How to use landscaping as a border from neighbors?

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After reading all this, razor wire comes to mind! I think I'll go buy some too.
wizard-large.jpg

Or have a wizard cast a hex on the property line!
 
@angie_nrs have you thought about Buxus along the property line it is a nice plant and you can trim it into a hedge and it grows to the ground giving a total barrier if let grow tall and I would also put up posts with barbed wire stringers in between behind it. That way you have a nice looking hedge that will block the view of new word "fereldom" neighbours. Also I agree see an attorney about the garage built on your property it pays to sort it out now.
 
Our property is 5 acres forested with about 3/4 of an acre cleared out in the center where the house and pole barn is. surrounding the clearing is about 6feet deep and about the same height, of wild blackberry canes.
Im going to try and push it back a bit this spring, just to clean the place up a bit.

But I plan on keeping it because , we do have an easement on the first acre where a road forks off going through our property, bisecting it into a Y shape. Hunters, fishermen and just people out in the bush drive down that road.

NO ONE is going to walk through that barrier, even in the winter with all the snow they have had, its still that thick!


I agree with the others, blackberry, Oregon/mountain grape. Depends on where you live as well,

Dont do kudzu, unless you have enough goats to keep up with it and like eating it yourself. the young leaves and roots are edible.
We are constantly fighting that stuff over here, it grows over our fence line up the trees across the concrete, everywhere!



If you are so inclined you could scrounge as many pallets as you need and slowly bit by bit put up a long border fence that way.
 
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I'd talk to an attorney about the structure on your property. The clock is ticking and you could wind up with losing a part of your land to this gal and get nothing for it. When you want to sell your property there could be a problem with the title and I doubt a bank would loan on it with that problem and I'm wondering what a title insurance company would say. It is worth an hour of attorney time with someone that is versed in this area of the law.

I appreciate the suggestion Caribou. That structure has been on the property loooong before we became the owners. So it's possible that she could stake claim to that property. But, if they didn't get a permit, I'm not sure how that would work and either way she knows she would have an expensive fight on her hands if it got ugly and neither one of us want that. It's back on the far corner of our line so we don't want to be jerks about it. We did meet with a lawyer just to cover or arses and he said the easiest thing to do would be to just settle it with her. The only one's that would win would be the lawyers. It's just not worth that kind of stress and we both know there is an issue there that needs to be solved for whoever ends up with the property on her end and on ours when we're all dead and gone. That's why we approached her and she is agreeable to purchasing a few more feet in order to keep the garage. We just don't know what kind of price to put on it since it's only about 20 feet or so along about 100 or so foot of the property. It would save her headaches down the line if she decided to sell. We're not worried about that part on our end as much since we are never going to sell our land. This will be my home forever since we have put so much work into it. The surveyor even said the easiest way to handle it is to just get an agreement with the neighbor and he would submit the new lines to the county.

What idiot burns poison ivy? Sorry, @ angie_nrs, but that is just wrong on anybody's part and they should be fined a hefty sum.
I read high fences make good neighbors. Just consider, you wouldn't have to have too nice of a fence appearance-wise, considering what you're blocking, and eventually all your greenery and forest will block it anyway, maybe.

Well, that idiot would be my dad. LOL! He didn't do it intentionally. We cut our own wood off our property for the fireplace and wood stove and he would have a burn pile once or twice a year to get rid of branches and leaves and such. Sometimes there would be PI in there or the burn pile was on top of PI. He also didn't know someone could get the rash from walking though the smoke. We didn't figure that out until I got it! I was lucky I didn't get it in my lungs.
 
Coming late to the game here - but I'm in agreement with a barb wire fence.

We have crappy neighbors, too. (drug dealers, at least at one point - we don't see as much drug traffic back there as we used to, but they're still crappy neighbors) Cost was a problem for us, but we finally put in a fence. I cannot express the immediate benefit that brought, in terms of establishing a line. Worth. Every. Penny. In our case, we had to go with a field fence because their dogs were involved. But if that's not an issue, I would think barbed wire would be more than sufficient in establishing a line.

Establishing a visual and sound barrier then would be handled separately. There is always the chance that they will kill off whatever you plant - but at least they can't kill a barbed wire fence. ;) For our barrier we put in Canadian Hemlock - it's an evergreen that can grow in shade, can be planted close for a hedge, and can be sheared if needed. The downside is that, even though hemlock is a fairly fast grower for an evergreen, it's still a few years before you have any real barrier.

Another option is osage orange, and planting it as a woven living hedge:
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Well, that idiot would be my dad. LOL! He didn't do it intentionally. We cut our own wood off our property for the fireplace and wood stove and he would have a burn pile once or twice a year to get rid of branches and leaves and such. Sometimes there would be PI in there or the burn pile was on top of PI. He also didn't know someone could get the rash from walking though the smoke. We didn't figure that out until I got it! I was lucky I didn't get it in my lungs.
I'm sorry, @angie_nrs ! Never a good idea to name call friends' fathers.
I've heard of people ending up in the hospital over poison ivy smoke.
 
The border between neighbors ??? the first question to ask yourself is Tactical or Decorative. You could mix both like the Orange Osage and Grumps razor wire or Blackberry bushes with bear traps or even Bradford pear with punji sticks, I'm just betten around the bushes here....
 
When I had a problem with neighbors I invited them over for a lunch. Somehow we got on the topic of fences and I explained that I was going to put a fence up to limit the travel of my new dogs. When they found out that I as getting a couple of big bear dogs that would need to be retrained by an electric fence they were glad to hear I was putting the fence in first. More than that they became good friends and we had gettogethers about every six months. When I moved I took the fence charger with me. I hope the new residents got along well with the neighbors.
 
