Defensive gardening helps you keep your home, garden and family pets safe by considering the best way to deal with outside threats. With a few simple adjustments or the addition of a couple new features, you can help keep your property secure. Here are a few ideas.
Add a Hedge
Hedges make a fantastic defense against potential thieves. Boxwood, juniper and privet hedges are great choices for easy growing.
Canadian Hemlock and Hawthorn grow tall, with Hemlock reaching upwards of 70 feet. Prickly hedges, such as those with thorns or sharp spikes, offer an easy way for police officers to get DNA. Add in prickly plants, such as Firethorn or Berberis, for an extra bit of pain-inducing defense.
Watch Your Yard
The best defense against unwanted company is a security camera system. These garden-facing cameras can keep your garden under surveillance. It’s the best way to let thieves know you take your safety seriously and see if someone enters your property without your permission.
At the very least, you can finally prove your neighbor’s dog is behind the random holes dug throughout your yard.
Make Some Noise
If you want to add pathways to your outdoor space, consider gravel. The crunchy, noisy sounds of gravel are a simple theft deterrent and an annoyance to many woodland critters. Walking on gravel scares nervous animals.
Anyone entering your yard may have a hard time quietly navigating around your stone-filled paths. There’s just no way to tread silently over rocks.
Keep Ticks Away
Stop ticks in their tracks. Those noisy gravel pathways serve a double-purpose — not only do they let you know if someone is in your yard, but ticks aren’t a fan of walking across the surface. Clean up dead leaves and firewood. Stack any wood in tidy piles. Not only will you deter ticks, but mice that ticks feed on may find it a less ideal place to nest, too. When you take away a tick’s food source, you’ll limit the pest population in your yard.
Reduce Mosquitoes
Standing water is a breeding ground for mosquitoes. Flower pots, empty dog dishes and buckets are great for collecting water. Dump them out to reduce your mosquito issues. If you have a bird bath, frequently clean out the bath and replace the water.
Mow long grass to keep mosquitoes at bay so you can enjoy your outdoor spaces without the itchy aftermath.
Deter Coyotes
Coyotes are everywhere, but for people with kids or pets, coyotes are a particularly unwelcome addition to the landscape. Keep coyotes out of your outdoor space by adding a rolling bar to your tall fence. Coyotes can’t maintain their grip and roll back where they were.
If you don’t have a fence, add a motion-activated light to your yard to help scare away any four-legged intruder. Keep trash covered so coyotes aren’t lured in by the scent. Simply changing up large objects in your yard can help confuse a coyote.
Protect Your Outdoor Spaces
When unwanted visitors threaten to harm your outdoor space, you can fight back. Whether you add rolling bars to your fences or a living wall to your yard, it’s one way to maintain your boundaries.
Add in a camera security system and you’ll always know what’s happening in your yard — even when you can’t be there.
