Garden vandals?

Hi

I planted years ago the most gorgeous rows of daffodils along the edge of my garden / house and drive. Every year, they come up and look absolutely gorgeous.



However, this year, someone every Saturday evening/ Sunday morning is keen to ruin them. This morning when I went out, I was so upset. Piles of them had been broken and flowers lying on my lawns and roads.



What can I do about this? This is unacceptable.



MGB

Garden vandals?
Technically, it is criminal damage and if they are coming onto your property to do it, it is also trespass.



We had problems (still do) with people cutting through our garden. They've kicked the gates in a few times (dunno why because all they had to do was open them!!) and cut through the hedge which leaves a bit gaping hole in it and has therefore caused damage.



We notified the Police because of the gates and he also made note about the hedge and said that too is criminal damage and because they are cutting thru, it is trespass. He gave us a crime reference number and said that if it happened again and we became a "repeat victim" of that particular crime, then the Police would install discreet cameras to try and catch the culprits.



May seem a bit extreme contacting them about some damaged plants but you can always have a word and see how helpful your local Police are. We're lucky that ours are very good around here.



I know how you feel though, it's completely infuriating!



The other thing I might suggest is the anti vandal paint that doesn't dry. If you know where they are getting through into your garden ie if they have to climb over something, then you could paint that so they get it over their hands and clothes and isn't easy to get off. However, if you have animals that might not be suitable and is the only reason I didn't paint the inside of our hedge with it!
Reply:I have a solution that a mate of mine did - it worked a treat but I take no responsibility for the following suggestion!: He set up a cheap garden sprinkler system in his flower beds. Lead the hose back to a water tank (a plastic bin will do 50-100 litres out of view and he attached a submersible (will sit in the tank) water pump recommended to work with the sprinklers - and filled the tank with water. Here's the clever bit: He added the solution used in stink bombs - contact a stink bomb manufacturer to obtain the stuff in larger quantities - not too expensive to buy and easy to get. He set this up so that he could operate the pump electricity supply from behind his window - he kept the stinky tank outside!!.

If you do this, then you can wait up for them next saturday night and switch it on when the morons start wrecking. You can take this one step further and get it triggered by a passive infra red sensor so that they trigger it themselves when they set foot in your garden!!. This should make them see that their behaviour stinks!!.



Failing this, get a nice looking perimeter metal spiked fence installed and have high gates to your drive.
Reply:Get someone you know to help you pick out /set up a home security camera. Cameras are so cheap now and you can have the footage recorded onto your computer so you don't even have to mess with film, tapes, etc. anymore.



My brother set up security cameras around his whole house, and has it automatically recorded onto his hard drive, and he's not even *that* computer smart but he did it by himself. I think he spent around $300, but he got some fancy shmancy kit that came with everything. You could probably cherrypick just what you need for a lot less, if you can figure out how to get the camera footage sent to your computer - my brother's camera system is wireless.



I am so sorry this has happened to you.



Other things you could do would be to mount a motion light - a big bright light that turns on automatically when it detects motion in a certain area.



I would also file a report with the police. But the cameras would be on my #1 priority list. We're installing cameras too, but I've got a techie husband so I don't know what's involved, lol.



Ooh, just thought of something else, maybe find something you could spray on your new plants that would burn the offenders? Pepper spray, cayenne pepper, or something like that maybe?



There are also motion-detecting sprinkler units that pop up and squirt water - we looked into getting those for people's dogs that poop on our lawn!



p.s. I would not do anything that could be seriously harmful until you find out what the culprit is, animals like dogs, cats using flowerbeds as litterboxes, iguanas, gophers or just about anything can really shred a garden. You might have a furry creature on your hands.
Reply:Unfortunately, most of the things you can do - and would probably like to - are illegal. You mustn't shoot them, you can't install razor wire and you can't electrify the fence, so short of standing there 24/7 there's not a lot you can do to deal with those vandalising creatures - but OH, wouldn't it be lovely if you COULD.......
Reply:Do you like roses? If so why not plant either a decently spiky rambler or patio roses.Patio roses are lovely to look at and get covered in flowers but are as spiky as a very spiky thing.I have left mine to do as they please and i am now very wary of them.The flowers are very pretty though.
Reply:I think the only thing which will really deter imbeciles who do this would be to plant booby traps. Get some help to make sure that you don't kill anyone, just maybe seriously maim them.
Reply:A small CCTV security camera might be your friend here

www.maplins.co.uk is where I bought mine