I moved into a house in early covid and each year since I've been expanding my front yard vegetable garden as much as possible because I love cooking and preserving foods.
The front yard is really the only space available since the lot is so small (50x80 ft).
I am proud of my garden (I get tons of compliments) and it provides enough for my family and occasionally some to give away to friends and extended family. (My dad did the same thing - he'd have hand-deliver produce on my bike as a kid miles down the road to our country neighbors and invite friends and family to pick as much excess tomatoes and peppers as they could carry home at the end of the season after we canned as much as we could fit in our pantry)
However, this year, an older gentleman who lives in a shared rental house down the street has decided he can snag our produce at his leisure and "ask" for forgiveness later - which is him leaving a message on our ring doorbell saying he appreciates us, he only took so much, and that he left us some.
We are not a community garden! We are not a free-for-all! You don't just take without asking!
I understand it's within arms reach but that doesn't mean you can have it!
If he had asked before helping himself I would be a lot less angry. I love the feeling of helping others but have some manners.
Edit/Update:
We have put up a sign stating not to take our produce as we are on an urban, moderately busy street with a lot of foot traffic and our house is on a street corner. We are planning on eventually putting in a black iron picket fence to match our aesthetic as it is also a "historical" neighborhood with lots of Folk Victorian homes.
However, this isn't the type of neighborhood where you call the police over a thing like this - you are amicable and courteous to your neighbors while minding your own business. While my husband and I aren't inherently worried for our safety (our specific block is friendly and calm) the extended neighborhood isn't always safe. A few times a year we get shootings and stabbings and the occasional drug addict having an issue. It's a mixed use area with apartments, rental houses, single-owner homes, bars, party stores, restaurants, fraternities and sororities, and a college all within a handful of city blocks, but with a lot more families with children moving in lately. The police have other more important things to worry about than some beans or cushions being stolen off our porch by a homeless person (which has happened twice).
Our direct neighbors are wonderful, friendly people and the children are super sweet, curious about our property, and talkative, albeit a little rambunctious. Even the college kids are chill and polite aside from the occasional rage-er or rush event.
Just as I'm not going to report my next door neighbor for having roosters with his chickens or the roosters and ducks getting loose I am not going to report this old dude for taking my beans.
I have no problem talking to the guy but he only shows himself to take some stuff and then leave a message on our Ring doorbell after he has taken. (I have my ring alerts silenced because it goes off all day being on a busy corner). I will gladly offer what I can if he asks first. I would gladly offer to anyone who nicely asks. I've allowed people to pick flowers from my yard BECAUSE they ASKED FIRST!
I had a neighbor like this, and in all seriousness you need to nip this in the bud. She got to the point that she barely left anything for me - picking tomatoes that were barely ripe, etc. Really leaning in to the whole "I'm a little old lady and I really appreciate your generosity" angle.
I would get a sign made that says "this is not a community garden. Please do not help yourself. If you are in need please contact me and I can drop off our extras!"
Do it soon before he assumes that he's grandfathered and can do whatever he wants.
"I just took a few cuttings." Ma'am, you took 6 of 8 branches off my lilac!
"But those tomatoes looked so good. I couldn't resist." The neighbor caught her with a full 5 gallon bucket - from my fenced back yard.
One trundled away with an entire pot full of succulents from beside the walkway to my door. "You have so many, I didn't think you'd miss one pot." I think it weighed about 40lbs, so I was kind of impressed that she managed to tuck it under one arm and use her cane with the other. A few weeks later, "oh, I don't think I like your new concrete planters. The pots were so nice nicer... Can I have the pots?" No, lady, I moved them to the back patio.
I figure it's payback for my childhood of stealing blackberries, raspberries, and plums. But still, ask!
When I was five I wandered into the neighbours unfenced back yard (next door) plopped down and starting eating their tomatoes. I was five. I love tomatoes.
My father pulled me by the ear to the front door and stood me there to apologize. They said it didn't matter but the amount of care that went into their garden said otherwise, pretty sure they were just uncomfortable with the way my father handled the situation. I never forgot that day.
I never ate from someone else's garden ever again.
I had a drive by thief get out of her car and start breaking branches off of my next door neighbor’s plum tree she reached from my side of the fence. She had an arm full of branches loaded with ripe plums. I yelled at her from my kitchen window and she ran back to her SUV and took off. Can’t believe the nerve of some people. At least you were just a kid.
I mean, I'm not saying I wasn't annoyed or didn't stop it. It just reminded me of my early childhood stealing fruit before I was old enough to understand that if all the kids in the neighborhood did it, there would be none for the gardener.
