they had on? It made me think of you...

Worx TriVac 13 amp Multiple Speed Leaf Blower, Vacuum & Mulcher

It sucks up the leaves and mulches them for you. Plus, it's on a payment plan, so it'll only cost ya' $20 per month. Maybe a Christmas present for you...or even your neighbor.

I still don't find anything wrong with simply mentioning the dilemna to your neighbors, though. Clearly, folks here don't know you're sweet as pie and that you'd never approach your neighbor in a rude manner. Good luck, honey! Let me know if you get addicted to QVC.

Oh, and P.S.- We'd love to have you as a neighbor. And we'd invite you over all the time for yummy stuffs.

The OP mentioned their yards are rock/gravel so a non issue and likely why the neighbor doesn't care/do anything about it. They will break down into the rocks over time and there is no grass to kill.

Aww, thank you! I really am I nice person This one thing just irks me for some reason. I guess I need to get over it. I'm already addicted to slickdeals.com, so I need to stay away from QVC!!! Your dinner tonight looks so good! Can you mail me a care package packed in dry ice??

 

[Goofyluver]

Aww, thank you! I really am I nice person This one thing just irks me for some reason. I guess I need to get over it. I'm already addicted to slickdeals.com, so I need to stay away from QVC!!! Your dinner tonight looks so good! Can you mail me a care package packed in dry ice??

I heart slickdeals.

It did look divine, didn't it? And it tasted a million times better than that! But alas, I don't think it will make it long enough for me to send it. Let me know when you come to our area to visit. I'll have some waiting!

 

[IDoDis]

I heart slickdeals.

It did look divine, didn't it? And it tasted a million times better than that! But alas, I don't think it will make it long enough for me to send it. Let me know when you come to our area to visit. I'll have some waiting!

Yes, your dinner looked delicious (they always do!)! Okay, I'll have to take a rain check then. We were going to be in your area a few weeks ago for a skating competition, but plans changed. Oh, and it's slickdeals.net (I said the wrong address).

 

[saradela]

I used to live next to a person who didn't pick up their tree leaves, I HATE THAT, I refuse to be a slave of somebody elses trees, I have better things to do with my life, so I talked to them, they didn't listen or care, So I went to the authorities, and they made them do it.....so, I didn't spoiled my friendship with them, there was no friendship in there, they didn't care about my time, or how I felt...so I didn't either......sorry if that desappointed some of you, I tried in a nice way first, and it didn't work........
The leaves needed to be cleaned at least two times a day........it was nuts

I have a new house now, so big, I have no neighbors ....my house have now lots of trees...but there are My trees, my responsability....and that doesn't have a way out..lol

 

[mpls_mm]

I have never understood why people do anything with leaves. We don't do anything with our leaves, I guess our neighbors must hates us

Us too! I wonder if they do hate us, they just all rake them in the ditch and then burn them. We don;t have a yard border ours though, we are centered in a bunch of empty space. We all have the same color leaves.

 

[Pigeon]

They are called "leaves" for a reason.

We do rake once when everything is down but this is not a priority at all. My potty-trained at gunpoint neighbor has mentioned it to dh and it has just made us stop helping him with various things. We just do not care in the least about having a manicured yard and have far better things to do with our time and money.

 

[mefordis]

Not much to add except for us every year leaves are such a pain! I tried to do it myself one year (we have 1/3 of an acre but many many leaves!) and it was too much to do the beds, etc. and my husband just works too much to do it. So we now hire someone to do them - at about $900 a year. Yes, it probably costs us about $900 a year to do the stick/leaf clean up!!! We pay for dumping as well.

I just hate having the leaves pile up - they are pretty on the trees and just after they have fallen but after that I like a clean yard.

Not much you can do, from my perspective. I feel for you, though.

