Urban neighborhoods aren't usually the casual, "drop in anytime" types. And here in CA, where it isn't uncommon not to see someone you consider a friend for months (or even years) at a time, it's really hard to get to know anyone besides your immediate neighbors on either side of you.

We have always counted ourselves lucky to have nice, quiet neighbors on both sides of our lot. And over the years, we've developed a friendship with one of the families, occasionally having dinner together. We're also members of the Home Alert group, so we've met a number of other homeowners here.

But gardening has been the best way to meet people, so far! It took years before we could afford to re-do the landscaping, and folks here have been so appreciative of our efforts, I think it keeps us inspired to do even more work on it.

Considering some of the horror stories that have been posted here, we feel VERY lucky to live in our neighborhood with such nice people everywhere, and hope to remain here for some time to come!

The people on both sides of me are very nice. Especially those on the side with the better view of all of my stuff and over 200 pots of stuff in the "ICU" (cuttings, rescues, newly purchased, baby sprouts, etc...) They've been enthusiastic, supportive, and understanding of my efforts to start new perennial gardens all around the yard. Today, they told me they like all the flowers (even though there aren't many yet) and they plan to add more flower beds to their yard next year. They did a new veggie patch and brick patio this year. More than half of the people on 'my' part of the street have more flowers than last year. I was afraid people would think I was trying to 'out-do' everyone but I haven't sensed any of this mentality at all - more like they're thinking 'if that scrawny girl can do all that, we can dig a few more holes.' There is a lot of foot-traffic on my street, and a few people have said they like looking at my garden out front.

I like this thread idea, its a relief from the usual media bad news to read about what's GOOD in our lives.

We are also fortunate enough to have nice neighbors. Although we're in suburban orange county, I've met many of my neighbors on my street and around the corner.

My husband and I are both army brats, and we're used to meeting new people, and enjoy it. He meets a lot of the neighborhood men when he's in the driveway working on his 1954 Kaiser Darrin or 63 red Valiant convertible,needless to say!

And recently, when i re-landscaped the front yard, everyone walking by while i was out there working had something nice to say.

Some of the people in our neighborhood are really nice, and I like to give my energy to them. They kind of make up for the "what did I do to deserve these" neighbors. I often run into one, who lives down the street from us, at the local nursery, and we always chat it up.

I have moved 14 times in 30 years of marriage and I think I can truthfully say that I've never had "bad" neighbors. There were some I liked better than others, but overall, good people. We lived next door to 3 college guys one time and on a July 4th weekend, they knocked on our door about 1:00 in the afternoon, invited us (kids too) to the party. We declined but they said, "well, then, one more thing. If we get too loud, will you please come and tell us to quieten down before you call the police?" They were a hoot! They did get loud, we did go over and mention it, and they did suppress the noise. I hated it when they graduated and moved away!
Mimi

I had wonderful neighbors growing up, and I also had wonderful neighbors and landlady at the last apt. I had in San Francisco-my landlady was like a fairy godmother/big sister/friend all in one, I was so very lucky. I returned to my hometown and I now have one of the nastiest, most inconsiderate, horrible neighbors in the world. I was not expecting this as the town has not changed much; these people are awful. For a long time I would wish they would hit the Lotto and move away, now I just wish they would move. I can no longer wish them good fortune as they have just been so awful for so long.

Howdy all,

You know, I think the house I live in now (moved in January) is the first time I've had truly good neighbors! Everyone here is not only nice, they keep coming by from all over the neighborhood to drop in and tell me they love what I'm doing with the house/yard. This is a pretty old neighborhood, and there are people here who have lived here forever, including 3 generations of families on various streets. Even people who have lived in *my* house years ago still live nearby. Because of this, I feel a real sense of community, and I know just about every peice of history about my house and who did what to remodel (or in some cases, "remuddle") the place. It's neat!

And, thankfully, a far, far cry from my last places!

-Angela

The elderly couple next door to me are really sweet people. Last week they gave me a hosta out of their garden, and today brought over homemade banana nut bread. And one of our neighbors across the road saw me working in the garden and came over to loan me a book on shade gardening. But all our neighbors (so far) are nice.

We are reletively new to the neighborhood and I have made friends with my neighbors initially b/c they too have kids but one big piece was our common interest in plants and flowers. We admire each others creative ideas and successes and exchange helpful tips. How could you not like that in people?! :)

My next-door neighbors are an older couple that look out for our house when we're gone, love my dogs and are just overall nice. They also have the best looking clematis vines I've ever seen.

I would have to say our next door neighbours are the most amazing. Not only do they bring us cookies and pies and fudge by the bucketful. The husband has my compost pile on his property (1/4 acre city lot) because I've used all mine up gardening. He also turns it (we have a working pile of 8-16 yards) which is a huge job. He also goes to the local farm with his truck and brings in load after load of composted manure.
If that isn't enough he helps me spread the stuff,helps edge my beds,will mow are lawn if we are away. If I am out working and am a little sweaty, he will make me a milkshake or my favorite Rhubarb punch (which he made from his own rhubarb)
They are probably the most generous people in the world. I don't have enough space to rave about all their attributes. It is eough to say we are one of the luckiest families that I know to have such greeat neighbours.
Mary

I have a neighbor who started out very prejudiced against me because of my religion. I mainly ignore his insults, redirect the conversation to positive topics and have just kept giving him treats from my garden. He is very competitive and always likes to brag how much earlier his tomatoes, strawberries, etc are than mine, but over the 7 years of living next to each other we have actually become sorta friends. He never turns down my treats and even shares with me from his harvest. It has taken a lot of patience, but was well worth it, because I no longer grind my teeth when I see him. Peace is worth a lot.

Mary (Sandalwood), milkshakes and compost help? Gwan! That is so sweet of them. You are blessed.
paulyn, that's a positive story. It's good to have a way to work things out like that. Instead of nasty hammering because of differences, you can have grumpy-yet-good-natured badgering - and now garden gift exchange, even better!

I don't hammer at our one set of our neighbors, but I do hear insults coming from them against us. We don't perpetuate it from our end, which makes me feel like we will have the clearer consciences and live our lives with less regrets. Anyway, I love hearing these stories, because they are very heartening.

Wendy

I have GREAT neighbors on two sides (we are on a corner), who more than make up for the rest. Both couples are seniors, and my one neighbor, Red, is in his 80's, and he puts my husband to shame with what he gets done outside himself. He and his wife are very helpful- kept an eye on the house for us when we purchased it, before we moved in, and then, kept an eye on my folks for us, too. He shared lots of information with us about the neighborhood, both people-wise and plant-wise- knew the good hardware store, where to get the snow blower fixed, and knew who was going to park in my driveway, since the house had been vacant for a time. It's nice to know that you can leave your house on vacation, and someone is keeping an eye out for you.

My favorite neighbor brings me free horse manure between 7 and 10 yards this year sofar . : )

We had a VERY nice neighbor when we lived in town. We first met her the day we were moving in when she brought me some marigolds to transplant. How very nice! She's a widow about 80 years old, but acts about 60. When we moved there, youngest DS was only 2, but he loved her to pieces. He would go out and "help" her in her yard and garden -- when he disappeared, I always knew where he was. Every fall when her kids would come home to make apple cider, they'd leave a jug for us on the back step along with homemade doughnuts. Yum!

Now that we moved out in the country about 8 miles away from her, she's still one of our best friends. We pick wild blackberries on our farm and take her a big batch. She keeps half and makes us homemade blackberry jam with the other half. She's such a dear little lady.