Anonymous wrote:I wouldn't worry about children taking a handful of berries, I would only be angry if they brought a bucket and stripped the bush.

It’s not the purloined berries, it’s the damage to the plants.

I wouldn't worry about children taking a handful of berries, I would only be angry if they brought a bucket and stripped the bush.

Anonymous wrote:I lived in Florida and we had an orange tree in the front yard. People stole fruit from it all of the time. We could eat all of it, so I never said anything until one day a family drove up with boxes and stripped the entire reachable areas of the tree.

That is awful.

Anonymous wrote:OP, how has the mom reacted the two times you've spoken to them?

The first time she was very apologetic. The second time she said that she told them not to, but they ran ahead. She apologized again, but seemed annoyed. The kids are maybe 4 and 6. She might want to give them each a reusable bag of groceries to carry home so they are too weighed down to run ahead. At that age, my kids were slowed down carrying a big cabbage or a half-gallon of milk.

Anonymous wrote:Put up those yellow pesticide lawn flags all over the place.

That would work.

I lived in Florida and we had an orange tree in the front yard. People stole fruit from it all of the time. We could eat all of it, so I never said anything until one day a family drove up with boxes and stripped the entire reachable areas of the tree.

Post a sign saying "toxic weed killer application in uses/stay off"...

OP, how has the mom reacted the two times you've spoken to them?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What kind of berries?

How are they damaging the plant?

Strawberries, they are trampling plants and half-yanking them up.

Rental so a fence is not an option.

For strawberries, I'd put chicken wire gently over the plants. It helps keep critters out. Still can't imagine them being so close to a sidewalk that people could take them, but you may have an odd placement of the garden.

Guess you'll have to add it next year, since strawberry season is pretty much over.

They are leaving the sidewalk and walking about eight feet up the driveway, then climbing up a two foot retaining wall to the patch.

I don’t know the variety, but we bought them at Strosnider. https://www.strosniders.com/

Have you spoken directly to the mom and said something like "your children are not allowed on my property, they are trespassing"? You could buy one of those retractable driveway barriers-the ones that are plastic and designed to keep kids from running into the road.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What kind of berries?

How are they damaging the plant?

Strawberries, they are trampling plants and half-yanking them up.

Rental so a fence is not an option.

For strawberries, I'd put chicken wire gently over the plants. It helps keep critters out. Still can't imagine them being so close to a sidewalk that people could take them, but you may have an odd placement of the garden.

Guess you'll have to add it next year, since strawberry season is pretty much over.

They are leaving the sidewalk and walking about eight feet up the driveway, then climbing up a two foot retaining wall to the patch.

I don’t know the variety, but we bought them at Strosnider. https://www.strosniders.com/

Pick your berries early every morning. They sound completely ill-mannered.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What kind of berries?

How are they damaging the plant?

Strawberries, they are trampling plants and half-yanking them up.

Rental so a fence is not an option.

There are some lightweight fence options that you could use as a renter.
https://www.homedepot.com/p/36-in-Wood-Picket-Garden-Fence-RC-74W/100039106
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Vigoro-Salerno-24-in-Steel-Garden-Fence-51169/302761819

Not that you should have to--this behavior is rude and entitled AF.

We have neighbors a few blocks away who we’ve never met formally and they always invite our kids to pick their berries when we walk by. We always politely decline, but maybe there’s some kind of societal norm about neighbors sharing fruit that I’m unaware of?

I’d NEVER let my kids pick someone else’s food without being invited to do so, so I think that if you say something in the moment or have a sign that says “please don’t pick” it would be enough of a deterrent without resorting to some of the weirder suggestions here.

I should add that my children grew up eating the ripe mulberries that fall on the sidewalks from overhanging branches, but never pulled the fruit from branches.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What kind of berries?

How are they damaging the plant?

Strawberries, they are trampling plants and half-yanking them up.

Rental so a fence is not an option.

For strawberries, I'd put chicken wire gently over the plants. It helps keep critters out. Still can't imagine them being so close to a sidewalk that people could take them, but you may have an odd placement of the garden.

Guess you'll have to add it next year, since strawberry season is pretty much over.

They are leaving the sidewalk and walking about eight feet up the driveway, then climbing up a two foot retaining wall to the patch.

I don’t know the variety, but we bought them at Strosnider. https://www.strosniders.com/

This is an ancient rite or passage in my country! Stealing fruit!