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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To be livid she's destroyed my plant

102 replies

Allyoli · 22/05/2023 20:28

I had a comfrey plant growing on my allotment plot in the corner. It was about a metre tall, maybe 30cm wide? Totally within the bounds of my plot. And flowering. I like the flowers and the bees love it, so I left it to do it's thing.

Woman on the plot next to mine has the most perfect (albeit sterile) looking vegetable plot - everything in perfect squares, not a leaf out of place, only vegetables, no flowers. She's there for several hours every morning. She doesn't talk to or respond to anyone on the plot, which is obviously fine.

Anyway, in the past day or so she decided to take it upon herself to come over to my plot and completely flatten my comfrey plant. I could see footprints that aren't mine in the soil. I asked if she had done it and she admitted she had because the flowers will soon turn to seed and spread on her plot.

I'm livid. Surely anyone's plants/flowers/weeds in the entire allotment site could spread seeds to yout plot at any time? Whats she going to do next, destroy all my crops before they're ready in case they spread to her plot? Aibu? How can I get her to stay off my plot without things escalating?

OP posts:
AnAngelAtMyTableWithMe · 22/05/2023 20:29

I love comfrey plants she had no right to go onto your plot I would be really angry

Ponoka7 · 22/05/2023 20:30

I'd take it to the committee etc. You can't not escalate this. Our wildlife needs all the help it can get.

Daffodil92 · 22/05/2023 20:30

Tell her is no uncertain terms to fuck off away from your plot and if she sets foot on it again you’ll fling handfuls of wildflower seeds over hers. Cheeky bloody cow.

Thesunwillcomeoutverysoon · 22/05/2023 20:30

Report her to the allotment association and the council..

olympicsrock · 22/05/2023 20:30

How bloody dare she! Yes report

Knittedfairies · 22/05/2023 20:30

How annoying! Do you have a site manager/committee who could show this woman the error of her ways.

MontyPyth0n · 22/05/2023 20:32

I read the title as she had destroyed your planet. This thread doesn't deliver.

Reugny · 22/05/2023 20:33

You need to report her now to the committee/manager particularly as she destroyed a plant that makes good fertilizer.

CalistoNoSolo · 22/05/2023 20:37

God, I would have gone ballistic at that. I have comfrey all over my rather wild garden. I'm not keen on it, but the bees love it so it stays. It's also a really useful herb - you can make a healing skin balm for cuts, burns and bruises and its edible too. Definitely escalate to the allotment committee, bees need all the help they can get right now.

Original poster
Allyoli · 22/05/2023 20:40

There isn't really a committee at the moment. The lady who ran it has just moved away and nobody has really taken over yet... the management company are terrible, never reply to anything. I've only had my plot for a year and understand she has been at the site for a very long time.

I always say hello if I see her, even though I get nothing back, so I've made it clear I'm approachable. If she'd have raised her concerns with me first I'd have made sure I chopped the thing down before it went to seed. No need for what she did imo.

OP posts:
MolkosTeenageAngst · 22/05/2023 20:40

Is there not a council or group or committee etc which oversees or runs the alloTments. I would expect there to be some ground rules and would definitely report her to them.

Original poster
Allyoli · 22/05/2023 20:42

MontyPyth0n · 22/05/2023 20:32

I read the title as she had destroyed your planet. This thread doesn't deliver.

But she kind of has!

OP posts:
GrumpyInsomniac · 22/05/2023 20:45

I have dandelion puffs all over my garden at the moment from no mow May, so I’m happy to gather some seeds up and post them for you to scatter over her neat squares.

Could probably manage some ground elder cuttings, too, if you like.

Redebs · 22/05/2023 20:45

Who do you pay your fees to? That might be worth reporting to.
It's absolutely not ok to touch someone else's plot!

I love comfrey for the bees. My husband grows it in pots around the garden. It is toxic though. I wonder if she was being silly about it for that reason?

Wyndam · 22/05/2023 20:45

She destroyed a crop no less. Comfrey makes excellent feed. Report to the committee.

Original poster
Allyoli · 22/05/2023 20:48

Ps. It's a small allotment compared to most, only 20 plots. There's not really a strong community as such, most people have had the plots for years and keep themselves to themselves.

OP posts:
ThereIbledit · 22/05/2023 20:49

Tell her is no uncertain terms to fuck off away from your plot and if she sets foot on it again you’ll fling handfuls of wildflower seeds over hers. Cheeky bloody cow.

Revenge seeding is the perfect crime, do it anyway!!

Gwdihooooo · 22/05/2023 20:50

I second the revenge seeding

powerrangers · 22/05/2023 20:50

I would throw all manner of random seeds onto her patch. Constantly. But then I'm petty.

MonumentalLentil · 22/05/2023 20:51

People used to go into the allotments when my father had one, and pinch their vegetables in the middle of the night, trample the plots...

Not that I would suggest anything like that, although seed bombing makes some pretty plants, especially with fast growing ones that can be a nuisance. Bindweed and Sticky Willy are a real pain.

elderflowerandpomelo · 22/05/2023 20:52

tell her that you are very upset about this and that she should have talked to you rather than taking unilateral action.

id be hugely tempted to revenge-seed… Thistles??

Mummyoflittledragon · 22/05/2023 20:55

Am loving the revenge seeding idea. 😂

Original poster
Allyoli · 22/05/2023 20:55

ThereIbledit · 22/05/2023 20:49

Tell her is no uncertain terms to fuck off away from your plot and if she sets foot on it again you’ll fling handfuls of wildflower seeds over hers. Cheeky bloody cow.

Revenge seeding is the perfect crime, do it anyway!!

I love this @Daffodil92, but don't think I'd have the nerve to do it 😅 (always wonder if she has a camera on her plot, she seems so protective of it).

OP posts:
GiveOverRover · 22/05/2023 20:56

This would p*ss me right off, the very purpose of the plots is to grow plants of your choosing on them. What a daft sod.

Speak to who you pay your rent to if there's no committee at the moment and do some extravagant open handed and repeated seeding to even up the loss.

WhereTheSuburbsMeetUttoxeter · 22/05/2023 20:57

YANBU.

Let's hope none of her veg pollenate and grow.

Report where you can (I have read thread).

Pick the flowers off her budding vegetables.