Dear Prudence,
My next-door house is a rental, and in the back, there’s a small square of land only visible to my property and one other neighbor. The landlord doesn’t take care of much and has only weed-whacked that space twice in 10 years. During the pandemic, I sent an email where I volunteered to tend the space for them. The response was a curt, “Mind your own business.” Since then I have watched the worst North American invasives (Japanese knotweed, tree of heaven, etc.) growing, saw trees sprouting at the foundation, and noticed a colony of rats using the thicket for cover, so I would go over and take care of the worst it. But last year, they put up a huge “No Trespassing” sign where only I could possibly see it—clearly addressing even my small attempts at reducing the damage. I’m caught between the ethics of respecting personal property, the moral imperative of preventing harm when I can, and the impact on my own enjoyment of my yard watching the rats scurry out of the thicket of knotweed. I don’t understand why anyone would turn down property-improving free labor. Why? What’s in it for them? Why piss off neighbors to turn down the free labor? But which one of these moral values (respecting their rights versus protecting their property and mine) is key? Are there any solutions other than trying really hard to ignore it, or doing stealth gardening?