Pumpkin Stolen

[boosboss]

Thieves have stolen a couple of pumpkins from the Community Wildlife Garden in Peckham Rye Park.

Grown from seed in one of the raised beds, tended by local schools. The pumpkins were not even ripe!

The garden is only open during the day, so the thief would've been pretty obvious carrying out the pumpkin!

This isn't the first theft from the garden. Previously, plants have been dug up and taken.

Can nothing nice be left alone for the whole community to enjoy?

[dulwichgirl2]

Don't know what to say. It is clearly appalling behaviour and I'm sorry if you had put effort into the garden. :-(

[ultrauk]

Must be planning a Halloween party in ED ;)

[Whittler]

A friend told me that their allotments were broken into recently and rather than tools being the target for thieves, it appears that the produce is the focus.....whole rows of potatoes were dug up. Desperate times, and i think it's not out of the bounds of possibility to say that some people are struggling to find the cash to buy food.

[LondonMix]

Out of curiosity, is it only food plants that are being stolen or decorative plants as well? This is really terrible but if its food that keeps on disappearing it may be someone in need.

[bonniebird]

Are green pumpkins edible? I have no idea ;)

[boosboss]

Previously it was decorative plants, rather than produce.

[LondonMix]

Thanks bossboss. Bonie, yes, you can eat green pumpkins. There are lots of recipes if you're interested :)

Stealing decorative plants is really outrageous!

[bonniebird]

Cheers LondonMix

[ilondoner]

In Jamaica last year there was a spate of professional thieves stealing crops; literally waiting until a couple of days before it was ready to be harvested then stealing the lot overnight.

Things were getting so bad that in Trinidad they were spraying their crops with a special agent which reportedly made you sick if you consumed it within a certain number of days. People were warned to buy their veg from reputable sources.

Not sure if the crop spraying story is true or if it's just a guise to dissuade the public from buying stolen goods.

[katanita]

So we have a vegetable thief on the loose? Some lovely person pinched my veg box this morning from my porch, I hope it's not the start of a trend.

[Polmoche]

I actually saw a couple of men pulling out a sizable rosemary bush outside a local food store. This was in broad day light--they did not care who saw them and didn't try to hide the plant. Just walked off as we all watched gob smacked.

[LondonMix]

I know this is low value theft but it really is the definition of anti-social behaviour to me. Some people just are not affected by opprobrium which is frightening.

[dv1]

Seriously - do we need any more posts about a Pumpkin. Watch C4 now and put your lives back in perspective.

[niki_nje]

What a middle class theft!! I had a friend who had a tree stolen from his garden and I had one of my window boxes pinched. What is the world coming too?!

[dv1]

^^^^

What I just said....

[Sue]

Polmoche Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> I actually saw a couple of men pulling out a

> sizable rosemary bush outside a local food store.

> This was in broad day light--they did not care who

> saw them and didn't try to hide the plant. Just

> walked off as we all watched gob smacked.

xxxxxxx

Well if nobody said anything to them or tried to stop them or even just told the shop owners, it's not surprising that this kind of theft continues, is it?!

[Polmoche]

Sue--the shop owners saw the whole thing. These men were not to be messed with--well I certainly wasn't going to mess with them. They were loud, obnoxious, and looked quite ready to thump anyone who got in their way.

[uncleglen]

People are scared stiff to intervene because you never know if they are carrying weapons or what they would do if challenged. And not only that, but if you intervene and the perps get hurt you could get arrested yourself. Sadly, we are existing in a pathetic state of affairs and the crims are laughing all the way to the bank!