POSTED: July 10, 2006 by karenm
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trynto...that's awful of your neighbours to store their junk there....I pity you because when we lived in Toronto, our first bungalow, we had those kind of neighbours but even worse because they used to fill up their side and then rest junk onto our side of the house :mad:
One time when my DS used to play in the backyard and he picked one of the neighbours' flowers, the owner hosed him down (a 3 year old kid) and I happened to see him from the kitchen window and came out running and blasted him away for doing that to a kid. Well, you can imagine what happened when DH heard about it, he went out and pulled everything out from our side that belonged to them, and one of them was a shed that the neighbour had put right against our side of the house.....he got the answer :(
Thank God we never had that problem again with any of our neighbours and hopefully you'll get rid of yours SOON.
What do I have between me and the neighbour within that 6 feet of space...................THEIR JUNK......................I have the worst neighbors on the west side of me....they have put all their garbage like an old car muffler, an old piece of wrought iron fence, the kids junky toys and old wagon, weeds, wood for her firepit, unused clay pots, ripped umbrella and an old BBQ...........................AGRH.......................one of the reasons I am moving..............I have asked them many times in the 3 YEARS that the junk has been laying their to remove it..........now with my showings.....I tell my agent to re-direct the lookers to my backyard and other side of the house...................................how can people be so rude.................................................... :hairpull:......sorry for the vent.....feeling kinda punchy at this end....still no offer..................but we have another appointment today................................................................................................................................................................................................... :D
Are you thinking about plantings or just looking for a creative way to fill the space? With only 12 feet it would be helpful to know how you envision using the area, what the neighbours are thinking and what the light and climate are like in that little area.
I've seen everything from rock gardens to storage areas between houses. Some have the sides open to the front, some have it fenced right up to the front. So much depends on how you want to use the space and how well you and the neighbour see eye to eye.
One thing is for sure, those types of spaces are usually quite hard to grow a lot in especially if the houses are 2 storey, so you have to really be aware of the light during the warm part of the year. There may also be hot spots. I had one at my last house and none of my neighbours or I could get anything to grow within 2 feet of the west sides of our homes (yet 8' away on the east side of the next houses, great for planting). It was just too hot and didn't have enough light for much of anything on top of it.
The other consideration is maintenance and how much time you want to spend outside. If you can use hardscape it's done and finished. If you have grass or a garden it's weekly maintenance. I have about 12' between the neighbours here and it's grass on both sides. What a pain to mow as there is a lot of turning and trimming for such a small area and it's not even an area anyone really sees or uses. Waste of space IMO especially since most of it is mine so I have to take care of it. That house is probably going up for sale and I will be lobbying the new owners to gravelthe area or put some other no maintenance stuff in there. Otherwise I may extend the fence to the front so I can use the area for storage. At least then it will serve some purpose.
The other side is also grass, but it is visible. the big difference is there are walks beside each of the houses in that area so I don't need to bring the trimmer out as the mower can get the edges and there is room for me to maneuver the mower for turns. So just a silly thing that makes a big difference in the speed of taking care of the sides every week. So just considering if there is room to turn a mower or if keeping the edges neat can make life a lot easier (or not).
Whatever you do, you have to keep the swale in mind as builders often grade the areas between houses to keep the water away from the foundations and sometimes that gets in the way of a poured cement walk or other things that require a level area. Also needing to water between house can cause dampness in basements if someone leaves a hose on too long so another thing to keep in mind.
You might want to consider how far you and the neighbours are willing to take the fence (boy getting something going with the neighbours can really help), where you are going to store things like the lawn mower, how much gardening you want to do before starting anything. You can always gravel the area and then use that as a base later for flagstone walks or rock gardens or whatever.
In my mind, those areas are perfect for storage as it's so hard to get much to grow and it leaves the back yard for the garden and lawn rather than a shed. They make sheds that fit perfectly in those areas. You can always negotiate with the neighbours to buy an arbour that spans the whole area or bushes or something else for camoflauge (sp?) so it all looks good from the front.
I used gravel at one house and loved the stuff. Maintenance free and no one could walk beside that house without someone hearing them. it was also just nice and neat and very cost effective until bigger plans could come about.