Garden theft/sharing

A garden site had a thread where the posts detailed recent rising thefts of home garden produce, probably, they surmised, fueled by rising grocery costs.

Some talked of kids nabbing watermelons as kids have done for a long time. That's not OK, and if I caught neighborhood kids nabbing MY watermelons there would be talks with parents and so on.

Adults stealing produce because they are hungry? That's not OK either, in my opinion. If you come to my door and ask, saying you are hungry, I'll give what I can and be generous in the giving. But don't steal from me.

Adults stealing produce because they have money but just don't like the current high price of produce? Those are scum. I'd call the police. At least.

I've thought about the unthinkable, what to do if someone asks to share and there isn't enough to share? Probably I'd decide on a case by case basis. Remember the story of the grasshopper and the ants, where the ants labored and the grasshopper partied? I'm not going hungry to feed a grasshopper.

I try to be generous when it comes to sharing extra plants and seeds. The company I bought sweet potatoes from sent me some extra plants and a neighbor got those, there wasn't enough room in my garden. And I've had gardeners share with me as well, I think as a group many gardeners are generous people.

But gardening is hard work. If I choose to share that's one thing, but don't think that because I'm a sharing person, that I will allow theft.

I kind of had the opposite problem this year. I plant a lettuce garden to feed my tortoises every spring. I tell my neighbors to help themselves, since it's always much more than I can use. As long as it's being harvested, it usually keeps producing through September. This year, for whatever reason, nobody except me used any, and it all went to seed by then end of June.
I certainly would have a problem with people stealing from me. In St. Louis, we have more of a problem with landscape theft. People will come take bushes or potted plants in the middle of the night. We had a restaurant that lost a whole row of banana trees. Of course, if you steal from a restaurant here, you're on camera, so they were caught the next day. Brilliant.
Isn't it getting hard to grow down there in Texas? I keep hearing that you folks have a heat and drought problem. Hope things get better!

Noelle

My summer squash have all died. The winter squash gave me a bunch of squashes but have shut down, hopefully they will restart when it gets cooler. But the melons are producing, the sweet taters have nice growth, the grapes are graping, and I still have bell peppers and sweet million cherry tomatoes although the tomatoes are shutting down too. The couple eggplants are just now starting to produce.
If there was no drought, I think I'd have enough to can, I bought new canners just to start doing that. Maybe next year.

Heck, one year Connie and I planted three Leyland cypress trees on our land. Some lowlife cut one down apparently to take home and use as a Christmas tree. What sort of scrambled brain would choose to do something like that for a religious holiday?

How could you chop down someone else's tree... Just go to a Christmas tree farm or get a plastic one....

Re: Sharing
We have a communal garden (block of 'apartments') and I've planted lettuce, rocket, general leafy things for my snails. One woman made a comment about my window boxes being in the garden and I said she could help herself. Did she? Nope. So now I've got too much and quite a bit of it is wilting because of the stupidly hot weather and no regrowth

I've got to believe that if you steal a Christmas tree, karma's coming for you soon. Nothing says 'Happy Birthday Jesus' like grabbing an axe in the middle of the night. That's just incredibly wrong.

Noelle

Theft is theft. It doesn't matter if they come in the yard and steal veggies or they steal plants or they steal your decorative gnomes.

I grow a lot of veggies I don't like. Why? Because the plants are cool and they do well here. I grow hot peppers, and I can't eat an extra shake of black pepper! But I tell people "Hey, you can take the peppers..." but they usually don't. So I end up picking them and taking them to work and someone ends up taking them.

Squash.. hate the stuff. I used to grow tomatos(I'm mildly allergic to raw tomatos), squash, and peppers. I'd pick and bag up a bunch, then go over ot my friends who would squeel happily at the fresh grown produce and trade me for cooked meals frozen and ready to heat-n-eat. So they got fresh produce, I got to grow cool plants AND got cooked food I like to eat. Win-WinWin.

Originally Posted by rcarichter

Isn't it getting hard to grow down there in Texas? I keep hearing that you folks have a heat and drought problem. Hope things get better!

There is an amazing drought article in todays's New York Times, detailing a drought danger I had never even heard of: Salts on the electric lines.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/12/us...lines&emc=tha2

Another drought danger that I have seen and experienced personally are broken water lines. My main line broke, and the water bill was around $240 and the city was kind enough to adjust it down but I still paid $190. Broken lines have happened to several on my block as the dried soil cracks and shifts.

I have been cutting down the dead and dying wildflowers in the wildflower patch the last few days, in order to plant a fall garden in that space.

A faltering economy and suddenly rising produce prices as a result of drought is not a good combination. I think even modest little home gardens are going to be a plus next year when produce prices rise even more.
Those who can have chickens (I cannot within the city) are fortunate as beef prices are going to rise because of rising feed prices.

A garden tip: Apparently many vining crops have strong root systems. I have heard it said that grape roots can be 10 feet long. I know my melon vines are doing very well.
The summer squash died, they were container grown and I think the containers dried out too quickly after being watered.

Wow! We have, every August or so, what we like to call a 'drought', but other than higher food prices, nothing really ever comes of it. I had no idea how devastating and far reaching the conditions were in the south. Most of the year, we have too much water. We've never had power outages from drought. Our water bills are negligible unless you have a pool (I don't). I sure will pray for some rain for you guys!

Noelle

Originally Posted by Lucille

Adults stealing produce because they have money but just don't like the current high price of produce? Those are scum. I'd call the police. At least.

Post a sign in the yard.. "Trespassers will be shot. Survivors will be prosecuted"