I have a neighbor who is similar to this guy, but my neighbor is about 75 years old. Creepy, nonetheless. When we first moved in as we got to know our neighbors, we invited some to our wedding. This neighbor, I will call him Joe, was telling guests at my wedding that he is disappointed that I purchased blinds and how my husband and I like to kiss and hug a lot. Tell me that wouldn't creep you out. My blinds on his side of the house are never opened, and he even comments on it. Whenever we go out in the yard, we feel like we are being watched. You might think, ok, this is just some old lonely guy, but it's far more than that. I had contractors at my house replacing the roof and doing exterior work. I came home one day and they told me that "Joe" went on for about 15 minutes telling them everything he knows about my personal life from where we work, what time we get home, what we do for a living, that we bought the house when we weren't married, etc. I was so upset, but as always, my husband thinks it's more important to keep the peace with the neighbors. I am a private person, and I do not like people sharing personal details with strangers without my consent. He would also brag to us repeatedly that he has a key to our house because the prior owner would have him watch their dog sometimes. Of course, we ignore his comments because the day we closed on the house we changed the locks. One day I'm at home sick and I'm sitting in my t.v. room in my pajamas. He didn't know I was home. I hear this commotion at my back door, and my dogs are barking like crazy. I look, and the door knob is being jiggled. I look through the blinds (they were closed at the time), and he was actually trying his old key in our lock!!!! I was so freaked out, I called my husband at work and told him enough is enough. I don't think the guy was trying to be malicious, but I do think that he's controlling and his curiosity got the best of him. But who knows. From that point, my husband asked him if he ever needs anything (his excuse for being at the back door was to drop off a neighborhood flyer - which he did, but that was his excuse for being there), in the future to drop it off in our front mailbox. Again in the wintertime he would come to our back door, so I told him we don't want people back there because if he fell on the ice we don't want to be liable. The guy is very persistant, and I can't stand it. The next thing going up is an electric gate in our driveway. He will no longer have access. Another time we had people over for a cookout in our backyard. He sat in his breakfast nook directly across from us and watched us the entire time. It made all my guests uncomfortable. We started planting trees along the perimeter of the property. Finally, as I started working from home, he noticed that I wasn't leaving for work every morning. So I'm heading for the garage one afternoon and he says, "hey, I notice that you don't leave in the mornings anymore. Are you still working?" My response was, "Yeah, but you don't need to worry about it. It doesn't concern you." He looked shocked, but has backed off somewhat. My life is not an open book, and I don't appreciate people prying into my personal business. It really annoys me. Most recently, he has been making comments because we have some old paneling that we've been replacing in our basement, and the old stuff is sitting out by the garbage in our back yard up against the garage. My husband hasn't broken it down yet because it still has nails in it. Something we just haven't gotten to yet. So now that he's making comments, I'm not in any rush to get it out of there. It's my property, and I don't see how what is on my own property should concern him. Our home was a major eye sore when we purchased it, and it's like night and day now. So a piece of paneling in my backyard is not his business, and it is going to stay there for another couple of weeks before I decide to do anything with it. Just because I can!

After wanting my own home for many years while married and after my divorce, I bought a small house with a big blank canvas landscape so I could garden my heart out. It was close to a college for my son and the price was in my range. This was 2006 when home prices were sky high so I felt lucky to be able to find a house close to my job. There was a car repair shop next store and I wasn't fond of that but everything else fit my needs. I do a lot of gardening in a cottage style and fixed the place up as best I could with a limited budget. But I've replaced the roof, the front porch, the oil tank and had some electrical work done.The house next door is owned by a couple that have done no maintenance whatsoever. Its a cedar shingle house that has peeling trim paint broken gutters and over the years - outdoor cats who are in my yard more than their own. They poop in my garden and my indoor cat got fleas last summer. Now I have to treat him every month. When he mows the lawn which isn't frequent and has more weeds than grass, he will leave tall tufts near his steps because he can't get his mower close by. The driveway is dirt and the back deck which houses a variety of junk is greyed and rotting is visible from my side. Not to mention that because I don't like being unneighborly and felt bad because they are limited people through no fault of their own, I would talk to them when they would see me outside. It got to a point where every time I was outside in my garden which is every day in summer, he would come over to chew my ear off. I never had peace. I would sneak outside through the back door and work on the back yard so they wouldn't see me. The wife, my son believes, is autistic because she talks about subjects in a loop style. Suddenly one day the neighbor and his car disappeared for several days. It turns out he was arrested for following two young girls in different parts of town! I started doing some research on him and he's been arrested several times for drinking and driving and alcohol related violations! Needless to say, I avoid him like the plague now. I got my hopes up when they foreclosed on their home and were attempting a short sale. But the bank couldn't sell it because the house is in such disrepair. They managed to refinance somehow....and are now staying.

Everyone has such pretty gardens above. As for the planning, I think it all depends on what you begin with, costs & style. I love the look of formal & modern landscaping; however, I bought a resale 8 year old home that looks somewhat traditional with an existing patio & a flat square backyard with a 6 ft privacy fence surrounding it. The patio is a curvy number with smaller interlock brick with a beige stone. It kind of sets the tone for the yard. It's not what I would have done, but it's nice enough that I can't justify replacing it. The original back fence line garden came with a few clumps of ornamental grass, a willow type shrub, a few other false spireas & a peony. In a bed that was about 3 feet deep. Already overgrown with weeds. So I spent the 1st summer cleaning that up, saved a few choice plants, planting 12 trees - front & back yards. And I started making fence line garden beds. Obviously have to plant the larger foundation plants & get them thriving first. So in 2 summers I made about 300 feet of garden around fence areas between the front and back. Planted the trees, 30ish varying shrubs, 45ish roses & quite a few perennials. Lots of edging & mulching. I also have a 6 ft fence along the front yard on one side. When we moved in there was no plants along the sides of the yards. I am very happy with the progress so far. But I want to extend more, add more, etc. Because my yard is very flat it was relatively easy & cheap to get as many beds as I have. If we had to do more hardscaping it would not be as simple. So I think a lot of someone's garden planning comes from the complexity or issues their actual property has ie. slopes, drainage, soil types, etc. Also I live in zone 5 so hardiness is a factor. I love boxwood hedging around beds, but it's easily ravished by winter winds, sun & ice damage. And I'm too lazy to winter protect that much. There are just so many variables. This is a picture of 3/4 of my back fence line last September. Started out as a 3 foot deep straight line bed. Here's another view of the back fence. There's is a small square patio tucked in the right corner. The stones for edging were used because there was a big pile of them in the corner when we moved in. So this came from an evolution plan. This is my side fence garden bed. Once the hornbeams & limelight get bigger I will widen this bed again.

Thank you Margo!! Finally packing up prizes and such for August swaps and it's GREAT to see someone using a gift you've sent. Made my day! I didn't pop in on your hummingbird question on the other thread as I have a couple of Anna's (they're the hardiest) that overwinter here - or at least do until there's a few snow storms. I'd keep feeding until you don't see one for a week or two - you might get stragglers who stayed close to feeders migrating late.