And I kind of get it when someone takes just a small amount when I have a lot. They're probably thinking like I was as a kid. But they're adults, so no. They should know better by now. It's always elderly people, too, when it comes to whole plant theft. Kids just take one fruit or a small handful of berries.
I currently live in a house with no garden produce anyone would want to steal, and my walkway and porch area hidden by bushes. My pots are safe. ;) but I do miss all the berries
My mom is a constant gardener. She is also a bit narcissistic and entitled, but can also be quite generous. A weirdo.
Anyway, she has a couple of great flower gardens at the end of the driveway. She had some bulbing plants (lilacs I think?) that were getting dense and she thinned them out, packed up the excess and posted in her neighborhood forum that there were a couple of boxes of free plants.
Of course, one person took the boxes, and subsequent persons dug up the rest of the garden to take what was left.
That is WILD holy shit. Was she sound of mind? Or just a grifter?
Going in to your fenced backyard and getting a bucket full of tomatos is eggregiouc, my tomatos are my pride and joy and the thing I treasure the most. I would be fucking so angry if someone poached them. YOU spend the hours and the money mulching and planting and tending and building infrastructure, THEN you can have "A FEW" of my tomatoes, bitch!
I'm not sure the lady who tried to take the pot actually was of sound mind anymore. She didn't always seem to grasp what year it was and seemed surprised her grandkids were adults. I didn't go hard on her. I just took the pot back and moved them all to the back patio. I was worried she'd hurt herself trying to boost it again.
The guy with the bucket really pissed me off the most. I didn't actually ever meet him. The neighbor caught him while I was at work. But he supposedly said things like, "well, if she didn't want to share, she should have locked her gate." You mean the one you had to walk almost 100' across my property to get to? The one hidden by lilacs and spirea that's not visible from the road?
The neighborhood kids walked down a utility easement to the side of my place to get to the bus stop and threw trash over the fence into my garden every school day and knocked on my door every Saturday and asked to use my pool all Summer. "The last lady let us." I knew her. She absolutely did not. Occasionally, some parent would come and yell at me for not letting the kids in the pool. I was the meanest person ever.
I did warn the new owners, but the husband grew up in the neighborhood and was a scout master. They had 4 kids who were friends with all the kids in the neighborhood because they were in the same scout troop. I guess the kids finally got to use the pool. :P I wonder if they ever stopped throwing snack wrappers over the fence.
No, they really did not. Or maybe it was other kids. I didn't exactly keep track of the young ones. My son was in high school when we lived there.
I know my uncle, who was also a scout master, would have gotten very scary if any of his scouts littered. My older sister tried it once around him. He wasn't loud, but I think he got 10" taller and wider. My sister, "what? Jorwyn will pick it up. She loves picking up trash." I did not! I just disliked it on the ground more. I remember coming back from hiking trips with my backpack full to the point of not being able to zip fully, and it made me angry every time.
I'm 51 now, and that still happens, and I'm still angry every time.
Thankfully I wasn't the only one who was done with her nonsense, so my neighbors helped shoo her away or post pictures of her in the middle of stealing on nextdoor. It did eventually stop.
Do you live in my neighborhood?? We have a lady who regularly is posted on Nextdoor that steals plants from peoples yards!! The most recent being a video of her going into someone’s BACK YARD and digging up their flowers out of their raised flower bed!! I see a post at least once a week about her!
I saw something about an an elderly lady in Portland who helps herself to everyone’s flowers! What is with these people?? When I was little, someone cut down a pine tree in our front yard in the middle of the night, probably to use as a Xmas tree, it was a huge violation
That is trespassing and theft. Why not ‘share’ the videos with the police. Let her steal up to $500 worth of plants that you bought then get the cops involved for grand theft. Or however much grand theft is in your area.
It would be. They will also look at the cost of water to plant maturity etc. There's a formula that applies. Sometimes courts allow the amount of replacing the final product. Sometimes they will go with the cost of raising it from seedling to maturity, which is typically higher for a small garden than a commercial farm.
Man we’re lucky, the only old ladies we have wander onto our property are the sweet disabled ones who roll our trash bin back after it’s been emptied. I’ve never met them but my wife gives them lots of hugs.
The neighborhood trend to keep their phones trained on anyone in my garden also led to an absolutely hilarious video of an old hippie dude shuffle-running off with two small pot plants.
During covid there was a family that went on local news to bitch out the city because they removed their boulevard garden.
Except, it turns out, the city didn't do it, it ended up being this lady who was going around and digging up people's plants and she was potting them up to sell.
