oh snap (beans that is)!

Two years ago, Paul built this planter box and we filled it full of veggies!

We placed it in the small grassy area between our driveway and the apartment complex's driveway/parking lot. We grew tomatoes, peppers and jalapenos. Last year we did some of the same but some birds found our tomato crop and went after them with a vengeance.

Did I mention we live next door to a brick four plex?

We've run into issues with people parking in our driveway before, mainly friends of people who have resided in the apartment who didn't realize it didn't belong to the building, or people who went out late partying and thought they would get back early enough in the morning to move their cars before we would notice. And other than a few loud parties last summer and one guy (from another complex) who lets his very large dog do his very large business in our front yard WITHOUT picking it up, it's been a pretty peaceful living arrangement.

We know one of the couples that lives in this building (they got married the same month we did and moved in shortly after). We talk some and see them around town and at their jobs every now and again but other than that we don't really know the people that come and go in the apartment buildings. The neighbors to the west, in the houses, we all know each other, but everyone to the east of us changes out so often being only renters that we never really get to know them.

Well...

We got up one morning a few weeks ago and headed out to the garage and noticed that our planter box was full of vegetable plants. That we did not plant.

We have new neighbors in the apartment complex and I've only said hello to them once as they were crawling through one of their windows after locking themselves out (which I still haven't figured out). They claimed our planter box!

It wasn't too late for us to plant things yet, and we had plans to do so either that weekend or the next and were completely shocked that they had staked their claim (literally, using stakes for their tomato plants). We laughed about it, both a little shocked, but as the day went on I got sort of pissed off.

I get that it is sitting on the property between the house and the apartment complex and that it could quite possibly belong to the apartment. But why not ask first?! Ask someone in the building, ask your landlord or ask us. And even if it did belong to the apartment complex, why would you be so bold to use the entire thing assuming that no one else in the building wanted to plant something? And I know they didn't ask around the complex before they planted because the couple we know, knows it belongs to us and told Paul last night they (the couple we know) were wanting to plant some things of their own this year but didn't get around to getting a box to put next to ours.

So I chewed on it for awhile and decided that even though it wasn't the end of the world, it still was sort of rude and that we would want our box back for next year. With Paul hating confrontation so much we decided we'd just put a little garden sign in the box. So today, I made one.

My friend Lauren says it's because I'm passive aggressive. I've never thought of myself that way, I'm typically just aggressive. But I'm glad I got to be passive about this one because my note is cute.We plopped it into a small little pot I had with a hosta that came back from the dead, probably only to die again and laid it gingerly in the box. I hope it doesn't rain before they find it, I didn't laminate the thing.

The more I think about it, the whole leaving a note thing may be a bit trashy but I was actually really nice and I left off the part at the bottom about how they needed to clean up their containers and trash because that stuff seemed to always find its way onto our driveway and into our backyard (which theirs did). I just feel like if you live in a building with more people than just yourself you should be more community minded than most people. Plus, when you live on a block like we live on, everyone's looking out for each other and I'm sure they'll get the hang of it soon but until then...I guess I can leave passive notes in pots.