Part of my yard is fenced and part of it is not.
I never speak to my neighbour at all…
Certainly would hate them chatting over the fence or making a noise .
I feel sorry for the poor woman
One of our neighbours seems to pounce on us or the one the other side as soon as we go out the back , I know they don’t in reality, but sometimes you just want to be out there in your own bubble.
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My neighbours are sheep…they never shut up but we have some good conversations sometimes 
It’s a weird set up where we live. Our house has garden all round it. Our neighbours whose house is actually nowhere near ours have to walk up a tiny path alongside one side of our garden to reach their garden where it then opens out. We can’t even see their house from ours. That is completely private as we planted a big hedge many years ago. The side where their path is you can just see a head passing by as we have a fence and lovely tall shrubs.
In the winter we can see them a bit more on the path as the shrubs have died down and we just say hello if I am hanging washing out.
She is as quiet as a mouse but he is SO loud and can’t speak, he can only shout. They spend a lot of time in their garden as their house is dark and gloomy and when he is on full volume I just stick my music in my ears!
Well surely there’s your answer then. Get your property fenced.
The part that is not fenced is not allowed to be fenced by ordinance.
We only speak to neighbours at the front of the house.
I wouldn`t like them hanging over the garden fence,then again our 6ft conifers would deter that.
Neighbours are a strange dynamic. Previously I lived in a tenament of 8 flats, and you passed each other on the shared stairway on a daily basis, so got to know everyone pretty well, and they knew you…to the point where daily discussions of what you were watching on tv,/ what you were having for dinner,/ did you hear the racket coming from so and so’s house, took place. The back garden was nothing special - certainly not for sitting out in.
Now I have moved to a street where the neighbours are lovely, but I barely see them. They smile and say hello, but there is no chat other than a “Hi how are you?” Friendly but not at all intrusive. I much prefer it this way. Everyone just gets on with their own day. I really couldn’t cope if every time I went into the garden, a neighbour would pop out for a chat - I think I would end up being a bit rude and asking them just to leave me alone! 
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Our houses are above the ground at the back so we have steps , its at the top facing across that she see’s us or over the gate which I suppose I could put up a big one to stop it, its not an issue really.
Easy solution.
Tell them you’re a bit deaf and you don’t use hearing aids except for tv.
Then when they speak you can just ignore them.
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I had a neighbour before I moved, who was hard of hearing. They yelled at the top of their all the time, even when they had their hearing aids in.
“AH’VE MAH EEEEERS IN THE DAY - AH KIN HEEER YE FINE!!!” 
The sound of their voice echoing through the close was deafening in itself!
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I thought that you women like to talk a lot. It’s what women do, isn’t it? 
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Very funny 
Although, we do get more sense out of chatting with each other, than we do with you men mumbling and grumbling around the place
When my children were young we were the only young people in the street, all the rest were pensioners
They were very kind and friendly but it was a right old gossip shop, they had plenty of time in their hands and loved a good old chat and the back gardens were quite open, with only 3 ft fences allowed in bet between
We used to joke it was like a zombie film. You stepped out in the garden and very old people started converging on you very slowly! If I was nippy, I could get the washing in before they noticed me and got there 
There was no answer really, I used to sneak out and sit in the corner so they couldn’t see me, carry on with what I was doing if it was gardening and not stop to chat, run noisy garden equipment etc. yes, they got on my wick
The trouble is, like this young mum, you’re spare time is precious and you don’t always want to spend it hearing their life stories
But you’re not assertive enough to tell them so
If it happened to me now, I’d chat for 5 minutes, then say “it’s been nice to chat but I need some “me” time in the garden now so enjoy the rest of your day”, then move away, start doing something, sit in the chair with my book or put on my headphones
If they didn’t give up, I’d just repeat it until they did, and stop responding
But that’s me now, I wasn’t like that when I was young
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When my two were very young we had elderly neighbours who were the loveliest old couple - one of those that had been married for hundreds of years, and still held hands walking down the street. They were very friendly and loved the kids to bits. The husband died, and his wife developed Alzheimers very very quickly after that, and started putting all manner of things through our letterbox then accusing us of going into her house and stealing things! It was very sad, (and scary) for all concerned.
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My neighbours I’m very lucky no complaints from me.
Quiet and unobtrusive… yet friendly when passing . Perfect.
I use that tactic on my wife!
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I love to chat with neighbours, but the only one I ever had an issue with, was when I rented an upstairs flat (from a mate of my dad). The guy underneath, was a pensioner, and had time on his hands, and an allotment.
The train station, that would get me into London to work, was about 5-7 minutes walk away, around the corner and across the road. I would time my leaving home so I didn’t have to wait long on the platform. Old Tom would hear me go down the stairs, and open up his door for a chat. Argh!!! No matter how many times I told him I was on my way to work, it didn’t deter him.
I hardly went out evenings so he had plenty of time to knock later if he needed to talk.
Huh. You’re asking for a thick ear, young man. 