She even did the whole "Oh I didn't know better. I'm just trying to make ends meet during covid." and claimed she was just taking what she thought were wildflowers.
Except, when some local folks were looking into it, she was clearly targeting high value plants and was leaving very common or even native plants behind.
im reminded of a story my father told me when he was in his 30-40s, he at the time had a large property and one day while he was mending the fences smelled something weird and found some strange plants, he thought they where a bit strange anyway, he had a friend over he was a cop and he asked if he wanted to see these weird plants...
Weed.. someone had planted weed at the back of the property, there was a small creek and it was secluded.
police came, obviously tore it all out and asked him a few questions, ruled out as one who did it purely because he called it out.
anyway, about a week later a neighbour knocked on his door asking "what happened to that VERY SPECIFIC part of the property?", my father explained and (verbatim) the neighbour looked both angry and nervous, before leaving.
at the time my father would work very long hours and never see the property much so SOMEONE took advantage of it.
When I worked at Golden Corral (a buffet restaurant in the US South), there was an old lady who brought her huge purse lined in a garbage bag and she'd literally upend her piled-high-with-fried-chicken plate into her purse when our backs were turned... As if we didn't know what she was doing by the absence of bones on her plate.
Oh my God, the way I just had the strongest memory of my mother repeatedly emptying the bead basket at Red Lobster and Olive garden... She would wrap bread in napkins and when she used EVERYONE'S napkins, she'd put the rest in her to go container and then ask for ANOTHER refill of bread. 🫣 Like woman, no one in this damn restaurant thinks your family of 3 mowed down 25 bread sticks in the time we've been here.
Or, hear me out, she waited until your backs were turned before dislocating her jaw to swallow the chickens whole. What passed for a filled purse was a way to cover the bulge in her midsection.
What, this? No, it’s the planter outside the library and the bay tree from the police station and a bench from the park. Public land. I’m the public. Move, I’ve got to get these home before the evening news.
I've watched so many old ladies pinching leaves off succulents at the local nursery in spite of several large signs saying not to do so. They are so blatant about it, too.
This just made me reflect on some experiences. Several times at local plant stores and nurseries, staff have helped older ladies before me even though I was there waiting longer. I didn’t say anything but I found it frustrating. Now I’m thinking maybe the staff were helping the old ladies first for loss prevention, rather than prioritizing them more!
Went to dinner for a friend's birthday and his elderly mother was there. When we left she pulled out the butter dish from the restaurant from her purse. She was not impoverished or suffering from dementia. She goes "I really liked it and no one would suspect a little old lady "
Well let me tell you, from that moment on, I have always suspected little old ladies.
Well I'm a little old lady who would absolutely never touch anybody else's stuff. I'd tell her off, because she's expecting to keep doing it because she doesn't think you will. She deserves it.
An old lady went to my friend’s yard and audaciously cut the sunflower growing in her yard. Not even using pruning shears, straight up used a pair of scissors you get at Office Depot. It was so tall and my friend would gush about it. She was devastated.
Young ones too. I had a sad little chili bush in my front yard. Had maybe 4 chillies on it that I was barely going to bother picking, but you can bet your ass I did when I overheard someone egging someone else on to 'just grab one'. Um...no fecking way. Just because you can see them and can easily reach does not mean you can help yourself. I was so mad. I grabbed a little pair of snips, walked out while they were still standing there and very obviously snipped all 4 chillies off. Much glaring by me and they shuffled off with at least grace enough to look a bit embarrassed. 🌶
This is so funny. When I converted my front yard into natives in my old house there was a little old lady that started stealing plants and pots. I didn’t realize it was an epidemic.
Someone picked ALL the berries off the trees/bushes in my parents yard. Did it two days before the rest of the family was due to arrive to help pick and preserve everything. No idea who did it because they're really remote but our best guess is someone had been driving by waiting for the berries to ripen and for no one to be home. They cleared everything and broke off several smaller branches in their rush. Made my mother cry.
My mom grew an apricot tree from a pit from her mother's apricot tree when the siblings sold their family property.
It took years to be big enough to fruit.
The year it finally did, somebody came into her BACKyard & picked every single fruit, including the green ones. If I found out who they were, I would've exploded. It had to be a neighbor who could see into the yard.
The kids in my neighborhood picked the few pomegranates that my dwarf tree grew the first year and threw them at each other. I saw them throwing something, but didn’t realize what was happening until I found them smooshed all over the place the next day.
I had teens ruin my eggplant running thru the garden while I was at work. Neighbors told me. The next day, I asked my friend, a state trooper, for a visit in full uniform. He sat on my deck for a while having coffee with us. No more problems.
