A year ago we had new sheds and a new back fence. Behind our back fence is a strip of woodland with a public path running through it parallel to our fence and beyond that a golf course.
We were a bit worried that with the land higher behind the fence than the garden level on our side of the fence it would be quite easy for someone to climb over on to our property. We had concrete gravel boards put in at the bottom of the fence to stop the fence rotting and put some barbed wire over the top of the fence to try to put people off getting over.
We stored our compost bins and log store behind the sheds but in front of the fence and hung our dog crate (useful for transporting chickens) from the fence.
One day I saw that the dog crate had been lifted off the hooks and put on top of the compost bin. I asked my husband if he had moved it and he hadn’t. We thought maybe someone was clearing the way to climb over at night.
We immediately moved the dog crate to the inside of the shed and the compost bins and log store to the patio area in front of the sheds.
After this we stood on a garden chair and looked over the back fence from time to time and a few days ago my husband saw that someone had dumped a garden bench behind our fence. We felt this could easily be used to stand on and try to get over our fence. We went round the back and moved the bench further into the woodland.
As well as being outraged that people would just dump things like this over the back we started to think that we needed to make our back fence more secure. I worry that my chicken shed is just inside this fence and I need to keep my girls safe.
I decided to clear the rubble from against our fence and plant the area with something to make it difficult for people to get close to the fence.
A few days ago I had a day with no lunches to deliver so I went round the back and spent an hour moving the rubble back from the fence. I was then able to scrabble some soil down the bank and into the space behind the gravel boards.
I then took a trip to a garden centre to find some prickly bushes to plant. They had a sale on but not many suitable plants. I was looking for blackberry bushes but it was probably to late in the season. I settled for a holly and a cotoneaster which although not prickly was a big plant.
On my return my husband was back home and came with me to help. While I started planting he dug up a few brambles to add something more prickly. I planted from right to left, a bramble, the cotoneaster, more bramble, the holly then more bramble.
The back of our fence a year ago
The rubble cleared and the ground planted
The fence after we had planted behind it
Not only are we creating a barrier of prickly plants but I have lowered the level behind the fence, by removing the layer of rubble, which makes the fence higher to climb over.
Beyond the bit I have planted
To the left of the bit that I have planted the rubble was too compacted for me to be able to move but it has stinging nettles growing there so it is already protected.
The rubble I have moved back
By moving the rubble back it has created a bit of a barrier leading on to what I hope will be a future patch of impregnable brambles and holly.
The patch beyond the bit I have planted
This is behind the patch where I couldn’t move the rubble. It has already got it’s own barrier of stinging nettles so this bit wasn’t a worry.
Behind my planted strip
This is looking from behind the rubble onto my newly planted strip. I hope that as this gets established it will create a barrier that will put people off getting through.
I have been putting a step ladder against our side of the fence and watering my newly planted strip over the fence each day until it settles in.
I will photograph it again once it has grown and established what I hope will be a thick barrier of plants that will put off anyone getting close to our boundary fence. It will add to what is already a wild woodland strip and I hope it will eventually grow over the rubble and swamp it with dense woodland brambles and nettles.
It is a shame that people use this space to dump on but the more overgrown it gets the more it gets back to a natural wild environment and the safer the properties behind it become. It is also a haven for wildlife. It seems crazy but I actually feel quite pleased that I have created a strip of natural planting behind our fence which I feel is not only safer for our property but will look better and more natural once established.
Click here to see the history of my flock.
whenwe moved to Sheringham, the bungalow had a lovely soft shrub hedge,After a while we had so much trouble with yobs coming home from the pub, throwing themselves into our hedge, breaking it down to the grownd.Bob got so upset he wanted to move,We both love the bungalow,and I decided we would have to do something about it,Wepaid to have the soft hedge taken out, and to have a Pyracantha hedge put in. It was so worth it, no one unless they were mad would throw themselves into a Pyracantha hedge. We have never had any trouble since. Lets hope you have solved your problem, Such a pitty we all have to do such things, because so many people dont know how to behave.
It is a shame but it is the way of the world. Prickly hedges are a very good deterrent.
There will always be someone trying to find an easy way in and the only thing we can do is make it as difficult as possible in the hope that it will put them off.
On our side gate we have three bolts, one at the top with no padlock, one just below that with a padlock and one at the bottom with a padlock. Recently someone had taken the screws out of the top bolt overnight. This showed us that someone had tried to enter but must have realised that this bolt wasn’t padlocked whereas the other two are so they gave up. It is disturbing to know that someone has tried the front and the back but we hope we are doing enough to put them off.
We also have two padlocked bolts on the chicken run and the shed as well as the cabin.
Nice work. Yes, those thorny plant, especially the stinging nettles will definitely deter people from climbing over your fence.
While I was working round the back I got stung several times. I was tingling for days. I hope now that I have moved the rubble the stinging nettles will be able to spread. I intend to take photographs again in the future when I hope it will be overgrown and as you say will deter people.