Bert Swope
While writing a quick post about the American Beautyberry, I realize I had never written an article about the good neighbor gardening rule. So, I thought I would take a minute and write a quick post here explaining what that rule is.
As nearly every gardener knows, who grow some form of a vine crop in their vegetable garden or large bush, plants sometimes creep into your neighbor’s yard or hang over your fence or otherwise encroach on your neighbor’s area. And I’ve long had a habit of sharing the vegetables and fruits with the neighbors. So, the good neighbor gardening rule really is, “If it’s on your side of the fence, it’s fair game.”
Over the years, my neighbors have been fortunate enough to inherit such things as Armenian cucumbers, Malabar spinach, pumpkins, mining summer squashes, green beans, and many other crops. Which is fine, he keeps peace with the neighbors, and they get something extra to put on their table. Actually, my neighbors become so comfortable with my garden that once when I was working too many long hours and the runner beans got overloaded, that they would come over and helped themselves to the runner beans. Which is fine, they knew full well that I wouldn’t mind as long as it wasn’t wasted.
So there you have it; the good neighbor rule: “If it’s on your side of the fence and its edible, it’s fair game.” So, help yourself.