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Neighbors Vinca invading my yard

7 years ago

We have a small city garden, 20x40 feet, which I'm just about to plant after a long house renovation. The house next door, a high end rental with gardeners about 4 times a year, has a border of Vinca all down one side (meaning neither the tenants or gardeners will care what is happening on my side). This border keeps creeping under the wood fence into my garden and I have been pulling it out for the past couple of months but naturally it wants to spread. Is there any way of physically preventing it from coming into my yard before I start planting? Or any ideas for dealing with it? Since the yard is so narrow, even a foot of vinca is a lot.

Featured Answer

gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)

7 years ago

You can use some sort of root barrier along the fenceline to prevent its spread - most anything solid could work. I've seen this done with a strip of galvanized metal buried vertically so just the very edge was exposed above the soil. Same thing can be done with a heavy gauge plastic, like bamboo barrier. The roots of vinca do not grow into the soil very deeply so whatever barrier you might use also does not have to be buried very deeply.

Personally, I would opt first for some sort of mechanical barrier before I'd choose to resort to a herbicide :-))

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Comments (9)

bossyvossy
7 years ago
It's a forever kind of battle, especially if it gets good watering on the rental side. don't know how you feel about roundup but even then you will have to reapply every now and then.
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tete_a_tete
7 years ago
A physical barrier sounds like the way to go. If you try to poison the Vinca you will spend the rest of your time at your place poisoning it.
lucillle
7 years ago
last modified: 7 years ago
I would contact the owner of the house with a registered letter requesting that he/she prevent the encroachment, and if nothing is done, sue in small claims for continuing nuisance.

Ordinarily in small claims one cannot sue for anything except money, so I would get several bids on the cost for labor and materials of a permanent mechanical barrier such as a stone wall.
lucillle
7 years ago
In fact, there are suits for such, running bamboo is a popular subject, and I'm sure spaces where the ground takes a great deal of care and expense, like a golf course, or an ornamental pond, would insist that neighbors control invasive plants.
Deb
7 years ago
I agree with tete on the physical barrier, such as deep edging in the ground combined with an above-ground edge, such as brick. If you poison the plant with Roundup and it affects the neighbor's vinca, you run the risk of a lawsuit.
windymess z6a KC, Ks
7 years ago
gardengal - how deep would you recommend for the barrier. I'm having the identical problem along my fence. I found something at Walmart, not too expensive (I have a long run of fence - gotta go as cheap as possible), which is probably about 4 inches. Do you think that will discourage the vinca?
gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)
7 years ago
Yes, vinca is a surface rooter, which is one of the reasons it is easy to pull up when it starts growing where not wanted.
windymess z6a KC, Ks
7 years ago
Thanks... I'll give it a try. The vinca may be easy to pull up, but its creeping in behind trees, shrubs and other plants that will only get bigger in time - making it harder to reach and control. So if I can stop it now that would be best.

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