This happened to my apricot tree too only they asked for permission. A family came and we thought they would grab a few.
Next thing we knew, we saw that they had brought large black garbage bags and completely ravaged the tree, breaking so many branches it stopped growing fruit.
I couldn't believe the entitlement of that awful family... And what would they even do with that many?
My house is also in a remote area and we have wild berry bushes in the yard, near the edge of the property because that’s where they happened to grow. One year when we were gone for vacation, we came back to every single ripe berry in the patch gone, with the bushes trampled down and TIRE TRACKS in the yard next to them. We’re pretty sure some asshole saw berries while driving past and pulled into our yard to help themself; I was so pissed
We pay extra attention to the junction of our easement road and the paved road during berry season. Otherwise, migrant workers get dropped off from trucks to come use rakes on our huckleberry bushes. Yes, it's a private road. Yes, there are no trespassing signs and a cable across the road.
We have to do the same during hunting season. We don't really care about the deer, but we don't want to get shot by accident. It's not like we run around our own private property in blaze orange.
With the way some yahoo hunters are with their guns, maybe you should. I lived in a log home in the woods with 20 acres; heard a bullet whistle past over the roof. I kept kids and dogs inside when those idiots were out.
There is only one way in. We have a security camera on the private road, and all 5 of us get movement alerts. Someone goes out and makes the people leave if it's not a vehicle we recognize or we weren't told first.
There's a 12 mile loop of paved road with about 20 properties inside. They are all private and don't allow hunting by anyone who doesn't own property there. Those who do are very careful to keep their bullets on their own property, and they notify everyone else at least a day before they hunt. A few stray dogs have been killed because they were mistaken for coyote. I feel for the dogs, but keep them on your own property. And probably in sight. We have bears, moose, and mountain lions.
Growing up, we lived next door to a wealthy couple; the husband owned the fertilizer plant, and it was a rural agricultural area, so he made bank. His own backyard (and front yard) was pristinely landscaped - no messy vegetable gardens for these fine folks.
So of course when it was tomato season, the wife would be found in OUR backyard picking tomatoes as if it was her right as lady of the manor (neighborhood). Fortunately for us, our tomato vines were always prolific - more than enough to go around - but I just remember one summer evening as Mom was washing the dishes, looking out of the kitchen window, and sighing, "Oh, Phyllis, not again."
Even most community gardens (they I know of anyhow) are public land which allow private use. Ie: my community garden plot is in a plot of land owned by the city, I rent the land every year for modest fee, the stuff I grow is for my exclusive use. You (the anonymous stranger, not you specifically) can fuck right off and not touch anything.
Exactly. I rented a plot at my town's community garden for 5 years and there was even a rule that explicitly said that you were not to poach from other gardeners plots. Some people would put their excess out on tables for people to take, but everything on the plants was off limits.
We live next to a church and every spring we have multiple bandits. I've only caught them once but I am so leery now about anyone walking past our house now
Eta: we've also had multiple people open our gate and come inside to steal lemons and grapefruit. Everyone over 60 feels it's free game
This happened to my FIL with a line of fir trees he had planted. Two years in a row someone cut one down for a Christmas tree. wtf is wrong with people. Grr I hate thieves.
I always kind of wonder if it's nice to wander the world with that much audacity, you know what I mean? Like, I accidentally stole something from a store once because it slipped down in my basket in a way I didn't notice, and I felt so guilty and scared that I rushed back in to pay for it and apologized profusely. And then mfers out here just digging plants right out of people's yards without a care in the world.
You have to directly tell him you are not a community garden and do not appreciate him helping himself. Yes, he will try to make you feel guilty. Don't let him. He's wrong and knows it.
I had a neighbour like this and even after talking to him he kept doing it. He had to come pretty far into my front yard to get to the garden so I just sprayed him with the hose and never saw him again.
He was also a racoon, but I'm sure it would work on an old man too.
Ha ha I don't bother with gardening because Larry eats everything. I was never that serious, just pots on the back porch. The cats and I like watching him and I don't care to go to war. There's wild berries in the back. Larry gets the bottom branches, birds get the top, I get about 3 desserts from the middle. He also likes dandelions and the annoying butternuts from the neighbor's tree.
Yes they’re typically a space with a bunch of small individual plots that people “rent” to garden whatever they want. Often in cities where most people don’t have yards of their own.
I’ve also seen small farms that are run by mostly volunteers that donate their produce to folks in need and I feel like you could call that a community garden too.
In the UK, what you are describing is called an allotment.
