A person shared his story about a neighbor whose behavior had turned an ordinary residential boundary into a constant source of frustration. For roughly a year and a half, the two households had clashed over parked cars, plant pots, smells, children playing in the garden, and even comments made while one neighbor passed by. What…
A person shared his story after coming home from work to discover that a stranger had used his garden as a bathroom earlier that morning. The incident was witnessed by an eight-year-old girl who happened to be at a neighboring property, making the bizarre situation even more uncomfortable. The homeowner had never seen the man…
A person shared his story after discovering that workers repairing his neighbor’s roof had entered his garden without asking. The workers needed to reach a gate between the two back gardens, but instead of knocking first, they simply moved a potted apple tree that happened to be in their path. The tree wasn’t damaged, but…
A person shared his story about a community garden in South Texas that had once been a source of pride for several residents. The garden was filled with native plants chosen for the local environment, and the project had originally received approval from an earlier HOA board. For the volunteers who helped establish it, the…
A person shared his story about a five-month-old new-build garden that looked reasonably acceptable until he started paying closer attention. The grass had been laid over a mixture of clay, stones, uneven soil, and what appeared to be random pieces of building debris. From a normal standing position, the lawn looked like an ordinary young…
A young American who dreamed of having a permanent home eventually wanted to grow some of her own vegetables. She wondered why Americans seemed to have moved away from the old tradition of growing food at home after the famous victory gardens of World War II. With many American homes having sizeable yards, she assumed…
A homeowner once spent about fifteen minutes chatting with the elderly woman who lived directly across from her. The neighbor was caring for her husband, who had dementia and was receiving hospice care, so the homeowner tried to be kind and offered the familiar phrase, “If you ever need anything, you know where to find…
A homeowner in a small gated community had created a peaceful front garden where her cats could wander safely behind a short wooden gate. The little gate was homemade and slightly flimsy, but it did exactly what she needed without violating the community’s rules about full-sized fences. Her roses and other plants were thriving until…
A homeowner thought her backyard bird feeders were an ordinary part of enjoying her garden. Then her neighbor began complaining that the peanuts in the feeders were attracting squirrels, which were supposedly carrying the nuts into his yard. She found the complaint irritating but harmless, so she tried to accommodate him rather than start a…
A homeowner thought the simple plastic fence around her backyard was more than enough to keep her dog safe and the neighborhood peaceful. It was not beautiful, but it worked, and that was all she needed from it. Then two young siblings from the neighboring house discovered that the dog was much more entertaining than…