I grew them in the bed closest to Gary's fence mixed in with real tomatoes. Gary came over the fence on the evening of August 9th and helped himself. 14 minutes later, I heard the consequences through the fence. It was, I will say, one of the most satisfying 14-minute waits of my life. But Gary didn't learn, he escalated.
I want to give Gary some credit here. He is not a man without resources. He is, in his way, a problem-solver. The problem for Gary was that he had eaten something from what he believed to be my garden and experienced approximately 40 minutes of significant oral distress, and he needed someone to blame for this, and he was not prepared to blame himself because that would require acknowledging that he had been in my garden without my permission. So Gary told a story.
The story was this. He had been walking along the fence line in his own yard and noticed some red fruits growing near the fence, and believing them to be on the shared boundary, had picked a few. And these fruits had burned his mouth severely, and clearly I had grown something dangerous and toxic in my garden, and this was a community safety issue. I know this is the story Gary told because 2 days after the August 9th incident, I received a phone call from the Willowbrook Estates HOA board vice president, a man named Ted Blalock, who said, "Ellen, we've received a complaint from your neighbor Gary Hutchins about a potentially toxic plant growing in your garden." I said, "Ted, what exactly is the complaint?"
Ted said, "Gary says he accidentally ate some fruit from near your fence line and became seriously ill. He's asking the board to investigate what you're growing." I said, "Ted, I am a retired biology teacher. I grow vegetables and fruit in my backyard. None of them are toxic."
Ted said, "What about the red fruits near the fence? Gary described them as I said Carolina Reaper peppers. They are legal to grow. They are available at garden centers. They are not toxic.
They are, however, extremely hot and eating one without knowing what you are eating is an unpleasant experience. Silence. Ted said, Gary says he picked them thinking they were on the boundary or in a common area. I said, Ted, I have a property survey, a trail camera with time-stamped photographs, and a neighbor witness. My plants are entirely within my property line.
Gary accessed them by climbing a step ladder and reaching over my 6-ft privacy fence. I have this on camera. A longer silence. Ted said, You have it on camera. I said, I have been having fruit stolen from my garden for 5 years, Ted.
I mounted a trail camera. I have Gary Hutchins on video at 11:20 p.m. harvesting peaches from my peach tree over the fence. I also have him on camera on August 9th collecting what appeared to be fruits from my raised bed. Again, over the fence. Again, without my permission.