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Post by daylilydude on May 6, 2018 6:08:01 GMT -5
If you actually caught someone in your garden getting some of your vegetables, what would you do and let us know why?
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Post by daylilydude on May 6, 2018 6:13:20 GMT -5
I put "none of the above" as it won't let me add one that I forgot... I would turn my better half loose on them...
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Post by pepperhead212 on May 6, 2018 6:57:43 GMT -5
I'd throw some of those pepper flakes at them, that I use to keep rabbits out.
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Post by paulf on May 6, 2018 7:06:38 GMT -5
Most of the time when there are people in my garden they are just curious. I have several sightseers every year taking a "self-directed tour" and nobody ever takes anything or damages anything. In our small village there are folks who think it is OK to browse since we all know each other. They probably knocked and got no response, so why waste a trip.
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Post by octave1 on May 6, 2018 7:55:07 GMT -5
It depends. Is the garden fenced? In that case the police will be called immediately. Otherwise, I'd just shout.
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Post by spike on May 6, 2018 8:16:15 GMT -5
I voted 'throw rocks at them' and for good reason. My cousin lives next door and is always in my garden, either looking it over or swiping my veggies. WHAT A MONSTER!! Granted I have lousy aim I guess if it was a stranger, in my fenced yard, mucking about in my garden, I would call the cops.
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Post by guruofgardens on May 6, 2018 8:24:28 GMT -5
If they were in my home garden the neighbor's dogs would alert me. The community garden is another story since it's out in the open. We get visitors all the time walking their dogs, or just themselves. Many stop and chat, some ask for produce if it’s in season. We get to know most of the people. However, since we are next to a high school, the kids frequently walk down the hill for lunch. We have had vandalism, more in the past, but last year some of them got brazen and impaled a fellow gardener’s pumpkins. Must have been fun. I hope things get better since we now have 3 newer gardeners.
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Post by ladymarmalade on May 6, 2018 9:00:32 GMT -5
I don't know what I would do if I found someone IN my home garden. People just don't do that here. I think I would quietly watch them from the house and see what they did- hopefully just leaving without taking anything or causing damage.
If I came upon someone at the plot I don't know if I could muster up enough moxie to actually SAY something to them about not helping themselves. But I think I wouldn't have problems asking them which garden is theirs. When produce goes missing in my community garden plot, I always hope that the person who helped themselves was in need. That being said, last year we had some real problems with thievery (there is a huge apartment complex right next door), so the village is having signs printed up and posted around the garden that says things like "If you didn't plant it, don't pick it" and "Produce is the Property of the Individual Gardeners. Please visit the sharing station for excess produce."
My answer to the poll was to give them a what for and then give them some vegetables too. Because I'm still nice like that and all about getting people to try new vegetables and flavors.
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Post by bestofour on May 6, 2018 10:09:05 GMT -5
I hate for you all to realize that I'm a gun toting, crazy, southern woman but the facts are the facts. And since I live rurally on 7 acres and could scream for days without anyone hearing me, I would listen to their reason and more than likely give them anything they wanted, but I would do it with weapon in hand. A few years back we actually had a man and woman pull off the side of the road and start digging up plants, putting them in large Rubbermaid containers and loading them in the back of their truck. I was in the yard and actually did run down the driveway screaming like a wild woman and grabbed 2 of their containers and drug them back up the driveway. The man had the nerve to yell at me "well can we at least have our containers back" to which I yelled "no". They had to have planned this in advance because it would be too much of a coincidence for them to be driving by in a pick up with shovels and empty Rubbermaid containers in the back just waiting to be filled.
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Post by Laura_in_FL on May 6, 2018 16:22:20 GMT -5
Given that my garden is in a privacy-fenced backyard, I'd call the police.
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Post by meandtk on May 6, 2018 16:27:47 GMT -5
I think it would depend on which part of the garden they were in. If they are in the part by the house, I'd go get an explanation, as it might be the garbage man dropping off a few bags of leaves for my compost pile. If they are a ross the road, they would have to walk 50-100 yards, depending on which of the three spots they were in. Having walked that far across private property, I'd be inclined to take a weapon with me as I sought an explanation. I'd simply be more comfortable. So far that has not happened. I hope it doesn't.
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Post by september on May 6, 2018 22:13:30 GMT -5
We live down a very long private driveway that we share with our next door neighbor house. There is no reason for anyone to be wandering in that is unconnected to either of us. If I saw a strange person in my garden, I might think it was a friend or relative of our neighbors. If I saw them taking too many things, I would definitely go charging out and have a chat with them. I do encourage my neighbor lady to come and take any tomatoes or green beans she needs once I have my freezer full. She only takes enough for a meal or two, and usually I have to bring tomatoes and cucumbers over to her house to try to get rid of my excess.
Before we moved to our current property, we lived next door to a resort on another lake. Some of the kids staying at the resort started pulling up my onions and throwing them around. They said they were trying to feed them to my horses! I had a talk with the resort owner.
