At the community garden that I’m part of, last year, we bought what we called, “an investment hose” it was a durable, good quality hose, more expensive than any other hose we’ve ever bought. It was supposed to last us for years. But for some reason, it’s gone missing. The person that removed our hose removed the sprayer and left it for us.
The person that stole our hose certainly had good taste, because they stole our expensive, good hose!
I’m not sure what to make of this. We’ve never had a hose stolen before. People pick our produce, try to walk out with our tools, someone tried to once plant a tree in the middle of the path. People do weird things in our garden. But the hose being stolen is a first. It’s upsetting, but mostly inconvenient.
That’s completely fucked and I’m really sorry that happened. I love community gardens. Head over to Oakland and enjoy our rose garden next month and view a different community garden. Hope your next hose gets to stay.
Thanks for your kind words. We’ve never had a hose stolen in the entire history of this garden. So Hopefully it doesn’t happen again any time soon. I do love visiting other community gardens, and seeing what other groups choose to do with their space. A rose garden sounds lovely!
If you see the dark grey cat who likes to hang out there, he’s friendly and you can pet him. My partner saw him when she took a friend just today.
hm, I’m searching around to see why someone would steal a garden hose, but I think it’s unlikely the hose has much resale value, even if it’s good quality - maybe someone just needed a hose and decided to steal it? There are anti-theft mechanisms for a hose (but would create a hassle for using the hose, esp. for a community garden), but you might also just see if you replace the hose whether second hose is left alone (since it’s not exactly a common item to steal).
Thanks for your comment!
We have had situations where non-garden members walked in, and thought that they could freely take tomato cages, or garden tools because they lived in the nearby community. They failed to understand what “community garden” meant to us, as enrolled garden members.
We also have the more common problem that people feel entitled to pick all our fruits, and produce. Many are unaware that we have rules and guidelines, they are unaware that we sign a contract, pay dues, and have expectations of volunteering prior to harvesting.
There are coded locks on the gate, and shed. There is a sign about how to join the community, but I don’t think everyone notices it.
oo, maybe someone’s just borrowing it and will bring it back?
It’s possible. Maybe they’ll bring it back after they finish growing their summer vegetables.
I’m sorry to hear this happened to your garden. Are you or anyone else who frequently uses the space technically savvy enough to set up some cameras to make sure this can’t happen again? Might be a little bit of an investment but likely worth it in the long run if people keep taking advantage.
Thanks for your sympathy. We’ve discussed setting up a cam or trail cam in the past when people stole our fruits and vegetables, but decided against it. I think if the hose gets stolen twice that the group would actually consider this investment.
That sucks. It could have been anyone, maybe even an actual member of the garden.
One thing someone taught me a while ago:
If you want to leave something out in public, spray paint the thing with garish colors.
- It won’t look shiny and new and tempting to own.
- It will look very distinctive, instantly recognizable to anyone who sees it.
The person did this a perfectly good bike, left it out unlocked and nobody took it.
Thanks for your comment. My gut tells me it was probably not a member of the garden. We are a small community and have been together for years, and know each other well. There is a preschool, and a volunteer organization that both have access to our garden, and it could have occurred during their watch that the hose was taken, or it’s possible to simply hop the fence. which people have done to smoke weed, or steal produce.
But we should have definitely wrote “property of X community garden” all over that hose. I will suggest this to the group.
Don’t forget the garish paint.
You’ll want whomever steals the new hose to be very self conscious when they use it.
It needs to draw the attention of family or housemates to ask the thief where TF did they get such a fucked up looking hose from.
Noted. I know for a fact one gardener has access to random colored paints. It will go in the group email with the other idea. Thank you for the follow up.
