Victorian rope tiles - available at the garden centre. They also have more modern versions.

Wickes do Decking Boards in 2.4m or 3.6m lengths. Laid on their edge they should keep the soil in your garden. Perhaps you could grow a small hedge along inside that to secure the soil. Many garden centres will have bundles of hedging plants like berberis for about £10.00 for 10 plants sometimes greatly reduced at this time of year. Plant them 2' apart and keep them cut to about 2'. This will show where your garden boundary is without taking away from the open plan appearance of the front garden.

Why not show your nieghbour that the way they are doing this might mean your soil washes away and suggest to them they fix it at no cost to you. after all they have created the problem. I do agree about the Victorian rope tiles I have modern made ones and love them.

you could just get used house bricks if you want it cheap and cement them in next to the slabs but just under the hight you cut the lawn then mowing will be a breeze and it wont cost much in time or money .

Drawback with house bricks, nosey, is they spall in cold weather, the frost gets underneath and they flake and crack. You can get paviours, brick shaped blocks, designed for garden use which won't spall.

ow fare enough you can get blue bricks that can withstand cold weather so its still know problem . i think there enginearing bricks .

I agree with Drc - your neighbours will quickly get tired of sweeping off the soil that will fall onto their slabs, and might be glad of suggestions - they may be willing to share the cost of the Victorian tiles, as they will look nice on their side as well as yours.

Thank you to everyone for your suggestions. I do have some hedging plants down that side already but they haven't been in long enough to hold the soil together so I think I like the decking board idea - simple to do and should be pretty cheap. I did consider that featherboard fencing stuff and screwing some stakes to it and just hammering it in but not sure how long that would last. Drc I'd love to approach them but let's just say they aren't the most considerate of neighbours to start with......

In that case its easier to do it yourself - perhaps take photos before you do, date and just keep in case of future trouble!

Sounds like good advice Drc. Does anyone think the featherboard idea might work?

Its hard to see what your problem is any chance of a photo?

I've tried uploading photos but it just crashes my computer I'm afraid - I think I'll stick to the decking boards idea as suggested by Scotsgran, should have confidence it will be strong enough and will last then - had a look on Wickes and it isn't expensive.

I don't visit very often because this gardening thing is all new to me but you never disappoint with your great tips and ideas.

Thanks again to you all.

We used the decking boards to make raised beds. I did a blog on them so you can see what they look like. We used 2x2 posts. Cut them 3 x the depth of the board so they will hold and then sharpen the end going in to the soil. Up end them on a flat surface and screw the decking board to the flat end. Then if need be use a probe to start a hole for the post and hammer them in. You may need more than a 2x2 at each end if you use the 3.6m boards. Sorry to hear of yet another less than ideal neighbour.