I had a problem with water drainage from the neighbors... 2 neighbors. I believe, in Phoenix at least (maybe Metro Phx), its against the law for water drainage to run from one property to the next. If the water issue begins to harm your plants or irritate you you might want to look into that. Do you have a HOA/Mgmt Co.? This is a time they could do their job and be of use... mediate the trespassing ball retrieving problem. I love to see kids having a good time at home but they have to respect other's property.

i very much agree with aguane. it's nice that they pay to water your plants, but the basketball thing would be annoying. do you ever go outside and ask the kids to be respectful of your plant beds? sometimes they're easier to talk to than parents!

here's my vent:

in oregon, where it rained all the time and there were lots of rivers, we paid a pretty penny for our water and there were constant reminders to conserve.
here in arizona water is cheap and i see a lot of people wantonly wasting it: watering so much it drains into the street, green (GREEN!) lawns in the summer, and washing off their driveways instead of sweeping or blowing. i know this doesn't have much to do with your story, except that your neighbors aren't conscious of the water they're using, but i thought that while we're venting...

good luck with your neighbors!
-ming

This is an issue I hear time and time again and I agree it can be very frustrating. They could have a leak in their irrigation system or they could be applying way too much water.

One thing to consider is that if you have a block wall in between you and your neighbor, over time the leaking water will compromise the footing which can cause cracks in the wall. Water can cause the mortar in between the block to break down as well. These are expensive repairs to make and would be shared by both of you.

In my city we have a dispute resolution service called Solve It. The fees are nominal. A mediator works with both parties to come to an agreement on the issue.

Most cities have free landscape workhops that inlcude irrigation/watering. Perhaps you could invite your neighbor to go with you to the next one your city has? Just a thought.

As for the basketball hoop....some spiny plants near the boundary of your yard might help keep your beloved plants safe. ;-)

Here is a link that might be useful: Solve It Mediation Services

I'd continue to bug them about the water. That's a genuine problem. As for the kids, I remember being a kid and that kind of thing was totally normal. You can't actually expect kids not to play basketball in their own driveway. However, being a gardner, I can see how it would be frustrating. Probably some kind of barrier hedge would keep them out without making a big deal out of it. I'd recommend oleanders. They grow so fast that even if the kids tromp on them they'll persist and they need almost no water, plus they have pretty flowers. Make sure you get the type that get large, that way you'll have a 5 foot wall in less than 2 years.

Thanks for your input. When the kids play basketball, the parents move the basketball hoop to the street, so they play in the middle of the street. Next time I'm out there when the stray ball occurs, I'm going to nicely ask them to please step gingerly.

I hadn't thought about how the water seepage would, over time, damage the concrete block fence. Gives me new motivation to talk to them. Next time I bump into the lady of the house, I'll talk to her about it...she's more approachable and reasonable than her husband.

Yes, you will have a crumbling block wall in time. My mom and her husband had that happen last year. Their entire back wall just fell down and into their yard! Because the guy behind them overwaters his yard sending overflow to theirs just as in your exammple. Then when they had to replace it and work with the guy, he was a jerk about that too.

I didn't realize it was against the law to allow drainage onto a neighbor's yard but if that's the law where you are, I'd suggest getting it enforced. Obviously better to do it nicely if at all possible. But you will have to pay to replace that fence when it finally falls apart one day and it will.

Neighbors can be a blessing or a an annoyance or both. I'm pretty lucky not counting the one who waters the coyotes, the one who had chain link fence with barb wire on top and the one down the street who turned a nice home and 2 acres into a wasteland of plowed gravel and an unfinished and really ugly remodel attempt.

Funny, it was my kids with the basketball but they're now in college. I have neighbors who have no clue. They think I'm weird because if theres a spot, I'm planting. They pretty much let they're yards go to *hit. Pretty sad because I live in and old Tempe neighborhod.

Like magic you never know beforehand what kind of neighbors you have until things start to unfold right before your eyes.

I would suggest documentation, especially if the hubby is a weinie. Take pictures of the area of your yard that is being watered, and with a camera that has a date, time stamp showing on the photo. In this way, you will have some back up for your statements. It's going to be your problem when the wall falls down due to water damage. You'll need this documentation if you want to show them what's happening, warn them of the consequences, and appeal to their sense of community spirit in saving water. Unless, you can get them to come into your yard and see for themselves the damage the water MAY eventually cause to your wall, the waste of their water for YOUR plants, and the needless expense of their overwatering practices. You may also call the water company, they do not usually permit homeowners to overwater to the extent of it running into the street. Consider all this, make your plans, and good luck.

At the very least, you need to document the overwatering like carolssis says. Then, if there's ever any permanent damage done to your property, their homeowner's insurance will have to cover it, particularly if you can prove that you've brought up the issue with them prior to the damage.
One effective way of demonstrating the date is to put the front page of that day's paper somewhere in one of the photos so you can read the headlines (and ideally the date on the paper, but that's tough to get when you're also including part of a yard), in addition to the time/date stamp on the camera, because the time and date can be arbitrarily set by anybody with a fair knowledge of the camera and won't necessarily stand up in court. Not that it will end up in court, but if your wall crumbles and falls down and you can prove to the neighbor's homeowner insurance company that you have your ducks in a row (and that you HAVE those ducks because the neighbor flooded your yard!) they're more likely to comply without trying to jerk you around. It's helpful to have the city take a look at it too, they'll undoubtedly give you some documentation of current or potential damage.

it's a tough thing to drill something into oblivious people's heads, but the sooner you start documenting everything you do to try to get them to stop, the better off you'll be.