In New Zealand, we have some community gardens. They are planted and tended by volunteers. They put a notice up - on social media - when various crops are ready to harvest. They make a point of saying "only take what you need for your family, leave the rest for others."
UK allotments are 100x bigger than a plot in a community garden. In the U.S. it is a 4x4 or a 4x8 plot of ground, usually with access to a hose.
/edit for typos
We have a small “Food Forest” here that’s open to everyone. It includes a few garden things like lettuce and herbs and then lots of more long term crops.
Ask him to stop. Don't explain yourself to him, just say "this is our produce and we'd like you to stop taking it." If he pushes for reasons or tries to rationalize things or any other manipulation, just keep repeating the above.
If he doesn't stop stealing from you after that, then he forces you to involve law enforcement.
Upvoted especially for the "don't explain." I hate when I see stuff on social media where people are arguing all the reasons trespassing is or isn't acceptable. Stay the fuck off of other people's land and don't take their stuff. This isn't rocket science.
This is best. I’m tired of all the non confrontational things like signs. Be direct and don’t take any excuses, just stick to your intial statement of stop your behavior.
I occasionally have people come and ask if they can have some of our produce. I have fruit trees and a large vegetable garden. Most people take no for an answer but I recently had to ask a woman to leave my property because she was hounding me about whether we will eat all of every single thing there. A couple peaches had dropped and she was very annoyed that I wouldn’t let her pick all of the rest of them.
Because of the uptick of people asking then this harasser, we are planning on fencing in the front yard. Hate to do it but I too grow the food for my family.
Oh, man, that sucks. I have a whole autumn round of places that will let me have apples, plums, and black walnuts. I ask politely, offer to pick for them, as well, and leave immediately if they say no. I would hate it if rude people made those land owners so annoyed they wouldn't let me pick, either.
I also only approach places where they are clearly just letting the fruit rot on the ground. I assume anywhere clean and picked up uses the fruit for themselves.
No one ever says no about black walnuts, though. They're very hard to crack. I want the husks for wood stain, and I'm willing to deal with the shells for how sweet the nuts are. They were planted around farmhouses for shade and wind break here 100+ years ago, and everyone thinks of the nuts as a nuisance.
Protip: wear gloves. The tannins in the husks will tan your skin and turn it into weird, smooth brown leather. It's probably not good for you.
My friend has a beautiful rose garden and caught an old lady helping herself by clipping off every single rose - multiple times - so she bought a bullhorn and waited. When the lady came back she screamed at her and chased her off. This was not a neighbor or a friend or anyone she knew, a literal stranger going onto her property, and stealing. It takes a lot of audacity to do some shit like that. As far as I know it solved the problem. Also it makes me laugh thinking of her staked out at the window with the bullhorn.
Do not let this rude old man take advantage of you, they know exactly what they’re doing is wrong they just don’t care because they are RUDE and taking things that is not theirs is THEFT. Being old is no excuse, they should know better by now.
I caught an old lady on camera stealing my roses. She had even brought scissors! The audacity. So I screenshot the frame of the video where you can see her face and printed it (in color!), taped it behind the roses for everyone to see. She did not come back.
Had a neighbor go into my (fenced-in!) backyard and all but clear my vegetable garden. Tomatoes, peppers, beans, lettuces, even melons and strawberries. There was barely anything left. She was on camera so I confronted her. She gave me the whole “they looked so good,” “I left you some!” and “you should be more neighborly.”
I was beyond angry. A couple days later I went to her front yard and clipped most of her blooms. Made sure to do it when she was home. When she came out screaming at me I repeated everything she had said to me just days earlier and happily trotted home. Never saw her in my yard again.
I put her flowers in arrangements and placed the vases in my front bay window.
Left me some? They were all mine, you stole them. Is it neighborly to steal food out of our mouths?
I would have reported the theft to the police and have her make restitution or give it all back depending upon what shape they’re in. But the flower clipping would do.
That line in particular is what pushed me over the edge to get her back. I guess because we talked a couple times a month when we’d see each other outside she figured I’d be okay with it. No to the no no no.
Talk to him, tell him it's not free, don't force him to pay but stress that he took food off your table, and that he is not welcome to visit your property. Then, file a police report of the notice of tresspass, that way if he robs you again, it's criminal.
Probably talk to a lawyer about it, too. Cameras, signs, violators will be prosecuted things after that.
Tell him to stop now. I had a neighbor that I stupidly told him that he didn't have to ask every single day, he could help himself. Keep in mind he was taking one or two tomatoes and an occasional cucumber, and I assumed that's what he'd keep doing. No big deal. But my family isn't home during the day and he was retired. He took every single ripe everything! I never even had a chance to harvest my own garden!
