Did you talk to your neighbor about it at all?

 

I recommend you look to make sure there are no utility easements or other restrictions along the property line.

Then, if it was my yard, I would plant those evergreens you have in the lower left hand corner of your picture all along the fence line. I think those are Leyland cypresses. I had the same problem once with a neighbor who built a screened porch right up to the edge of my property. I brought in a backhoe, dug up five holes to plant in, added bagged potting soil to the holes, and planted five Leyland cypresses right in the holes to screen off the porch.

It gave me back my privacy, and gave the neighbors theirs, so they could eat on the screen porch without being eyeballed, and I could live in my back yard without having uninvited people looking into my back yard. Win, win.

 

I recommend you look to make sure there are no utility easements or other restrictions along the property line.

Then, if it was my yard, I would plant those evergreens you have in the lower left hand corner of your picture all along the fence line. I think those are Leyland cypresses. I had the same problem once with a neighbor who built a screened porch right up to the edge of my property. I brought in a backhoe, dug up five holes to plant in, added bagged potting soil to the holes, and planted five Leyland cypresses right in the holes to screen off the porch.

It gave me back my privacy, and gave the neighbors theirs, so they could eat on the screen porch without being eyeballed, and I could live in my back yard without having uninvited people looking into my back yard. Win, win.

Yep I talked to the township they said there is no easement and I can landscape right up to the property line which is exactly on the fence. I am going to take your advice and plant some evergreens 🌲. I may end up getting arbavatas since I have a source to get 4 footers for $25 a piece. I am also going to add in some tall ornamental grasses to incorporate in somehow and plant some English ivy on the fence. I may also put an arbor on it with a good flowering plant like a clematis to add some color in the summer and put a bench under it similar to this.

 

So you didn't talk to the neighbor?

 

If you haven't already, talk to your neighbor to see if they would let you stain your side of the fence.

 

Just throwing additional ideas: if you don't want a straight hedge, I like when the landscape beds have curved edges, and varying depths of plants from the front of the bed to the back. I.e., a few of those arborvitaes as base plantings, but with shorter plants layered in front. Like this.

 

So you didn't talk to the neighbor?

Nope I've lived here over a year and a half and have only saw the guy two times, as I was approaching to introduce myself he waived and walked away both times. A couple months back I went to knock on his door to introduce myself and he never awnsered. Makes me think he is anti-social. Not sure. I've talked to my other neighbors and they said they don't think he lives there most the year, and when he does he is never outside.

 

Here's what I did. Same ugly fence problem.

 

Shoot I'd find a way to talk to the neighbor about painting or staining your side of the fence. That's a lot less with and upkeep in the long run!

 

What are your thoughts on just staining the side that faces you without permission? If the guy is never around, how would he even know? If he finds out, he doesn't seem like the kind of guy to come over and complain.

I am not trying to be "that guy", but it seems like staining it would be much less effort than planting, growing and watering trees for years to come and this guy seems to go out of his way to be "not contactable".

Wait until he is out of town and stain the darn thing.

 

I'd pressure wash and stain that thing before even thinking about planting shrubbery!!

 

I'd pressure wash and stain that thing before even thinking about planting shrubbery!!

+1

I would send the neighbor a letter letting him know you would like to stain your side of his fence. Give him some sort of timeline as to when and if he does not respond by your deadline assume he didn't mind and just do it. He will probably never notice it anyway. If he does he may in turn think it looks great and do his whole fence.

I'm actually doing my entire fence now as we speak. I normally pressure wash, use a strong bleach solution to kill any mold growth, then use an airless sprayer to spray a product called Wood Defender

 

I recommend you look to make sure there are no utility easements or other restrictions along the property line.

Then, if it was my yard, I would plant those evergreens you have in the lower left hand corner of your picture all along the fence line. I think those are Leyland cypresses. I had the same problem once with a neighbor who built a screened porch right up to the edge of my property. I brought in a backhoe, dug up five holes to plant in, added bagged potting soil to the holes, and planted five Leyland cypresses right in the holes to screen off the porch.

It gave me back my privacy, and gave the neighbors theirs, so they could eat on the screen porch without being eyeballed, and I could live in my back yard without having uninvited people looking into my back yard. Win, win.

Yep I talked to the township they said there is no easement and I can landscape right up to the property line which is exactly on the fence. I am going to take your advice and plant some evergreens 🌲. I may end up getting arbavatas since I have a source to get 4 footers for $25 a piece. I am also going to add in some tall ornamental grasses to incorporate in somehow and plant some English ivy on the fence. I may also put an arbor on it with a good flowering plant like a clematis to add some color in the summer and put a bench under it similar to this.

I think it would look great with staggered arbs and maiden grasses. Be careful with the ivy. It will be a pain to get rid of if you ever want to