I would be frustrated, too ... I’m sorry that happened! I hope it’ll be resolved Monday.

Well, that stinks. It was rather presumptuous of someone to just take a spot without actually knowing for sure it was theirs. But you are right in that if they were not well marked, it would have been frustrating for anyone. I hope you get it resolved and aren’t out somewhere where you have to drag a long hose just to water your babies.

My tomatoes really are on their last legs and I kept telling them, "Just a little longer until the weekend . . . " I was going to go Friday PM but work is overwhelming me.

I can't even blame the managers, it's more of a community service than their job. It's at the local vocational center's agricultural learning area, so that's the main focus. Maybe later I can think about forming an option to join a garden club for folks gardening there. It's basically a big field that they plow and then mark poorly with white stakes. There's no writing on the stakes and they appear a little haphazard. I'm sure a volunteer would have gladly marked the plots . . .

Maybe they meant to do it an their real jobs got in the way. It is the end of the semester too, and then revolving covid issues . . . plus the weather has sucked and real farmers are struggling to get tasks done around the weather's moods . . . .

That sucks, even if totally innocent on the intruder’s part. Hopefully it will be sorted out and the other person is as gracious as you.

What a bummer 😟

Have you thought about making your own marker(s) for your plot? You know that old saying about if you want something done right...?

We just went out on the day we got the plot. It wasn't marked, but we were told it would be . . . looking back on it, yes we should have "staked a claim" proactively. We left it for a while since it was positively freezing out for two weeks. Some days only in the high 40's.

I'm going shopping today for a garden flag which I'm going to put our name on. I've wanted one for home anyway. We have fence stakes so I just need to get some twine to stake it out. I was planning on doing that this weekend too, which is why initially I went out there, to figure out a marking system.

Pink, I'm sorry about the mixup in your garden plot, but I'd be beside myself about the bluebird boxes. You have multiple boxes?!! I've had western bluebirds in mine single box for years now and it's theirs! They are so cute and industrious, such good parents.

Oh, that is annoying! Poor tomatoes..... I hope they hold out while you sort it out.

Now I'm wondering if since it wasn't marked, the plastic bag row-markers staked their claim to the best spot, right by the water tap . . . . I simply was not thinking that this would be a possibility.

I have a bluebird box in the front and a box in the back. I saw bluebirds in the yard for the fist time this winter, thought I would give it a try because I have a lot of cavity nesting birds in the yard. I figured if not bluebirds, one of the others might use it. I had NEVER seen house sparrows in our area. Now they are here. Partly because I was birdfeeding for the first time too. It's very hard to have nice things in suburbia with all the varmints. Our tiny vegetable plot is like a fortress. That's one reason we got the community garden plot, it's surrounded by a deer fence, the whole agricultural area . . .

Ugh, edited to add that I just had to get up and go chase the neighborhood wildcat out of our yard. Soon it will be the groundhog that lives under the neighbor's porch.

I think I’d put some sort of marker around the plot that is yours. The interloper can either reclaim the plants or gift them to you. I am sure they knew that the plots were assigned and squatted on yours.

I bet it was a newbie to the garden and if so, it will be something to laugh about and make the newbie feel welcome. Cause it's probably something I'd do by mistake. :)

If it was someone who knows the rules then yes, let them know that wasn't cool.

It's my Guess that this person knew quite well what they were doing. They wanted the spot next to the water and just took it. If they've already planted in say 1/4 of your plot I'd let them keep that piece in exchange for a larger spot in their real plot; say 1/3. Or they can always move their plants if they don't like the fix.

Well my Monday is going to be awkward one way or the other . . . .

Since the plots weren’t marked simply start off by having the folks running it show you your plot and then go from there.

tj

I used the hose spigot as my landmark. So I'm out there with this poor, poor map thinking, "Well if this ISN'T my spot, where is it??!!" All the other spots around the spigot seemed to have the beginnings of rows started . . . The plantings seemed random and it was very hard to tell where the plots began and ended. I think I'm not the only person who is having trouble figuring it all out. I am going to have to have someone show me my plot Monday, and I imagine since they have real teaching jobs they will be none too happy about it . . . I can tell already this is going to be an "interesting" summer . . .

I had a plot in a community garden a few decades ago. The garden was in a city residential neighborhood. It started out as the water was supplied in a 55 gallon steel barrel. To water your garden you hauled the water in buckets. Someone dug up the street and connected to the main, under the table. After that we had free water from a hose. So I know the difference between the two methods.

If you allow this person to claim your spot it will be his next year and forever. When he leaves you'll have to get in line with every other gardener to get back what is your plot. Don't allow this. Play King Solomon.

I agree with tj, if there's someone sitting in my seat when I arrive at a sporting event, I ask the usher if they can show me to my seat, so when we get to it, said usher can show the person to their seat.

I meant to comment about the house sparrows. It sounds cruel, but if they haven’t laid eggs yet, I would remove those nests. They are trash birds and you don’t want any around, especially not in your BB nest boxes. They can kill baby bluebirds too.

