One homeowner's garden triggered a meltdown for an anonymous neighbor who considered their vegetables an "eye sore."
"I've been getting notes while changing my front yard to a Japanese maple-inspired vegetable garden," the homeowner explained in a Reddit post in the r/NoLawns subreddit.
They included two photos of the notes, as well as a picture of the garden itself.
The garden is lovingly cared for and well-organized, with wood chips forming the base for the design. Rows of vegetables are arranged in front of a beautiful old maple tree, and along the edges of the yard, there is a border of potted plants, shrubs, and flowers.
It's not a conventional lawn, but it's beautiful, tidy, and peaceful, which is what makes the neighbor's notes so bizarre.
"Welcome to the neighborhood. Your front lawn has looked a mess," says the first note.
It goes on to complain about the wood chips in the homeowner's front yard and recommends they look to the other neighbors for examples of what their property should look like. "Your house is [an] [eyesore]!" it concludes.
The second note is more of the same, suggesting they do their gardening in the backyard, calling their garden an "eyesore" twice, and accusing the homeowner of ruining "a perfectly good lawn."
That last part is up for debate. Lawns may be traditional, but they take lots of water and time to maintain, produce nothing useful, and give nothing back to the environment. Plus, they often produce runoff polluted with herbicide and fertilizer.
Alternatives like native plants, clover, xeriscaping, and food gardens offer many more benefits.
Even so, many nosy neighbors and HOAs will step in if they see homeowners getting rid of their lawns or adding native plants. Another Redditor had a similar experience when creating a wildflower garden.
If there's an HOA at work, there are at least official channels for changing the rules. But this Redditor's letters appeared from nowhere.
"They mailed them with no return address," they said in a comment.
The Redditor's post received an explosion of comments.
"I love how the first one says 'welcome to the neighborhood' followed by the most unwelcoming block of text possible," said one user.
"Interesting how both notes say 'a eyesore,'" another Redditor pointed out. "I think you have one specific person that's irritated. Can't wait until you figure out which neighbor it is!"
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