Thanks, everybody! Sorry to put this in the wrong forum, I just couldn't figure out where to put it, and I thought some other people with inviting gardens may have also had trouble keeping people out of them. The garden that came with the house is really striking, and people who drive past often slow down to look at it or ask me about it. There's 70-something raised beds that are covered in patterns of tiles. It's a VERY conspicuous house. So I'm actually a little surprised that tweakers are targeting it, instead of somewhere less conspicuous. So, I just bought a gigantic "NO TRESPASSING - violators will be prosecuted" sign today. It's ugly, but I guess I need it. And a solar-powered motion light, which I'll install tomorrow. I also found a crack pipe in my backyard today. :( It was hidden underneath a pile of weeds I'd pulled a few days ago and left on one of my garden paths, so someone has definitely been in my yard in the last few days. RE: tweakers (yeah, I mean meth)...There's a big meth problem in this town, and there isn't a single neighborhood that's immune to it. When I bought the house there was no evidence of parties inside, though - in fact it was completely pristine inside every time I looked at it. And I never saw any trash around the house before I bought it, but now the sidewalk on one side has become a dump yard and shopping cart parking lot. :( RE: getting to know the neighbors...I'm on a corner, and my next door neighbors are a little sketchy, unfortunately. Very unapproachable. Come to think of it, so are the elderly couple across the street, and most of the neighbors in general. At least one person has been looking after my house while I'm at work, though, because someone yelled at my brother-in-law when he dropped off a compost bin in my yard, demanding to know what he was doing there. RE: surveillance cameras. I've thought about getting one but wouldn't know how to hard-wire it. Is this something the police might help with??? I'm not sure I'd want anyone to KNOW I had a surveillance camera, though, because I'm afraid my sketchy next door neighbors are either selling drugs or growing marijuana and I don't want them to think I'm trying to get them busted. Because if they were busted, they'd just end up right back in the house, with a grudge (the family has owned that house since the '50s, so they're not going anywhere). I don't want to start any sort of war with the neighbors. Does anyone know if you legally have to post a sign when you have a surveillance camera? Thanks!

I have three creeping phlox two in front of my house and one out back ..it’s totally dried Out like hay and it hurts to touch very prickly . We didn’t get a lot of rain last three weeks everyones lawns were yellowing. in Maine .

Everyone on our street gets along which is really fortunate. We watch each others houses, take trash when someone is on vacation. Heck, whenever there is a holiday we all figure who is home and who is not and join forces to help out. It is really nice. Each year we have a block party and it is next weekend. The only problem there has ever been is this one neighbor who is actually really, really nice. He for some reason just thinks he is the czar and in charge of everthing. He is always there to help but sometimes he is in the way. Like when we sold our boat at our yard sale (oh, when we have a sale he likes to stop by and say "what, another sale?", we only have one a year if at all). He came down and proceeded to speak with the buyer about how to use the boat, where to go, what to do, etc. You would think he was selling the boat. Our other neighbor came over too but he was helping us hook it up and assisted my dh with testing the motor. This guy just has an opinion about everything and instead of telling the homeowner he nags and nags the other neighbors about what he wishes the other owner would do. Or he will tell other to do the things he wants done. Today he was looking for pipe tape because one yard has a funky sprinkler head. And no, he did not ask the owner if he could fix it. So here is the update. Last night dh went to the czar, whos own truck was blocking the sidewalk because it is so long. Dh told him he might want to pull his truck in because it is violating parking laws and probably ADA laws. He told him that we got a ticket for our trailer and that someone in our court turned us in. Our neighbor asked why dh was telling him this. Dh told him it was because everyone thinks he did it. Guy says that is BS. Dh comes home. It was a nice evening and other neighbors started coming out to chat like we all do. This guy comes all the way to my neighbors house to pull her aside and tell her that we are mad at him. She had to answer the phone so she could not chat more. Then he goes back to chat with his direct neighbor, then another. Eventually he heads back to us. He says that he did not do it and since we "acused" him of doing this he is going to find out who did. I told him we did not acuse him at all. I told him that because of his past behavior, his current complaints made over the course of several days, his being in front of my house on phone an hour before ticket... it is simply guilt by association. I told him that maybe he did not do it, but we all have no other choice because of his constant medeling. He shouted something about how when he comes around the corner he is going to hit the trailer (it is no wider than his own truck). My dh blasted back telling him that if he would not fly around the corner he would not have a problem. That was when his wife walked by with her dogs on leash. She kept going. I told him he just needs to stop his behavior and knock it off. He left. We spoke with several others some more. What is really sad it that if he really did not do it, everyone thinks he did. Everyone said they just want him to knock it off. So.... this morning my dh is out front. The wife drives up to chat. She said she was sorry for the way her dh acted. She said she asked if he did it and he said no. (Isn't it interesting that his own wife had to ask if he did it?!) My dh explained why everyone thinks he did it and she said she knows he medels but that he does not like to get into fights with anyone. My dh told her that he may not like to fight but he is a #$@ stirer instead. If he has a problem he needs to tell the person, not tell everyone else. She totally understood where we are coming from. We told our immediate neighbor that we would feel bad if we found out he did not actually do it, and then have to apologize. But our apology would come with a note that he needs to change his behavior because that is why he is in this trouble to begin with. Know what she said? She said, "But we all know he did it!" I just laughed. As for this guy looking for pipe tape. He asked my son, who was playing outside, if we had any. Dh told me to take some over because that is what we would normally do. We are not going to start some war. We have to live here and are not going to let a medeling neighbor ruin it. We are going to live like always. And next time he does something I think we will all be more active about telling him to knock it off. As for the dog thing. His dog is a well trained, very sweet dog. She is old but the kids love her. But it does annoy everyone when she pees on our flowers and goes in our garages. So last night when my dh mentioned that this guy violates laws all the time, especially with his dog running around, hopefully he listened. It is so easy for a street to get into a fight and everyone not get along. I think we are all determined to be friends and I think with all of us staying on top of him he will stay in check. Sometimes it takes one family to stand up to get all the others to stand together. On a funny note, our direct neighbor's dog poops on our side of our shared grass area. We just flick it back to her side and laugh. She is a super neighgor and this is how we have decided to deal with it. We don't think she sees him do it, probably thinks it is amazing how he somehow only poops on her side. lol

You may decide to erect a fence but have you tried talking to this neighbor about the dog yet? Use "I" statements and assume that the neighbor is unaware of the fact that the dog's barking is waking you up (I know, he ought to be aware of it but many people just don't think). Statements like "I'm sure you don't realize it, but Fido's barking has been waking me up at 5:00 and it's been really hard for me to fall back asleep." Beginning or ending with "I thought you would want to know" is good. Hopefully you have at least said "hello" to him in the past. If you haven't, I would be on the lookout for opportunities to call out Hello, how are you? to him before I approach him with the complaint. I had a neighbor two doors down who was setting off bottle rockets on July 4 (all fireworks are illegal in my city). Even though my dogs were in the house and I had all the windows and doors closed and the music turned up loud, the explosions were still driving them crazy. I had never spoken to him before but I went over to his house and said "I'm your neighbor. I live 40 feet away over there. I'm sure you don't realize it, but I have one dog who won't stop barking and I have another dog who is hiding in the bathtub. (it was true). I would appreciate it if you would stop with the fireworks." He was so apologetic I couldn't believe it. Happy ending. Dog climbed out of the bathtub. Other dog shut up (kinda).