Harmony in Good Yard Etiquette

 

On the more serious side, people sometimes find a dead bird in their yard and blame the fatality on a neighbor’s use of pesticide. “Now, it's pretty hard to assign the cause of death of a bird,” Lower says. “Some birds we know are killed by flying into a window or power line. There are numerous reasons why birds die. They die from old age, too.

Lawn and garden etiquette doesn’t mean sharing your surplus zucchini with neighbors unlucky enough not to spot you coming. It's careful spraying of chemicals, tactful handling of manure additions to your garden, and elimination of trees that produce obnoxious berries or seeds which create harmony with neighbors. Horticultural no-no’s that spread discord instead of harmony up and down the street can interfere with folks' lolling and lazing in the yard. It's difficult to nap in the hammock when your neighbors are lifting their eyebrows at your dandy crop of dandelions or when they’re staring pointedly at the hedge-apples falling into their yards from your tree.

Sometimes people complain to University of Missouri Extension Center about neighbors' gardening activities, or lack of them, says area extension horticulturist, John B Lower. Sometimes, the complaints are amusing, but more often they’re depressing. Lower says, “I just don’t like for people to have strife concerning their vegetation when it could be avoided by insight and cooperation.” he says. “If people understood their plants, they might be able to recognize that some of the things that happen to their plants are not the neighbors’ fault.” 

In one case Lower related, neighbors complained that a woman’s hedge was too tall. Closer investigation determined that the men who complained wanted to see into the yard. The woman sunbathed a lot. On the more serious side, people sometimes find a dead bird in their yard and blame the fatality on a neighbor’s use of pesticide. “Now, it's pretty hard to assign the cause of death of a bird,” Lower says. “Some birds we know are killed by flying into a window or power line. There are numerous reasons why birds die. They die from old age, too. If several birds were dead at one time, it might be more cause for concern .” 

A major complaint nurserymen hear concerns the controversial dandelion, say nurserymen Jay Schaffitzel and Don Fesperman. “You hear that every spring.’’ Fesperman says. He says spring and fall application of weedkiller can help keep dandelions in your yard to a minimum, no matter what the neighbor does. Schaffitzel, co-owner of Schaffitzel’s Greenhouses in Springfield, Mo., endorses a chemical-control program for dandelions. Several commercial fertilizers contain weed killer, and it doesn’t hurt to fertilize every year, he says. However, he says some people don’t believe in using chemicals, so digging is their only alternative. 

Such people “will always be digging,’’ he says, but it will help control the dandelions to a certain extent. “And, to another extreme, there are people who like to eat dandelion greens,” Schaffitzel says. Other people get upset when they think neighbors’ chemical spraying has damaged their vegetation. “Another problem with spraying is that it can drift onto clean windows or clean cars,” Fesperman says. – By Barbara Clauser, Gannett News Service, 1988

Etiquette Enthusiast, Maura J Graber, is the Site Editor for the Etiquipedia© Etiquette Encyclopedia