Dirt in neighbors yard ?

[Lycanthrope]

My yard is naturally slanted, the whole neighborhood is on the side of a hill, so water flows from one yard to the next, as dictated by gravity. My back yard is fenced, as are those of my neighbors. My garden is within a few feet of the back/downhill side of my yard and even tho there is grass between it and my neighbors yard fence. Evidently when it rains REALLY hard, some of the dirt from my garden ends up in the rocks on their side of the fence. They have landscape rocks around the whole fence in their backyard.

Basically Im wondering if anyone knows, in Bismarck, is it my responsibility to keep water from flowing into their yard or is this just something they need to live with? I dont see any dirt in the grass on my side, so this isnt like A LOT of dirt that is being moved by the rain, and its been like this for years and they have never said anything about.

If it is my responsibility to put up a blockade to prevent the water from flowing under their fence, what would be the best way to accomplish this? I was thinking about using my edger to dig a couple inch deep trench along the fence and use some sort of metal roof edging or similar to stop the water, else I could put in regular lawn edging and leave it above the ground an inch or two, along the fence...

Anyone have other/better ideas?

 

[Vollmer]

Those are good ideas. Could use silt fence, but not sure if that would look very good.

 

[KDM]

I would go over and talk to your neighbors about it. See what they have to say and if they care. If they do, maybe they have some ideas that would help. The easiest thing might be to put some of those porous roll type things they use for road construction erosion control. If they work on bare ground, they might do the trick for you. Good Luck!!

 

[You]

I would go over and talk to your neighbors about it. See what they have to say and if they care. If they do, maybe they have some ideas that would help. The easiest thing might be to put some of those porous roll type things they use for road construction erosion control. If they work on bare ground, they might do the trick for you. Good Luck!!

Straw wattles

 

[Ericb]

I'd talk to them, if it's just your garden soil bothering them I'd work more on trying to contain or catch the dirt. Fighting water is a loosing battle unless youve done somthing to divert it recently. If you divert it it will go somewhere else and possibly start a bigger problem.

 

[Bed Wetter]

It's your responsibility to make sure your soil doesn't end up in the neighbor's yard. Over time, this has the potential to really screw up the drainage for multiple neighbors (ask me how I know.) I'd just plant some grass to create a thick root foundation to keep the soil in place. Nothing will fix it better than solid turf.

 

[Lycanthrope]

Im thinking about cutting strips of old carpet about 8 inches wide and putting that along the fence, half on the ground and half up the bottom of the fence and then using strips of wood and large nails/spikes and hammering the wood into the ground, that would still allow water through, but should slow it down enough to keep the dirt from moving Id think.... Not sure if that would work better or worse than putting some edging along the fence, leaving it above the ground an inch or so higher than normal.

 

[cpete00]

Maybe put some beehives on the downhill side of your yard? :;:huh

 

[buckhunter24_7]

Maybe put some beehives on the downhill side of your yard? :;:huh

Dang it you beat me to it lol I was gonna say get some bees started along the fence. If that don't work just throw some empty bottles of Mexican vanilla at them

 

[Lycanthrope]

Im thinking I will just get some wood chips from the dump and put a barrier of them along the fence on my side, that should slow the water down enough to allow silt to settle out without totally preventing it from moving downhill.

 

[Brian Halse]

Could you just plant your garden in their yard since that is where you dirt is?

 

[Lycanthrope]

Could you just plant your garden in their yard since that is where you dirt is?

Not a bad idea!!!

 

[Lapper]

plant grass where the garden is and go fishing!

 

[Obi-Wan]

Im thinking about cutting strips of old carpet about 8 inches wide and putting that along the fence, half on the ground and half up the bottom of the fence and then using strips of wood and large nails/spikes and hammering the wood into the ground, that would still allow water through, but should slow it down enough to keep the dirt from moving Id think.... Not sure if that would work better or worse than putting some edging along the fence, leaving it above the ground an inch or so higher than normal.

I would try using landscape fabric with wood stakes the fabric will allow water through and hold the dirt in.

The edging will work but will also hold the water back until it tops the edging but it will keep the dirt back until enough silt reaches the top of the edging

I would think the wood chips will flow with the water on heavy rains and then you have dirt & wood chips in the neighbors yard.

 

[Lycanthrope]

I would try using landscape fabric with wood stakes the fabric will allow water through and hold the dirt in.
The edging will work but will also hold the water back until it tops the edging but it will keep the dirt back until enough silt reaches the top of the edging

I would think the wood chips will flow with the water on heavy rains and then you have dirt & wood chips in the neighbors yard.

Maybe but most of their fence is really close to or touching the ground, its not like Im on steep slope, maybe 3ft drop / 100ft run,or something close to that.