Glenna, you have lost a child, and I convey my condolences to you and the rest of your family.
Without asking, I did things like pruning their shrubs and pulling weeds. I didn't want to embarrass them. I trimmed back the blackberries on their property for a couple of years to a limited extent. Eventually the blackberries got to be too much, and I gave it up and the berries took over.
If there was anyone who really suffered the most from this infestation, it was the grandmother. She lived upstairs, and could not get down the stairs on her own to the front door to unlock it if someone were to come calling. However, there was a stairway up to the second floor from the back yard. Before the blackberries took over, I could get through their back yard and up the back steps to help her out, fetch her the mail and bring it in to her. After the blackberries, she was imprisoned in her own house, with no way for anyone other than family to come in.
Exactly, which is why I mentioned my need for patroling our yard on a continuing basis to keep the blackberries at bay. I do not use a commercial poison.
The people who purchased the home were also a multi-generational family. Grandma stayed at home and cared for her grandchildren while the parents worked. Grandpa's occupation was vegetable growing. He turned that vacant patch into a lovingly-tended garden.
Now, they've moved out, too, and there's a commercial gardening service that comes by and maintains the property. But grandpa's garden has grassed over, and no one's growing vegetables there now.