I almost always have a chickadee nesting early in one of my BB nest boxes but they only nest once per season, so eventually a pair of blues will be back building their own nest. I have 4 BB boxes scattered around our property. This year the one closest to the garage had 6 chickadee babies. I think something happened to the parent as they were healthy one day and a couple of days later they had died in the nest. Maybe some other bird killed them, I don’t know. It’s possible. So sad.

Oh Pink! I'm sorry they took your spot!

I hope it works out. Do keep us informed!!

Pink I had bluebirds for many years in PA. I found having several boxes tended to work. I would also have swallows get in the boxes also. House sparrows are an invasive species.

I would leave a polite note saying that they have mistakenly planted in your spot and offer to help transplant the young plants to their proper place.

I normally look to the most innocent explanation first; however, I find myself becoming increasingly more irritated by the number of people I see completely ignore others’ rights to satisfy their own selfish wants. It sounds deliberate to me, and I agree with John. You will lose your space forever if you capitulate. Of course, it doesn’t hurt to suggest an innocent error. Just don’t let a few already-growing plants throw the win to the interlopers.

If we are still planting and moving plants in Texas, I'd feel pretty certain plants there could be relocated. It does seem that a common, readable map with names or numbers of the plots could be posted so everyone could see where they should be and be on notice of others' claims would be fairly simple. They could also mark plots to distinguish them in a way that wouldn't require marking them for each year or season -- colored rows and numbers going across or something?

I'm sorry about your bluebirds. My good friend here had 2 broods destroyed by the house sparrows and was so devastated she took her boxes down. We have 4 boxes placed around out lot, 1 in front, 1 on the side and 2 in back) We had a brood in one in the back at the start of the season and we have eggs (or possibly hatchlings) in the other one in the backyard -- we believe it is the same couple. They apparently started to claim the first box with some pine needles and then changed their minds and went back to the box that has been occupied the last two years. I hope not to see the sparrows, but I've already seen a hawk and a crow chasing the smaller birds, including my bluebirds. No catching, but chasing.

I have two bluebird boxes. It's a relatively small lot so that would be about all it would hold. There is a forest across the street but it has been logged and all the big trees taken out and the tops left to rot. Such a shame. Lots of birds were nesting there, including owls.

I know the sparrows are an invasive species. I've battled them for years in various spots. Of course I will destroy their nests, but my experience has been that if the pressure is too much on a box, and the sparrows are around, no other bird will use it successfully. I hope I'm wrong. I'm not ready this year to totally go all out in eradicating the house sparrows with traps and euthanasia. Too busy with the dang garden . . . I hadn't seen them before so was hoping they would not show up. But of course they did. Land use changes around here favor them. We have cowbirds and starlings too.

As for permanent marking of the plots, they plow the whole area up every year with a tractor, so the beds are marked haphazardly with white metal stakes. The folks running it are doing it as a community service, we had a community garden there and then didn't have one for years and now have one again, so the folks at the career center running it are doing everyone a favor but I get the feeling that they are really busy with other teaching and administrative tasks at the end of the year and this isn't on their radar screen.

On the one hand, I'm glad I don't have to dig the bed, but on the other hand, I wish they had taken the time to mark them. Like I said, the secretary said they would be marking them, so I guess they had the intention of doing it but never did. Or else the people in the field weren't communicating very effectively with the office . . .

I pinkmountain, here is a website that has instructions for getting rid of house sparrows and keeping them out of nest boxes.

http://www.nabluebirdsociety.org/PDF/FAQ/NABS%20factsheet%20-%20HOSP%20Control%20-%2024May12%20DRAFT.pdf

Good luck getting your community garden plot straightened out. I hope it isn't too traumatic for you , and for the person who trespassed on your plot.

I've always marveled at people who participate in these community gardens. They seem ripe with attractive nuisance issues, as my insurance company would say. I also would be prepared for 'your spot' to be forever gone. No doubt the squatters have assured their future there. What are the garden's rules? I would not have counted on anyone--would have marked my territory clearly and firmly the day I made my reservation. The STRESS of wondering what's going on when I am not there, what gets accidently stepped on/fruit stolen/poison over spray etc etc. etc....just couldn't go there!!!

I operate on the idea that plants have wheels and can be moved - that's how I garden because basically I never get it right the first time! Your interlopers can surely move theirs so don't let a few crocodile tears (if they should fall) deter you from claiming what is yours. Good luck.

Yes, we are newbies. There are folks out there who have predominately marked their territories. Hubs has been gone, but he will do that when he gets back, but first I have to figure out where my dang plot is!! I hate to have to ask for special attention from the busy staff at the career center, but our tomatoes are desperate to get into the ground . . .

Does the garden have a plat where your names are written in when reserving your spot? It will be interesting to see where the “interlopers“ names are shown. May be an innocent mistake. Maybe not.

It's early Monday and keeping my fingers for you.