 

[Pigeon]

I used to live next to a person who didn't pick up their tree leaves, I HATE THAT, I refuse to be a slave of somebody elses trees, I have better things to do with my life, so I talked to them, they didn't listen or care, So I went to the authorities, and they made them do it.....so, I didn't spoiled my friendship with them, there was no friendship in there, they didn't care about my time, or how I felt...so I didn't either......sorry if that desappointed some of you, I tried in a nice way first, and it didn't work........
The leaves needed to be cleaned at least two times a day........it was nuts

I have a new house now, so big, I have no neighbors ....my house have now lots of trees...but there are My trees, my responsability....and that doesn't have a way out..lol

The authorities? HOA people? We don't have one and there are no leaf police in my town.

 

[HelenePA]

The authorities? HOA people? We don't have one and there are no leaf police in my town.

I was thinking the same thing.. you called the cops on your neighbors (not you that I'm quoting) for not raking their leaves? are you serious? I am so glad i dont let little stuff like this worry me.. EVER and if I ever get to this point please please someone slap me.

 

[Eeyore98]

Good for me, as that is less grass for me to mow I HATE yard work. All my neighbors have lots of trees too, so I get their leaves in my yard as well. I am very courteous when I mow the grass though. My neighbor on one side has real grass, so I always make sure my mower blows away from their yard, so they don't get weeds from me. My other neighbor feels like me--if you cut the weeds often, they LOOK like grass, LOL

The bolded part is pretty much my philosophy too. As long as it's green, it's fine with me! But bare spots annoy me, especially here in TX where it's SO dry - I don't want to feel like I'm in the middle of the Dust Bowl anytime the wind blows! I would actually love to xeriscape, but we're renting and are required to maintain the lawn that was already here.

The OP mentioned their yards are rock/gravel so a non issue and likely why the neighbor doesn't care/do anything about it. They will break down into the rocks over time and there is no grass to kill.

I understand that, but I was not addressing the OP. I was addressing Happygirl who said she didn't understand why *anyone* raked up their leaves, so I replied to tell her why we, who DO have grass, rake up ours. That would be why I quoted Happygirl in my post, and not the OP. But thanks for your concern.

 

[Hannathy]

I was thinking the same thing.. you called the cops on your neighbors (not you that I'm quoting) for not raking their leaves? are you serious? I am so glad i dont let little stuff like this worry me.. EVER and if I ever get to this point please please someone slap me.

I agree! And slap me hard.


I also never got bare spots from not raking the leaves. the ones that have fallen while the grass is still being cut they get mulched with the mower but all the ones that have fallen since then will stay there till spring and we don't have bare spots.

 

[SandrA9810]

Well you said you'd need a new weed barrier put in next year. Maybe the yardmen can take out the small rocks and just use larger rocks. That way you can just suck up the leaves instead of blowing them to a corner. Although a very cute 2ft picket fence around your front yard might look nice too, and help keep the leaves in their yard.

Have you thought about putting up a screen across your front porch? It'd keep the sharp needle leaves off the door step, and you can get screens that are almost clear or dark as night.

 

[Tinijocaro]

Our neighbors have a tree that drops a ton of leaves in our backyard. We don't say anything, we clean up our yard. I wouldn't risk an otherwise amiable relationship with my neighbors over some yard work.

I think OP's situation is different because the leaves aren't droping in her yard, they are falling in the neighbor's yard and then, due to not ever being raked up, they are blowing into her yard.

We have tons of leaves that fall into our yard from neighbor's trees. Not a thing I would ever do about it. It's not like you can blame the neighbor for it. My trees are completely bare but two neighbors still have tons of leaves, many of which end up in my yard. That's the way the cookie crumbles.

 

[herdtoDisney]

Op, maybe you can put up a temporary fence on the side with your neighbors-Home Depot and Lowes have this green plastic mesh they sell for that. You just hammer in a couple stakes and attach the mesh to it and it holds the leaves to the neighbors side. Then you can take it down after leaf season.

I've seen people do that here and also to keep leaves at the curb, for collection.