'Karens keep stealing from my garden': Sneaky neighbors bring bags to 'grab and run' with their stolen veggies

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Remy Millisky • Writer and Editor
Feb 22, 2024 11:00 AM EST

This person already didn't love gardening, but then their neighbors started stealing from them… That just made the situation even worse. 

A lot of folks find gardening to be a peaceful way to connect with nature. The pros are that you get to watch living things grow, and if you're lucky, you'll get to eat the literal fruits of your labor. Even if all you grow is a handful of string beans or a few teensy tiny tomatoes, they taste better because you're the veggies' parent. You raised it from seed to sandwich topping, the full veggie life cycle. The cons of gardening are that you have to touch dirt and mulch, a caveat that some of us just can't get past. Yucky. 

This person is not actually a gardener. Their property was already equipped with a lovely lawn and a garden bursting with herbs and vegetables. However, it wasn't long before this person realized their neighbors were helping themselves to the herbs and veggies. Helpful Redditors spent quite a lot of time telling the original poster (OP) how they could get back at these thieving neighbors. I bet these ladies could've had all the herbs and veggies their hearts desired, if only they'd decided to talk to their neighbor instead of pilfering. 

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  • 01
    fun PAINE
    via Markus Spiske on Unsplash
  • 02
    Karens Keep stealing from my garden On a property with a beautiful lawn and it came with side garden running along the fence bordering the side walk. Full of herbs like mint, lavender and oregano, some small carrots and other stuff.
    via u/ZeroOvertime
  • 03
    Quickly learned that several older ladies in the neighborhood felt entitled to my garden. They were reaching through the fence posts up to their shoulders, going as far as their arm could reach, grabbing what they could and fill their plastic bags. They would
    via u/ZeroOvertime
  • 04
    wait till someone was out of the house or early in the morning to make their grab and run - so they were well aware they were in the wrong. Just knowing they were doing this whenever we were out of the house, made my skin crawl.
    via u/ZeroOvertime
  • 05
    So I ripped out the garden. Less work for me now. It honestly became too much work and messy to have but it wasn't a big deal and there was plenty of it to go around. I hate gardening so it was a relief to get rid of. I also didn't like that the garden had become an invitation for thieving grannies to intrude on my property. I was planning
    via u/ZeroOvertime
  • 06
    on removing the garden eventually but was not in a rush and didn't care enough. They just accelerated my plans to get rid of it all by fueling me with spite. IF ONLY they has asked and introduced themselves, I probably would have kept it a little longer OT
    via u/ZeroOvertime
  • 07
    EDIT: For the people getting mad at me for removing the garden, I DO NOT like to garden and I did NOT LIKE THIS garden. It was in all honesty a garden. It was poorly planned, jumbled together, messy with weeds everywhere and even when cleaned up it looked like horseshit. I have a black thumb
    via u/ZeroOvertime
  • 08
    so I couldnt fix it if I tried. The garden had to go eventually, I just didn't care and wasn't in a rush until I learned they were staking out my property to trespass and take things from it when I wasn't home. So as petty does, I got rid of it 100% out of spite
    via u/ZeroOvertime
  • 09
    EDIT2: I am not going to maintain a garden I don't want. So don't suggest how I could have kept it because I was going to remove it anyways. Electric or barbed fences are not permitted where I live so don't suggest that either. This includes chicken wire. I would have let them take all the plants home (roots and all) had they asked, but since they didn't and I am petty, no plants for anybody.
    via u/ZeroOvertime
  • 10
    EDIT3: stop suggesting I plant poison ivy, poison oak or nettles. I want to be able to roll around MY yard with my dog and ENJOY it without a care
    via u/ZeroOvertime
  • 11
    EDIT4: people accusing me of depriving poor old people from food. Ha!!!! I live in a well-to-do area and the only depriving I am doing is boomers who feel entitled to trespass on my property. This was a garden of just herbs and some carrots that were the size of my pinky toe. Nobody is being
    via u/ZeroOvertime
  • 12
    deprived of any real food to speak of. For whatever reason they just felt entitled to it; ignored me the day I moved in, damaged my fence and planned their trespassing excursions when I left the house.
    via u/ZeroOvertime
  • 13
    EDIT5: people upset that this was boring. Its supposed to be. Its petty i.e. small and trivial. Im not going out of my way drop a lot of money or waste my time to plan an elaborate revenge. Im not going to hurt anyone. Im just going to be petty.
    via u/ZeroOvertime
  • 14
    Sarcastic-Lemon. The amount of people not understanding that OP does not like gardening is almost as shocking as the image of some old grannies' arms reaching thru a fence for some leaves
    via u/Sarcastic-Lemon
  • 15
    ZeroOvertime OP. Maintaining a yard is so much work. A garden is 100x that. I work 60 hours a week and balk at the idea of pouring my spare time and money into something I don't care for, Maybe someday I might get into gardening but not anytime soon.
    via u/ZeroOvertime
  • 16
    malakamanforyou. Sister bought a corner row home. Little garden on the side that my father planted and maintained. All was well, until the 90 year old Greek neighbor just let himself through the gate and helped himself to tomatoes and cucumbers. Sister
    via u/malakamanforyou
  • 17
    caught him and bitched him out in English, Greek, and Spanish. Little old Greek man shuffled home in shame, but still holding the stolen goods. Gardens are fun!
    via u/malakamanforyou
  • 18
    CoderJoe1 So you were growing thieves? ↑ 468 Reply Share ZeroOvertime OP. As of today, my crop of thieves is no more.
    via u/CoderJoe1
  • 19
    Curious_Solid1450- The people getting mad are the people who steal from others gardens
    via u/Curious_Solid1450
  • 20
    RJack151 I would have added a sign: Garden removed due to constant thefts.
    via u/RJack151
  • 21
    kylexy929 Years ago I would grow bell peppers along the side of my house cause it got the most sunlight. Several times I caught people walking by reaching through the fence and taking them. Chicken wire put a stop to that.
    via u/kylexy929
  • 22
    ZeroOvertime OP · I can barely keep house plants alive, maybe one day I'll get a garden again but not anytime soon. glad your bell peppers are safe now!
    via u/ZeroOvertime

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karens gardening stealing garden demanding karens in the wild entitled karen story theft karen entitled people petty revenge petty
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