I understand not being able to mark your spot easily in frozen ground.

Yes I have the plat map and our plot is marked with our name. I had to ask for a copy of the map because going out there the whole scheme was very hard to follow. So luckily I did ask for and receive a map of the whole area with our plot marked on the map with our name. They also record the number of your plot . . . from an office management perspective, it's all very organized and there are rules and you sign an agreement to follow them. It will be interesting to see how this plays out "on the ground" so to speak . . .

I’m glad you have a map of the plots with names. Hope it’s resolved without much fuss or hard feelings.

Waiting to hear what happened

◔_◔

tj

Inquiring minds want to know!

I'm waiting, too.

I had to work all day Monday so couldn't go over there. Just got back.

Step 1 hubs and I take map out to plots, to double check and try and figure out where our plot is. Does not make sense, someone planted in both spots next to water. Step 2 go to office and tell secretary the problem. She says, "Your plot should be marked with a sign with your name on it." But it's not. Step 3 she says she will call the farm manager and he'll meet us out at the garden.

Step 4 we meet the farm manager out at the garden, he tells us we should have our plot marked with our name on it . . . we tell him its not and show him the map.

Step 4 he tries to figure out the map and where our plot should be. Like I said earlier in the post, thank goodness I asked for a copy of the map that had my name on my plot. Step 5 farm manager says, "This map doesn't make any sense." We say, "So we've been told."

Step 6 farm manager says, "I'm new here." So together we try and figure out where our plot is going to be, not necessarily relating to the map. Farm manger says, "It should be right here." (only spot that is not already planted). He tell us he's going to mark it with a sign with our name. I say, "Yes, please do." As we are leaving, we see farm manager walking towards our plot with stakes and sign. It doesn't seem like it's the plot that we paid for, but its fine and as long as the next person to comes along doesn't have the same problem as us, we should be ok. Hubs will be planting this afternoon I have to go back to work.

God bless these folks for offering this service, but it kind of seems like a case of the right hand not knowing what the left hand is doing . . .

Thanks for the update.

tj

At least there was a plot left for you... at all. I hope it isn't too far from the spigot.

You’re so gracious! enjoy your plot and show us what you’re growing from time to time.

Pink, I hope your new plot works out well. You are generous.

House sparrows: you might already know this, but you can put two boxes on a pole, back to back. That way row different species can nest on the sa,e pole duplex — bluebirds with tree swallows, for example.

I would gulp and destroy the house sparrows. Ugly work, but there are fairly quick ways to dispatch them. Toss their bodies into the woods and something like an opossum or fox will have them for dinner. The house sparrows are destructive pests. The nest early, they not only attack nestlings, I’ve seen the lock onto a tree swallow and put it to the ground pecking at it fiercely. There are traps that can trap live house sparrows. Of course you must keep an eye on any trap so that no bird sufferers and you can release any desirable bird. Do not let the caught house sparrows free. They will just keep breeding, snack at fast food joints and destroy other desirable birds and nestlings.

A person at a wildlife place showed me how to quickly and relatively humanely dispatch one of these destructive birds. He also was careful that I was not an over the top animal rights activist. I like animals, let snakes, spiders, wasps and bees be, but I do slap black flies and mosquitoes and don’t have pangs of guilt when destroying a deer tick or horse fly.

You could find some flat stones and put your name on them in your new spot. Lugging water is a drag. A seventh generation dairy farmer I rented from had a garden 1/8 mile from her spigot. I was given a plot. She cautioned me not to water. Just leave the plants alone but for weeding and okay to sort of mulch w loosened loam. Keep it weeded. She said that then, without watering, the plants roots will grow deeper and unless there is a severe drought, the plant will be fine. I did this. Even my basil was lush, full and green. This was in western Massachusetts and the summers were quite hot.

Have fun!

I've seen tree swallows and bluebirds happily share nearby nests with bluebirds, but not house sparrows and wrens. I used to work at a nature center with a bluebird trail and bluebird festival so I'm pretty familiar with attracting them. I have two boxes. I booted the house sparrow nest out, it didn't even have eggs in it yet. I felt kind of mean but house sparrows and wrens kill each other and bluebirds all the time so no meaner than the mean streets of my backyard . . . I wasn't really expecting bluebirds but I would have liked at least something native. Time will tell . . .

Hubs just came back from the garden planting. The story didn't exactly have a happy ending. See my new post, the saga continues . . .

Edited to add that I posted an update but it disappeared. Long story short, my fears were realized. Someone else showed up and is now mad at us because we planted in their spot, even though "management" told us that was our plot. So hubs told them to take it up with the management. I hope they don't rip out our poor tomatoes . . .

You are very kind and gracious lpink. I'm glad you got a plot and I have to say this is the kind of thing that would make my blood boil and get me all stressed out and I would have put my foot down that I had to have that plot.

Well, it was a 30x30 foot plowed garden plot and cost me 10 bucks for the season, including unlimited access to water, so it is hard for me to play the exacting customer in this case . . .