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Planting
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| Free Advice - Garden Security |
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Safe
and sound in the outdoor room.
The
idea that the garden is very much an extension of the house has
lead to the concept that the garden can be in effect, ‘an
outdoor room’.
Thinking
about security for the inside of your home has to be a priority in
these ever changing times, so what about that expensive statue in
the front garden or those shiny new tools in the shed?
How do you reduce the risk of losing what you’ve worked
hard for? |
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The
first thought of many is to put up 500W halogens on the front and back
of the house. These are
fine if you want to convince wildlife that you’ve signed up for a
premiership football club, but would you do that indoors? Reduce costs
and impress the neighbours by installing low wattage spotlights beneath
trees and shrubs around the boundary, linked to a motion sensor.
Not only do they highlight the good work you’ve done in the
garden, but you’ll be lighting the perimeter, not the house, making it
harder for intruders to make their way into the garden unnoticed.
Discourage
unwanted visitors by using tried and tested plants at vulnerable points
along the boundary like the tough Pyracantha ‘Saphyr Red’ and
Berberis darwinii, both thorny and evergreen right through the year.
If you’re planting expensive plants in the front garden,
don’t forget, labels are a dead give away that the plants may be new
and not anchored in the ground, so remove them and tuck them just under
the soil next to the plant.
Shingle
paths can help to betray intruding footsteps and if you’re keen on
terracotta, place a deep layer of the same material in the base of pots
to make them heavier. It
also helps with drainage over the winter months. Statues can be
electronically tagged to sound an alarm indoors when removed from the
garden and benches can be secured in concrete footings to prevent light
fingers lifting them away.
If
you’ve got expensive tools in the shed, place ornamental trellis work
over the side windows and face the door towards the house. Many people
try to hide the shed from the house which only makes it easier to be
broken into.
As the television saying goes, “don’t have nightmares!”
BACK
to the advice point, please
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adam s bailey
BA Hons (Garden Design), MGLD
Unit 9, Home Farm, 3 Riverside, Eynsford, Kent, DA4 0AE
Garden design in Kent • East Sussex
• Essex • South East London
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Member of
The Guild of
Landscape Designers
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