I had a chat with our northern neighbors about the fence line. The fence on that side of our house is an ancient split-rail design, flopping all over the place, home to a hundred carpenter bees in the spring. I had dreams to tear it down and replace it with 100 linear feet of trellised raspberry and blackberry bushes. While our neighbor loves the idea of blackberry bushes, she said they were looking into replacing the fence with another split rail fence.
Oh.
Um.
And she likes the grapes a lot, so she wouldn't want those taken out. And our kids are welcome to pick grapes on our side anytime they like, but her daughter would be coming by today to pick ripe grapes from both sides of the fence to make grape jelly.
Um.
Well.
Um.
She was SUPPOSED to say, "Oh! Please do! I love fresh berries, and I've hated this fence for years. I'll miss the grapes, but it will be easy to grow my own grapes over here by my patio. What a great idea! You're such wonderful neighbors."
*sigh*
She didn't tell me "no", exactly, but her ideas aren't 100% in line with my ideas. Our concepts are most likely compatible, if I think about it a little more, but I had already decided exactly how to proceed with this project:
- Rip out floppy fence, unruly grapevines, ginormous honeysuckle, and volunteer trees along the fence line
- Build professional-looking and strong berry trellis
- Plant berries and gorgeous "companion plants" to naturally deter pests and promote plant health
- Enjoy fresh berries all summer for the rest of my life
Maybe she'll give it a little thought, get an estimate for a new fence, and decide on the trellis after all. Or maybe I could put the berry trellis just inside our property line, even with a new fence there. A fence plus a trellis won't be as aesthetically pleasing as a simple trellis border, but it's workable.
I had hoped for a more enthusiastic reception of my brilliant plan (*sigh*) but I'll take a lukewarm "maybe" any day over an outright "no" ;)
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Put the trellis on your side. Then you'll only have to share the berries when you want to and there's a chance when they pull the ugly fence down they'll just decide not to replace it :)
ReplyDeleteGreat idea! That way, I can move forward with the project without further input from them and maybe I'll get what I want in the end :) Mwah ha ha haaaaa! I'm off to take measurements.
ReplyDeleteI agree - keep your trellis on your side. That way the neighbors have no say now or in the future as to what happens to it. And there won't be any issues if you get new owners in that house who don't want a trellis instead of a fence. Check your legal property line carefully - make sure you really build on your side. It would be a pity to have to move it 1 foot five years from now or some crazy thing like that.
ReplyDeleteI'm confused about the grapes. Who owns the grape plants? Are they growing on the split rail fence?
Our neighbors to the north moved in 8 years ago to find the grapes already planted on a decaying split-rail fence. They've enjoyed the grapes every year since then, but haven't done any pruning or maintenance.
ReplyDeleteUnofficial markers and circumstantial evidence place the fence RIGHT on the property line. I looked into getting an official property survey done, but it costs $400-500 dollars. Ugh. No berry trellis is worth that. With more measuring and research, I'm pretty sure there's enough space on our side of the fence to put in the trellised berries with a small walkway on each side for picking.
I hadn't thought about future neighbors. Yikes! You're totally right. Of course they will have no obligation to honor any agreement I make with our current neighbors. It's clearly best to keep my stuff on my land. Thanks for the tip!