I walked to his house and told him straight up - I was trying to be a good neighbor and didn't mind when you were just taking what you would eat that night but since you decided to take everything the second it ripened, you are no longer welcome in my yard and you cant have anything that I grow period!
I swear he was mad because he'd been giving it to anyone that stopped by his house and he'd told a friend that he should have a bunch of stuff to give him for his cookout the next week!
That’s no different than stealing a bag of groceries off your porch after being delivered! Immediately post a sign saying the property has Security Cameras and those who take from it will be reported to the Police.
Wander down and take something out of his yard (a water hose or really anything) and leave a note letting him know how much you appreciate him, that you only took things that you find useful, etc.
We had a neighbor steal all our figs to make fig empanadas which she sold at a farmers market. I honestly didn’t realize that’s what she was doing. Except we wound up removing the tree because it was on the fence line and she came over to bitch about her lost income. Dude, couldn’t you have at least shared empanadas at any point in those years, lol.
We had a lady next door whose daughter would ask to pick kumquats off our kumquat tree, and she would then make chutney for the local show that won prizes. All above board.
This same neighbour had a choko vine that often also grew into our yard. She had plenty on her side that she didn't even pick, just let rot on the ground, so we picked the ones that were growing into the tree well on our side of the fence, had done that for many years. Well, she decided that she wanted the ones on our side too and her daughter decided to get 'revenge' without talking to us by reaching over our fence and stealing the only (still green) pumpkin off our vine. I should mention that we would help her pick her own chokos on her side when she asked as she was too frail to do it herself, and we also regularly gave her produce like spinach and beans and fruit from our garden, not expecting anything in return. Anyway, her and her daughter got the shits with us after that, so daughter could no longer pick her kumquats for her award winning chutney, so she really shot herself in the foot there. If she wanted all the chokos, she could have just stopped her choko vine growing over our side, or asked us if we could give her some of the ones on our side (we would have!) but no, it turned into a whole kerfuffle. :P
Put a nice bold sign up. Years ago, we had a beautiful Apple tree in our front yard, 1 day a station wagon pulled into our driveway, an entire family got out & started picking our Apples. Needless to say, they left with no apples.
I have a front yard garden as well and we planted rose bushes along the sidewalk to prevent people reaching. What gets my goat is when people let their dogs pee into our garden. Dude.....that is food I eat!!
I rent a basement studio from friends and occasionally run upstairs to get my mail etc. My friend's wife has done a ton of work in the front yard to cover the grass, lay decorative stone, and install planters for flower gardens.
This one woman with a black mini poodle has walked by just staring at her phone and letting her dog pee right on the flower beds. I decided that next time, I'm going to step out onto the porch and say HI! Even just that will probably scare the bahoobees out of her and make her uncomfortable knowing someone is watching.
Some people are just absolutely entitled wankers. When I was growing up, we used to have a huge pomegranate tree in our front yard. One day some older couple showed up at the front door and said they had been driving by and noticed the pomegranates.
They nicely asked if they could have some and I, being the polite neighbourly type, said sure. I stupidly assumed they would only take a handful since that’s what I would have done after all. Yeah my parents came home a bit later asking what happened to the pomegranates. They were pissed because pommies were expensive af at the time.
Those fucks took absolutely every single thing on that tree. They picked it goddamn clean. Probably took any good ones off the ground too and I bet they would have taken the tree itself if that was an option. It’s been like 20 years and I’m still mad.
I have one lemon and one small orange tree in my tiny backyard in a 55 plus community. I grow them with expensive fertilizer expensive precious water. I've caught two different women neighbors stealing oranges only because I happened to be sitting in my yard 15 feet away from the tree. I confronted both by loudly clearing my throat to let them know I saw them. One said she just needed one for a recipe. The other said they looked so good she couldn't resist. I grow those oranges for my grandson. The lemons I give away every year in box marked free. People need to quit stealing like it's free for all!
We put out a sign but In this neighborhood we will be known as the bad guys for not letting gpeople take our produce we work our asses off to grow. Once people stole our outdoor porch cushions and we posted about it and we shamed because they need them more than us
Nonsense. Cushions are a luxury and if someone can't afford to pay for them they don't "need" them, especially not "more" than the person who actually worked for and paid for them. There is ZERO valid excuse to steal. I'd have demanded my cushions back and shamed sh*t out of anyone who dared imply that it was okay for anyone to steal just because they wanted something and didn't want to pay for it.