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Post by hairymooseknuckles on May 6, 2018 23:25:06 GMT -5
I guess it would depend. Way out here in the boonies, we don't take kind to people trespassing, but I wouldn't hurt someone for stealing something to eat. We'd have a heart to heart though.
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Post by farmerjack41 on May 6, 2018 23:32:14 GMT -5
My property is completely fence and gated, so anyone in my garden is trespassing. Do not have a problem giving excess vegetables to folks that really need them, but not to thieves. Being retired from law enforcement, might have an upper hand on handling this situation, know it would not take an officer long to get here if I did call. If the day ever come that our country has a real melt down, this may well became problem for folks in some areas.
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Post by ahntjudy on May 7, 2018 7:10:49 GMT -5
Sadly, in this day and age, it is no longer always a good idea to confront strangers in many situations... That said, I would be secretly hoping that whoever was in there was staying on the paths and not tromping down the nice soil in my growing beds...
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stone
Pro Member
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Post by stone on May 7, 2018 8:27:18 GMT -5
I would be secretly hoping that whoever was in there was staying on the paths and not tromping down the nice soil in my growing beds... good luck with that... Have you ever invited people to visit and had to bite your tongue because they stepped on plants that were too close to the path? Even with a truck access drive through the middle of my garden.... Seems like people want to stray off the path. As far as trespassers go.... Carry a shotgun when confronting these uninvited "guests"?
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Post by coppice on May 7, 2018 9:14:43 GMT -5
Inasmuch as the last time I had a problem. I believed that it was the town cops. I told the first one I saw that if the town PD felt the need to check my corn patch that: 1. They should come in the day time when they could actually see what they were doing. And 2. That I would supply plant manuals if they needed them.
It was worth noting that they never found anything criminal in those night time searches. And my corn patch was undisturbed thereafter.
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Post by ladymarmalade on May 7, 2018 10:09:11 GMT -5
Inasmuch as the last time I had a problem. I believed that it was the town cops. I told the first one I saw that if the town PD felt the need to check my corn patch that: 1. They should come in the day time when they could actually see what they were doing. And 2. That I would supply plant manuals if they needed them. It was worth noting that they never found anything criminal in those night time searches. And my corn patch was undisturbed thereafter. I have an uncle who, once upon a time, was into growing "exotic" plants. He always planted them deep in the corn patch, and would try to space things so that it wasn't obvious from overhead that there were lots of plants that weren't corn in the corn patch. Maybe someone speculated out loud and the police thought they better check it out.
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Post by ahntjudy on May 7, 2018 11:56:39 GMT -5
Have you ever invited people to visit and had to bite your tongue because they stepped on plants that were too close to the path? Ha Ha Yes!... ...My sweet woodruff...I just looked away...
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Post by bestofour on May 7, 2018 14:05:27 GMT -5
I have another story about people walking up and asking for garden vegetables. May I have some of your tomatoes? Sure I said. He took every single tomato. Red, green, in between. Did not leave big, small, or otherwise on the vine. Learned a hard lesson. Walk to the garden with the person.
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Post by Laura_in_FL on May 7, 2018 17:15:43 GMT -5
Oh, that's awful. What a jerk!
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Post by hairymooseknuckles on May 7, 2018 17:33:26 GMT -5
I have another story about people walking up and asking for garden vegetables. May I have some of your tomatoes? Sure I said. He took every single tomato. Red, green, in between. Did not leave big, small, or otherwise on the vine. Learned a hard lesson. Walk to the garden with the person. In a situation like that, someone would have had to pull my foot out of their you know what.
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Post by carolyn on May 9, 2018 6:38:12 GMT -5
I have another story about people walking up and asking for garden vegetables. May I have some of your tomatoes? Sure I said. He took every single tomato. Red, green, in between. Did not leave big, small, or otherwise on the vine. Learned a hard lesson. Walk to the garden with the person. bestofour, that is terrible. My mother in law had always had raspberries and strawberries to sell before I married my husband. She told me one Sunday while they were at church someone came and picked all of her ripe raspberries. she never did know who did it. another time she had someone stop insisting they had ordered berries... the woman wouldn't go away! she kept asking for her berries. another time a husband ordered them and his wife wouldn't take them because it was the 4th of July. I grow to sell the produce anyway... everyone who stops knows that its FOR SALE! it usually isn't a gift or a donation ( there have been exceptions though. last year I gave a friend of my son corn for the freezer for her family. yesterday she called and wanted to come pay for it. I had totally forgotten about it. I never thought once about it after it left here. she was in need and I had corn. another friend last year had a disaster occur via the 'coons in their patch and I was able to donate them a whole patch of corn, too.)... except for the few who steal the change jar. losers! so, its not a problem I have had. Yesterday I had a plug tray of 100 tidal wave petunias I had started for myself.... umm, she was willing to buy them so I was willing to sell them. I will plant something else. no big deal. so, normally it isn't stolen but I suppose I could have people help themselves and I would never know.
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