My Neighbor Kept Stealing Vegetables and Fruit from My Small Backyard Garden I Have Grown Myself

The Garden Thief
At first, I noticed small things missing—cucumbers, a few tomatoes. I thought I’d forgotten harvesting them. Then one morning, my peach tree was completely stripped.

“Sarah, did you pick these?” I asked.

“No, Mom,” she said.

Someone had been sneaking into my garden. Furious, we set up security cameras—and the next morning, we saw her: our neighbor Wilma, creeping in at night, taking everything.

I had a better plan than confrontation. I cooked a green bean casserole and blueberry pie—using the very garden she’d been raiding—and delivered it to her door. Her face turned crimson. She denied everything and slammed the door.

Then I whispered to the neighborhood, “I think Wilma might be struggling.” Within days, neighbors flooded her porch with casseroles, pies, and roasts. Public humiliation, served with kindness.

Finally, Wilma’s husband came to apologize. “How can we make this right?”

“Simple,” I said. “You’re going to work in my garden.”

Wilma and Billy spent weeks pulling weeds, pruning, and learning respect for hard work. By summer’s end, Wilma had her own garden—and never stole from me again.