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Defensive Planting - Nature's way to Beat the Burglar

The ever-increasing popularity and sophistication of gardening has not gone unnoticed by the criminal. Garden crime is a reality.

According to police statistics, the most likely items to be stolen are mowers, strimmers, chain saws, hedge trimmers, garden furniture and plants.

Nature itself provides the best solution to garden crime. With careful thought and planning you can reduce the risk of becoming a victim of garden crime, whilst at the same time creating an attractive garden.

Take your time to read this and take note of the carefully selected plants. For instance you can create an impenetrable hedge, which looks far more attractive than security fencing but is just as effective. Planting prickly shrubs around vulnerable windows can also serve as a deterrent to the burglar.

By careful planning you can produce a beautiful garden and reduce the risk of being the next victim of garden crime.

Top Ten Tips

1. Sheds
Sheds and outbuildings usually contain valuable items that might either be stolen or used as a tool to gain entry to the house. Check how vulnerable your shed is and make it more secure. Metal grills over the windows, reinforced hinges and locks are a worthwhile investment. Consider securing valuable items inside using security cables or chains with robust padlocks. Thieves do not like to hang about - the more obstacles you put in the way, the less likely they will be to bother.

2. Garden Equipment
Equipment marked indelibly and boldly will be less of a target for a thief. It will identify it to the owner and the thief will have to spend time trying to remove the marking. Don't make the mistake that many gardeners make, leaving equipment out whilst popping in the house for a cup of tea, only to return to find your mower gone, and a half cut lawn! You may only be gone for a minute, but your mower will have gone forever.

3. Lighting
Good lighting around the property will enhance your garden, extend its use into the evening, and be a major deterrent to the thief. The best type to install is low-level lighting on a dusk to dawn sensor, which will give good illumination, is cheap to run and is on all night. Security lighting operated on movement detectors can increase the fear of crime. This comes on and off during high winds, when trees sway or when animals walk past. It can also be annoying to your neighbours.

4. Plants
Plants and trees can be very attractive to the thief, and difficult to secure. If you are using plant pots, buy the heaviest you can. Pots can be secured to the ground using a variety of methods from strong glues to bolts through the patio. Expensive plants can be secured in the ground using wire and pegs around the root ball. These are hidden from view when planting is completed, but make the plant very difficult to remove. Expensive plants should be planted where they can be seen from the house or by neighbours.

5. Gravel
Thieves don't like to be heard. Crunchy gravel on the approach to the house, which gives away their presence, is ideal.

6. Water
A water feature not only looks great in the garden but a pond can also form a barrier to prevent a thief from getting to a vulnerable shed or house window.

7. Front Garden
The general rule for the front of the house is to keep boundary fences and hedges low to allow as much natural surveillance as possible from neighbours and passing pedestrians and traffic. Keep shrubs and trees well pruned to avoid any hiding places.

8. Rear Garden
The rear garden should have a secure boundary and gates, which should be of sufficient height to make scaling them difficult. A thief hates to be cornered and will always be looking for escape routes. The traditional country hedge provides an attractive and impenetrable boundary. Prickly shrubs planted along an existing fence are effective and attractive but may take a long time to grow and thicken up.

9. Garden Furniture
Patio furniture, hammocks and parasols are stolen from gardens every year. Take time to mark the items so they can be identified if they are stolen, thereby making them less attractive to the thief. Tables and benches can be secured to the patio using bolts. Any items that can be put away easily should be stored in a secure shed or garage (but leave room for the car!).
Planters, statues, staddle stones and garden ornaments are very valuable and often the target of thieves. Photographs of the items will help the police identify them if they are stolen. Securing them to a concrete base using metal pins is effective.

10. Defensive Planting
Nature's own way to reduce crime. Criminals do not like climbing through prickly plants and hedges. They know that a small item of ripped clothing
or blood can help the police identify them. The following list of plants is not exhaustive but includes some of the best plants to protect your garden.

Rosa Rugosa
Makes a fast growing impenetrable hedge, growing 3 - 4 feet in 12 months.
Pyracantha
Is excellent for hedging, growing under windows or around doorways, a beautiful display of red or orange during winter.
Berberis
Good for hedging and growing by walls. It has very sharp spine like prickles, which are barely visible.
Holly
Many attractive varieties some variegated. Also can be planted in any area needing protection.
Japonica
Can be trained up walls or pruned into a bush.
Hawthorn
Makes a good hedge or pruned bush.
Pampas grass
An excellent plant to put in a vulnerable corner, it has razor sharp leaves.
Rambling roses
Make good cover for drainpipes or along the tops of walls.
Rosa rogosa
Excellent as an impenetrable hedge.
Acacia
(golden frisia) - can be trained against a wall or bush or grow into a small tree.
Mahonia aquafolium
Good used among other prickly shrubs or under windows.
Acanthus
Grow lethal spines on the flower heads, a spectacular plant. Plant near any vulnerable access point, but be careful it is not where children could get scratched.

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