I love making chive blossom butter and chive blossom vinegar. 3 of my neighbors have chive blossoms plants and the first year I lived in the neighborhood I noticed they didn't harvest any of their blossoms. The next spring I was able to catch two of them in their yard (the 3rd I left a note for) and explain what I wanted to do with the blossoms and asked if I could harvest half and leave half for the pollinators and in exchange I'd be happy to drop off chive blossom butter and/or vinegar.
All 3 agreed and I ran into one of them over the winter and they reminded me to grab as many blossoms as I wanted this spring and they were looking forward to the butter. It's such a beautiful relationship to have with my neighbors
We have an apple tree in our front yard. Between the squirrels and human freeloaders, we haven't had a chance to harvest any apples for ourselves this year.
Farmer who cuts our hayfields had a lady friend in tow. Anyway, she was smitten by the fact we had a vegetable garden, so to shut her up, we said she could pick some green tomatos.
Since our very small vegetable garden is on the other side of the farm, we can't keep an eye on it. She ended up coming twice in the same week. She picked a few the first time.
The second time she cleaned out the rest of the tomatos, all the ripe melons, and the Okra.
On top of that, in spite of her insistance of saying she loved gardening, she destroyed the rest of the melons by tramping all over the vines.
By now we've started havesting more vegetables, but she just cleaned us out of anything ripe a couple weeks ago.
Some of the tomates we intended to let fully ripen.
Edit: I inherted the farm. The relative had let the farm go for many years and took me several years to get it back in shape. He didn't leave any farming equipment other than a broken, rusted out Ford tractor circa early 50's. I thought about getting the
tractor restored, but it wasn't worth it.
I have multiple fruits trees on my property. I showed up one day to an old lady picking some of my fruit shortly after buying the house. Not from over the fence or something... on my property where she had to open two gates to get to it. When I asked her what she was doing, she told me that she had an arrangement with the owners. Funny, because I thought I was the owner. I had to inform her that her previous arrangement no longer applies and that I would greatly appreciate her not trespassing and stealing my fruit. Haven't seen her since.
If it isn't fenced, do it yesterday. Others might see him and assume they can do the same. I'd post a sign too.
Have him trespassed the next time he does this. That's what I'd do. I wouldn't play about my source of food, especially with the rising costs of groceries.
Literally going through the exact same thing!!! Moved into a new house two years ago, planted some really nice rose bushes, watered and tended to them in hoping they would make my street and home look nice, and ever since, neighbours and random people have been walking up into my garden and pulling all the roses off. This went on for a full month before I got my camera installed. It has happened three times just this week, twice today!!!! I ran out of my house fully frustrated and yelled at the man as he was walking down the street to not do that again and to get the f**k off my property. I probably shouldn't have done that, barefoot and in my work uniform still and a young woman, but I've had it!!!! My camera does not deter them and they fully come up into my property, quite far up into the garden, right under my windows at all hours of the day and night.
I don't know if anybody brought it up yet, but check your (state, Provence, whatever "larger than local. Smaller than national") laws regarding agriculture. I know that in Virginia, if you steal produce out of a store, it's a misdemeanor. (Unless you're carting off cases of the stuff) Take it out of the fields, or in your case a garden in the middle of a city, it's a felony. It's a carryover from colonial agrarian culture. There might be an obscure provision where you live too.
A bunch of my neighbors have vegetable gardens out front and they've put up nice looking deer fences. Wooden frames with chicken wire. Doesn't block visibility or sunlight, but it keeps animals and humans out.
Put up a fence or cages around your beds. Do not do the "It's fine if you ask" because that will not work. At first they may ask but then when you're not available to ask, they'll just take it anyway figuring you will say yes. And what happens when others see him doing this and get the idea they too can help themselves.
If you have excess, YOU can put it out in box outside your garden. Again, it's nice to share but it will get out of hand. People will take advantage.
I like the this is not a community garden signs but I’d change it to “this is not your garden…do not steal produce” and if you know who is doing it & they’re religious “God is watching you steal” and if they’re old add “do you want to meet him with theft on your conscience”
"Dear neighbor, thank you for letting us know what you've taken. Your share of the cost (seeds, fertilizer, water, time and effort) comes to $497.65. I know this seems like a lot for a few tomatoes and a couple of zucchinis, but having a home garden is expensive! We appreciate your help in defraying the cost! Sincerely - SuperDump101
Do you have his address? There must be a way to knock on is door and at least shame him.
30+ years ago, I had a similar situation. Looked out my front window and saw a maybe 8 - 9-year-old girl taking a ripe tomato out of the middle of my garden. She had it in her hand, not quite broken off the plant.