When I had a problem with neighbors I invited them over for a lunch. Somehow we got on the topic of fences and I explained that I was going to put a fence up to limit the travel of my new dogs. When they found out that I as getting a couple of big bear dogs that would need to be retrained by an electric fence they were glad to hear I was putting the fence in first. More than that they became good friends and we had gettogethers about every six months. When I moved I took the fence charger with me. I hope the new residents got along well with the neighbors.

These folks intentionally moved our survey stakes twice (for no apparent reason) and then moved an old junk car over the line after the survey was done. We have been over there twice now to talk to them. They're not people who want to get along, which is fine with me but not what I would prefer. We bought that extra property so that there would be distance between us and others (not knowing who lived there) it was worth every penny we paid for it. I'm sure the fence will be too, even though I'm not sure how much that's going to cost yet.

We set up our targets a bit early this year and did some shooting this past weekend, since we have plenty of property in which to do that. I thought it was interesting that we didn't see their dog. Little do they know I would not take my frustrations out on their dog.....but they don't need to know that.
 
I appreciate the suggestion Caribou. That structure has been on the property loooong before we became the owners. So it's possible that she could stake claim to that property. But, if they didn't get a permit, I'm not sure how that would work and either way she knows she would have an expensive fight on her hands if it got ugly and neither one of us want that. It's back on the far corner of our line so we don't want to be jerks about it. We did meet with a lawyer just to cover or arses and he said the easiest thing to do would be to just settle it with her. The only one's that would win would be the lawyers. It's just not worth that kind of stress and we both know there is an issue there that needs to be solved for whoever ends up with the property on her end and on ours when we're all dead and gone. That's why we approached her and she is agreeable to purchasing a few more feet in order to keep the garage. We just don't know what kind of price to put on it since it's only about 20 feet or so along about 100 or so foot of the property. It would save her headaches down the line if she decided to sell. We're not worried about that part on our end as much since we are never going to sell our land. This will be my home forever since we have put so much work into it. The surveyor even said the easiest way to handle it is to just get an agreement with the neighbor and he would submit the new lines to the county.
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I would suggest that she, or her husband, has caused you to pay for a survey and attorney. I'd ask for all the expenses for the transfer plus the value of the land at assessed value. You're not really making a profit only covering your loss. That is a friendly way to handle the issue. Neither place can be sold until the issue is dealt with so there is cause for both to work it out.
 
These folks intentionally moved our survey stakes twice (for no apparent reason) and then moved an old junk car over the line after the survey was done. We have been over there twice now to talk to them. They're not people who want to get along, which is fine with me but not what I would prefer. We bought that extra property so that there would be distance between us and others (not knowing who lived there) it was worth every penny we paid for it. I'm sure the fence will be too, even though I'm not sure how much that's going to cost yet.

We set up our targets a bit early this year and did some shooting this past weekend, since we have plenty of property in which to do that. I thought it was interesting that we didn't see their dog. Little do they know I would not take my frustrations out on their dog.....but they don't need to know that.
People will do all kinds of petty things to irritate others, because they think it is fun to do just that, irritate others.

I wonder about documenting this, their junk vehicle being placed on your property? I would actually document everything that happens by writing it down and taking photos (print them out! technology dies! photos get lost on devices!) I was also wondering about the legal aspect of pushing their vehicle back to their side of the line.

I'll tell you, getting a fence up would be a top priority for me, starting it yesterday!
 
What ever you might ponder doing, remember that you are going to be living close to these people for a long time.
Retribution is a two way street. If you can't find a way toward mutual trust then plan for a long and escalating battle.
 
People will do all kinds of petty things to irritate others, because they think it is fun to do just that, irritate others.

I wonder about documenting this, their junk vehicle being placed on your property? I would actually document everything that happens by writing it down and taking photos (print them out! technology dies! photos get lost on devices!) I was also wondering about the legal aspect of pushing their vehicle back to their side of the line.

Yup, already done! I documented our conversations and their actions. We took pics of the trash they have stacked, the movement of the marker, and the car before and after they moved it. We spoke to them as soon as they drug that piece of crap car over the line and told them to move it back. They did.

What ever you might ponder doing, remember that you are going to be living close to these people for a long time.
Retribution is a two way street. If you can't find a way toward mutual trust then plan for a long and escalating battle.

You're right. That's why we have been talking to them instead of calling the law. The last time we spoke to them, we told them it would be the last time....next time will be the Sheriff. Thus far, except their dog on our property, we haven't noticed any issues. We'll check the line again after the snow melts. We have much more to lose than they do, so I don't want to be a complete jerk. I don't want my property vandalized and I certainly wouldn't put that past them. On the flip side, I don't think they want the Sheriff at their house b/c I'm thinking there may be illegal drug activity going on there.
 
Sorry about that. Doesn't show up like that for me.
It shows up like that for me too but I got the idea that it is a list of thorny plants and I can get those ideas from a local nursery.
 
A popup covers the site and wants me to enable ads or pay for a ad blocker...

I got that, too. Click on "allow ads" (I don't remember exact wording) and it changes to another pop-up with instructions. I just clicked "DONE" on the bottom right (without following any of the instructions), the pop up closed out and I was able to read the article without any problems.
 
Concrete posts would be lots of work, true, but along the property line, even if the wire between the posts were removed they would remain as hard to move property line markers. If you make the old timey kind (posts with holes thru them) you can slide boards (branches even) thru them instead of wire, and easier to replace a section if need be. (Think split rail fence with concrete posts.)
 
There are also the old time fence posts where you make a circle of sheep/hog fencing and fill it with rocks. Those never move when full.

If you do any kind of fence there is a fair possibility that it will be cut. How you deal with that would be your own business.
 

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