As gardeners look forward to harvesting bounties of autumn produce, one green-thumbed Redditor in the r/gardening subreddit has fellow users stumped with a curious case of a missing pumpkin.
A pumpkin, weighing between five and seven pounds, vanished from the original poster's backyard garden. It was behind a six-foot-tall fence, out of sight from any neighbors.
"What animal could have stolen a fairly large pumpkin out of my fenced yard without leaving any pieces behind?" the original poster wrote of the massive missing gourd.
Many users came to the Redditor's aid, sharing their theories based on the lack of stray seeds and the considerably clean cut through the pumpkin's stem on the remaining root of the plant.
"I can't think of a single animal that would take a full-sized pumpkin to eat somewhere else. If a critter did it, there would be some mess or evidence of their deed," one user noted. "Pumpkins are messy, so I'm gonna go with some person stole [it]. They aren't exactly cheap these days."
Besides providing a thriftier option for your annual jack-o'-lantern, gardening can yield a variety of health benefits.
According to Mayo Clinic, gardening has been proven to help increase exercise, improve diet, and reduce stress. Time spent in the sunlight has also been shown to lower blood pressure and increase vitamin D levels. Mayo Clinic also calls attention to the sense of community offered by gardening.
"The gardening community is rich with people willing to share their expertise, time, and occasionally plants with new gardeners," said family medicine practitioner Lisa Wimmer. "Many gardening friendships begin over celebrating a success or bemoaning a gardening misstep."
This was evident in the responses to the Reddit post, as hundreds of commenters not only provided their thoughts on the matter but also humorous quips to lighten the mood on the forum.
"'Who Absconded with My Pumpkin?' – a farming thriller," one user wrote.
"I thought my neighbors were climbing the fence and stealing cantaloupes out of the garden until we caught the possums raiding the garden," another commenter added.
One Redditor even suggested a follow-up to the curious case. "Get a security camera set up ASAP, then put a store-bought pumpkin back in its place... and report back, of course," they said.
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