I've an ethical question . A few years back , my backyard neighbor , came to me , and demanded I cut down my mature trees , along our shared fence ( Oleanders ) . I told her I like the shade and privacy they provided and love to see the flowers . They were planted more than thirty five years ago , long before I bought this place , and are a part of the reason I found it so attractive . I told her no , I wasn't cutting down my trees . She complained they were tired of raking up the leaves from ny trees . The mowing service they hire attaches a bag to the side of their mower , that vacuums up the grass cuttings and leaves . They've never raked their yard . Three days later , I saw through the fence , that they had put new plants in . We had an exceptionally cold winter that year . I lost several oleanders that had been growing along the fence , exactly where she wanted me to cut mine down . The plants they had put in , were a pomegranet tree , a peach tree , and a grapefruit tree . They cut down their pomegranet tree because they had planted it so close to the fence that it was trying to push it over . One of the oleanders that died , had a small sprout at its' root , that was healthy , so I removed the dead oleander and fed and watered the sprout , which is now doing well . The fig tree growing next to it , on their side of the fence , is exsatic about the extra fertilizer and water and is now happily producing heavily , where it had been producing very little previously . They never harvested it , but the squirrels usually did . When it's dry , my sprinklers are watering both my plants and theirs , and I routinely fertilize my red tips and crepe myrtles along the fence . In the past couple of years they planted some kind of vine that grew up both their trees and mine , producing some kind of melon , which dropped off and rotted in my yard , so I began tossing them gently over the fence into their yard . This year not only are the melons in my yard but they've also planted a vine that crossed over the fence and is producing an abundant crop of some kind of long pod on my side of the fence . So the question is , do I let their crops rot in my yard , gently toss it across into their yard , or simply harvest it ?