Harvest time is the biggest challenge for community gardeners. As long as gardens are open to the public, the battle to keep thieves away will go on.

Dustin Mercer, who gardens at the Homewood Community Garden, was shocked when someone cleaned out most of the vegetables he had spent months doting over. Before the marauders descended, his plot was filled with peppers, broccoli, tomatoes and cucumbers. He lost just about everything except his prized giant blackberries.

"It's devastating," he says. "It really hurts -- you really feel violated.

"At first I thought it must be kids, but I thought 'What kid is going to run around stealing broccoli?' " he said, laughing.

He's taken it in stride and with a sense of humor, although he did fantasize about a deer stand and tranquilizer gun, then referenced a disturbing scene from the movie "Pulp Fiction."

"But that's passed," he said.

His purple peppers have come back with vengeance, along with his tomatoes. The cucumbers are not faring as well.

Some of the Homewood gardens are surrounded by chain-link fence and padlocked. Mr. Mercer reluctantly put on a lock on his gate, too.

"It just seems to be at opposition with the whole spirit of what's going on here," he says.

Despite a repeat visit by the thieves, his strawberries have taken off and he's got an Italian squash loaded with fruit climbing up his fence. As the tomatoes have faded, his tomatillo plants have exploded. The beans, which he enjoys eating for breakfast, are still coming daily. This is the first season for lettuce and celery and each is thriving.

Even the poachers, fungal problems and other troubles can't wash away the joy his garden provides.

"Don't give up hope," he says. "Every year brings its own challenges and you know that going in. The rewards I'm getting now are that much more sweet. It's an absolute delight."

The Olde Allegheny Community Garden in the Mexican War Streets has had its share of good news and bad this year. It was one of the local winners of the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society's Community Greening Award. On the down side, lots of produce has been pilfered from these plots too.

Jana Thompson, who manages the community garden, is usually lighthearted. But not today. The first thing she notices at her plot is the lack of tomatoes and as she looks around, she sees crops missing in adjoining gardens. A sign on each gate clearly informs visitors to stroll and sniff, but not taste. Even when the thieves are caught holding bags of produce, they refuse to yield, saying the garden is a public place.

"No one ever gets to harvest their cabbage," Mrs. Thompson says.

Since the community garden is often used as a throughway between streets in the neighborhood, Mrs. Thompson is discussing the possibility of fencing off each plot. Disheartened by the theft and vandalism over the years, she has considered giving up. But she knows that keeping this place going is important for this neighborhood.

"I do keep coming back, because the garden needs me."

The Mt. Lebanon Community Garden has been spared from poaching this season. Tony Frick lost some things years ago, but hasn't had problems of late. One reason might be the garden's out-of-the-way location.

By early September, parts of his garden and his neighbors' look tired. But this plot continues to pump out the vegetables at an astonishing rate. Mr. Frick has put into practice some valuable lessons learned over the past 40 years here. One of the most important is to keep planting.

"I learned with experience that certain crops die out and if you want to continue throughout the season, you have to put a second or third crop in."

Or maybe even seven or eight crops, like his lettuce. He will put in his final planting in the next week or so and will harvest lettuce well into October.

The leaves on the early tomatoes have dried up, but the vines are still heavy with tomatoes, many of them heirloom varieties. His second planting is blushing pink and the third crop is still green, but the foliage looks healthier.

One of his favorite fall crops thriving right now is escarole. He loves it in Italian wedding soup and in a broth with cannellini beans.

Mr. Frick says the season has just flown by. Early on, the rain seemed like it would never stop. But lately he's spent much of his time watering. In some ways, he says, this is one of the most wonderful times of the year to garden.

"The best thing is harvesting and watching the new crops come along. It's just very satisfying that everything has worked out so well."