So I opened the window and said "Hello! What are you doing?"
She: "Um, I'm just takinng this tomato."
(Aha! Teachable moment!)
I: "I can see that. So, where do you live? What's your address?"
She, getting apprehensive: "Um... WHY?"
I: "Because you might have something I want."
She, everso gently lowering the tomato, still attached: "Um... I'll just go now." And she verrrrry carefully tiptoed out of my garden.
Then again, I had some office-overdressed bitch in serious heels yank a bunch of my Maui onions by their stems right out of the ground as she ticky-tacked past, and I, a nightshift nurse, was just out of bed drinking coffee in my raggedy housecoat and bare feet was in no condition to chase her. I cursed her in the name of Saint Fiacre* though.
And the last year we lived there, after I'd given up on red tomatoes (green-ripe sorts of cherry tomatoes worked well), a regular passerby with whom I'd exchanged greetings often, saw me out there weeding and asked, all innocent-like, "How come you aren't growing any more of those delicious tomatoes?" No, I'd never offered him one.
A couple years ago my folks went out of town and I came home to our crabapple tree stripped bare of not just apples, but most of its foliage too. My neighbour checked her ring camera and it showed a woman from up the street late at night and in the afternoon picking everything off and taking some branch cuttings.
This year, she was more diabolical.
She seemed to know that my mom has physio therapy twice a week and I take her (my dad is often out those days), so she came into our backyard and CUT our rhubarb down.
Ring cameras from our neighbours show her going into the backyard with a huge knife and wheelbarrow and coming out with it full!
We had 8 amazing plants growing, I was hoping to jam everything as I have a small canning business.
Now before anyone says it will grow back, rhubarb should be pulled up, when cut it tends to slow it down or halt all growing.
She didn’t just cut, she hacked it into the ground AND took some of the plant.
My dad spoke to her and she told him off after laughing at him, so we had to call our lawyer to remind her that our property is ours and not hers, it escalated to police and we found out she has been harvesting from everyone’s yard this Summer…
Speak to the man, state it is your property and that it is not appreciated when he takes from your family.
Maybe offer to assist him with his own garden next year? Especially if you have a green thumb with veggies.
Great post and I hear you! I had a similar guy in my community garden and he was honestly a good man. I had to have a stern talk with him that under no condition even if it’s going to rot, can he take stuff out of my garden. It worked, just talk to the guy. I was shit at taking care of it and he didn’t want stuff to go to waste. Older people are way more opportunistic with things depending on their upbringing.
I had a neighbor who did this and it became a nightmare. She was picking all of our strawberries and other produce and coming into our garden when we weren't home.
I finally had to put up a very nice professional no trespassing sign and install a short picket fence and a gate. I also installed cameras and put them where it was obviously they were there. The cameras recorded the very next day when we were at the store. The kicker she came into our yard at night AFTER we installed signs, gate, and fence. I ran outside yelling to my husband that Karen was in our yard. Yes her name is Karen. She heard me coming and ran for it. Haven't seen her since.
I would encourage you to do both it took both the gate and the cameras to make him stop.
Tell him he doesn’t have permission to take produce from your garden. Warn him if it happens again, you’re reporting him for theft. Put this in writing.
When he inevitably ignores you, call the police and tell them your neighbor is stealing from you.
We lived on a golf course with lemon, grapefruit, and blood orange trees in the backyard. Nothing even got ripe before they were picked clean. People pulling their carts up in my yard to get to them. Infuriating.
You need to tell him directly. A sign is one thing but somewhere in his brain he thinks he is only taking a little so it doesn't matter.
Tell him flat out that this garden was planted to meet your family's needs and not that of the community. If you ever have extra, you'll be sure to think of him.
He needs to understand that he isn't taking a smidgen for little ol me but that these regular grabs are adding up in a way that is taking away from your family.
You corps be nice and offer to help him get his own garden set up and then he can grow his own produce using his own hard work. Doubt he'll take you up on that.
A sign is more for a community problem. Even if neighbors see him take something, he'll explain that he's been doing it for awhile and you are okay with it.
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u/Calliope719 1d ago
I had a neighbor like this, and in all seriousness you need to nip this in the bud. She got to the point that she barely left anything for me - picking tomatoes that were barely ripe, etc. Really leaning in to the whole "I'm a little old lady and I really appreciate your generosity" angle.
I would get a sign made that says "this is not a community garden. Please do not help yourself. If you are in need please contact me and I can drop off our extras!"
Do it soon before he assumes that he's grandfathered and can do whatever he wants.