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As a homeowner, it is your responsibility to keep your lawn properly mowed and looking nice.

What would you do if your neighbors always kept their lawns immaculate, so they complained about yours when you let it grow for two or more weeks at a time because of your busy schedule?

That is what happened to the guy in this story, so rather than mowing his grass, he planted a garden filled with plants that he knows his neighbors will hate.

It is rarely a good idea to intentionally upset your neighbors, but that is just what this guy did. And he thinks he is doing the right thing. Read through the full story below and see if you agree.

#spitegarden (Retired Neighbors Make Life Hell for Spouse and I)

My wife and I work opposite shifts with her going in to work early morning and getting home in time for us to hug/kiss and then I’m out the door for my job that takes me past midnight.

This is a rough schedule, but it ensures the kids are watched.

I also work rotating weekends and am on call during bad weather. We have 3 children, the oldest just finished pre-k, so they are not old enough to be on their own.

In the rainy season, our grass gets pretty long because in order for mowing to get done, both of us have to be home, so this usually gets done every other week and that’s *IF* it doesn’t also happen to be storming.

It is important to find a way to keep your grass under control.

So, there are times the grass gets crazy. Both of our neighbors on either side of us are retired. They have all the time in the world to care for their lawn (but they hire people to do it for them anyway) and they look immaculate.

Our lawn, aside from the length, is free of weeds (bermuda grass tends to choke everything else out) and is overall taken care of.

There is nothing wrong with taking pride in your lawn.

So, our neighbors, because they have nothing better to do, will call the city and report our lawn’s “unsightly length” two or three times a month to try and “motivate us” to keep it cut.

And we’re talking the DAY AFTER I let it go for a week because I happened to be on call that weekend.

Maybe he should hire someone to mow. Or to babysit.

Now I have spoken with both of my neighbors about the time constraints that my wife and I have, it’d be one thing if we didn’t have kids or if they were older and my wife and I could go out and mow when we have the time.

But this has fallen on deaf ears. My typical work week is about 50+ hours in busy crunch time which, of course, also occurs in the rainy/mowing season but I assure them that when it’s a clear day and we’re both home, the yard work gets done.

Honestly, it isn’t their job to come up with a way to ensure he keeps his lawn nice.

This, of course, falls on deaf boomer ears. One of them called me lazy and that when THEY were young and married with kids they worked three jobs and made it work, and I just don’t take pride in caring for my lawn and blah blah blah.

Another one suggested that I mow during the day while my wife is gone and let the kids run around in the yard while I do so.

There are plenty of ways to make sure this gets done.

Yes that sounds totally safe, no way a 5, 3, and 2 year old are in ANY danger while I’m pushing a mower with a spinning blade. There was one time I was trimming with my kids outside and our 2 year old comes up and tries to stick his hand into the trimmer.

Yeah, no they need to be watched over while one of us is mowing. So, of course I was angry at their response.

So, he has time to plant a garden, but not to mow his lawn?

But being a mid-western American used to mid-west passive aggression, I got an idea. I’m just going to convert our back yard and alley into a garden, we’re talking “Hanging Gardens of Babylon” levels of ostentatious.

The tallest, bushiest, and vine-iest plants I can find. We’re talking pumpkins, sunflowers, corn, watermelons, berries, lavender. Even getting some stinky plants like onions, garlic, globemaster, or cleome (which benefit the garden because they attract bees and humming birds and repel leaf eating pests.)

This guy has some weird priorities.

The garden is going to be a THICC BOI surpassing ANY length or bushy levels my grass ever got. The added benefit is, while it’s a lot of work to start up.

Going out and pulling weeds is something safe I can totally do during the day with the kids running around in the yard.

It is never a good idea to antagonize your neighbors.

Our fences on either side are chain link, so all the smelly plants and tall-bois are going right along side the property line of the neighbors.

I’m calling it my “Spite Garden.” Everything will have labels like “Curb Appeal Cucumbers” and “These Peppers are Permitted” and my personal favorites: “*jack-off motion* Jalapenos” and the raspberries labels are a picture of someone blowing a raspberry, courtesy of my artistic wife.

He could put this effort into the lawn and keep his neighbors happy.

There are no city ordinance on gardens other than they cannot be in the front lawn and as long as I keep it maintained and weeded, there is nothing the neighbors can do.

I’ll never understand why people want to antagonize their neighbors. Their complaints were entirely valid.

Read on to see what the people in the comments have to say about it.

This commenter offered some more ideas.

Here is a commenter who really wants to cause problems.

This commenter loves his garden.

If you enjoyed this post, check out this story about neighbors who intentionally tank an open house sale because they want to buy the property themselves.

Here is someone who thinks he should make the garden even bigger.

This person loves the idea, though.

He may have won this battle, but his neighbors have a lot of time and money to get revenge. That is what is so dangerous about antagonizing neighbors. You just never know what they will do next.

With the money and effort he spent on this garden, he could have hired a neighbor kid to mow the lawn for him, but that would be too nice.