‘She can't have my garden’: Duplex tenant tries to force their neighbor to switch garden beds with them, claiming they're entitled to the ‘better side,' gardener tenants refuse and get the landlord involved

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Jesse Kessenheimer • Writer and Editor
Mar 20, 2025 9:00 AM EDT

Some people were born to grow fresh vegetables. Natural gardeners praise their skills of growth and can feed their entire family with just a few seeds and hours of soil tilling. For those of us who aren't exactly gifted at keeping any kind of plant alive (as a crusty, brown pothos plant gathers dust on my office desk), I can certainly see how a skill like this would be envy-worthy. 

But to spite your failed gardening skills, would you go to great lengths to steal your neighbor's garden box? Not likely…

This entitled tenant thought that she could hoodwink the landlord into stealing her neighbor's garden after complaining they get better lighting on their box. However, they forgot to account for the countless hours spent tending the garden, the expensive gardening supplies, and the TLC their garden box received. So next to the neighbor's dry, hardened soil bed, this lush garden wasn't the only thing turning green.

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  • How far would you go to defend your crops? This tenant was willing to throw down with management, the landlord, and their entitled neighbor after their beloved tomatoes and cucumbers were threatened!

  • "AITAH for telling my neighbor she can’t have my side of the garden"

    Cheezburger Image 10481479680
    via Kampus Productions

    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

  • My partner and I live in a multi- family home with 4 separate units. We have a large backyard with a two-sided garden. Of note, my partner and I are the newest tenants to the house. Last year,
    via JohnnyBoz45
  • my partner wanted to grow vegetables in the garden. He talked with the one other neighbor who uses the garden. The other neighbor told him that she wanted a specific side, so my
    via JohnnyBoz45
  • partner took the other side. We, my partner and I spent a lot of money on new fresh soil, plant food, everything. Spent countless hours tilling and making it great for growing. We did a great job.
    via JohnnyBoz45
  • Our neighbor did not do such a great job. She did not buy fresh soil and nutrients like we did. She was constantly blaming her lack of growth and our success on the amount of sunlight. They are
    via JohnnyBoz45
  • literally a foot apart. There is no difference in the sunlight. Fast forward to this year and we see her setting up on our side of the garden. We approached her and said that we did not agree that
    via JohnnyBoz45
  • she can just claim our side, as we put so much time and money into it already. Not to mention the fact that she was the one who decided what side she wanted to begin with. We got into a big argument. Landlord thinks we should alternate sides every year as a resolution. We disagree.
    via JohnnyBoz45
  • Luxodad Landlord thinks we should alternate sides every year as a resolution. Ask the landlord who will pay for the materials and labour you put into your half.
    via Luxodad
  • It seems that if you alternate, you will do all the work and spend all that money to improve both sides, while the neighbour harvests the benefits.
    via Luxodad
  • biscuitboi967 If you have to alternate, you don't spend any money gardening this year. The landlord and your co-tenant get no benefit from your work. There will be "hers" and empty space.
    via biscuitboi967
  • If you WANT fresh veggies, get some larger buckets and grow a container garden. Which you can move from side to side each year - and take with you when you leave. Maybe put your soil in them RIGHT NOW.
    via biscuitboi967
  • roxywalker Hard pass. As a gardener myself I would absolutely not give over my side of what I have already nurtured and cultivated. She has a lot of
    via roxywalker
  • nerve just moving in on a space that she thinks will yield her a better result when in fact, it won't because the issue is her lack of effort. If you yield to her demands, you
    via roxywalker
  • will be starting from scratch with a parcel that will be more work for you because you will have to basically fix what she did didn't bother to do. I'd tell them both that you are grandfathered in and garden plots need to remain with who claimed them the season before.
    via roxywalker
  • FairyFartDaydreams NTA tell the landlord when she pays you for all the soil amendments then she can switch but you have poured too much money into the side you are using
    via FairyFartDaydreams
  • fairyhalf-breed 80 She wants to switch every year? Okay. Plant grass seed in the plot and use buckets and totes to plant in. That side doesn't get enough sun, right? So you had to put them
    via fairyhalf-breed80
  • in raised beds so they'd get light. Stop contributing money to a plot that can be taken away. Keep all your effort in your containers. Maybe when she sees you're
    via fairyhalf-breed80
  • not "fixing" her side and still getting a great harvest, that she's the problem. The grass seed and weight from the totes will make that side a pain to get back to plantable when it's hers again.
    via fairyhalf-breed80
  • PrairieGrrl5263 Make the switch to container gardening. Fill your containers with the soil you have already purchased and replace with contractor grade dirt if your landlord requires it.
    via PrairieGrrl5263
  • messageinthebox Remove your soil from that half and let her plant her veggies. Then place the soil back when you plant your veggies.
    via messageinthebox
  • Agoraphobe961 NTA. Pull up your dirt and get the moveable planter beds (Wayfair has some galvanized ones for like $50) so the garden stays yours no matter what side of the yard you're on and if you inevitably move out.
    via Agoraphobe961

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crazy neighbors gardening drama neighborhood garden neighborhood-drama Neighborhood Story entitled people karma entitled reddit thread Bad Neighbor Reddit Video entitled people neighbor
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