Protecting your garden from thiefs?

[marylp]

I am looking at seed catalogs, lots of cool stuff. I am really re-thinking this gardening thing. If the poop hits the fan how am I supposed to protect my garden in the middle of the night? How are you guys gonna do it. I guess we will all need our ammo, but I cant see anyone getting shot over a zucchini. I have pecan trees, peaches, plums, almonds, oranges, lemons and limes. I will probably wake up one morning to see my fruit gone. I just dont know what to do. HOw are you planning on protecting your garden short of having armed security. Mary

[vthompson]

I sort of live alone, because I don't really have a close neighbor. But, to protect my garden I would rely on my 4 dogs. They always bark whenever someone is close to our property and I would know to go out and investigate. I also installed motion lights on my house and property, and they light up my place real well when they are on.

[Sourdough]

Attack Geese.........

[RobertRogers]

This is a tough one. How about researching how growers of the various plants used to make drugs hide theirs? Experienced people are your best teachers!

[Rick]

Hopeak is very close. Guineas. They will not only alert you to anyone stepping foot on your property, they will dispatch those snakes you are worried about. You won't have any snakes or unwanted visitors with Guineas around.

I also have motion lights on my house that cover most of the area. I've planted many of my fruits around the perimeter of my house like a flower garden. Strawberries and currants are on one side and edible wild plants on the other. The motion lights even help with raccoons.

[RunsWithDeer]

Two outside dogs at my place let us know if anyone comes on the property. Geese do a good job too, but at my place only if something approaches the pond. In a true TSHTF situation, I would probably have one person up at all times keeping watch (family of 5). There's a lot more than the garden to protect.

[Chris]

ya, in a TSHTF situation, you would require armed protection 24/7 anyways, unless you setup motion sensors & security cameras, which would make the job easier, but you should still have watches assigned.

The other thing is you can live out away from civilization and or band together with neighbors to keep outsiders away.

All in all, it is like running from a bear. You don't need to be faster than the bear, just faster than the people you are with. If you're not the ripest target on the block, you'll be safer.

[Dennis K.]

Dogs & Fencing. These two things are great deterrents.

[gryffynklm]

I'm hoping community will come together like Chris said. I have brought up the SHTF with a few people with in the context of a depression scenario and have found I'm certainly not alone in preparations. Specific SHTF hasn't been discussed yet. At least I have a number of folks talking about a community garden and a few willing to provide a site.

[marylp]

All good ideas guys, but just think how easy it is to take out an animal. Give a dog some antifreeze in his water,he will easily drink it, only to die a miserable death. Guess the same could happen to any animal. Maybe I will just stick to freeze dried and dehydrated. Eventually to run out of course. I have plans to plant other fruit and nut trees. Mary

[crashdive123]

Mary - another thing is to consider is to plant in such a manner that you do not advertise. We had a couple of threads on clandestine gardening that may offer some tips.

http://www.wilderness-survival.net/f...ht=clandestine

http://www.wilderness-survival.net/f...ht=clandestine

Also - don't forget about container gardening. You may not provide all of your needs in this manner, but you can certainly supplement your efforts.

[marylp]

Thank you Crash! I was thinking like you said about containers, I could prolly take them inside the house in the evening.. But I will also be bringing in all the bugs that are nested in them.

[Rick]

You could always put a sign in the garden...

Caution: ONE of the watermellons has been poisoned.

That should make them think for a moment.

[erunkiswldrnssurvival]

I am looking at seed catalogs, lots of cool stuff. I am really re-thinking this gardening thing. If the poop hits the fan how am I supposed to protect my garden in the middle of the night? How are you guys gonna do it. I guess we will all need our ammo, but I cant see anyone getting shot over a zucchini. I have pecan trees, peaches, plums, almonds, oranges, lemons and limes. I will probably wake up one morning to see my fruit gone. I just dont know what to do. HOw are you planning on protecting your garden short of having armed security. Mary

i plant thorny shrubs around the perimeter of my garden, dont plant the good stuff close to your fences. plant sacrificial tomatoes (or other) delights where they are easily accesable to thye "hungry" passer by,(I like Goose Berries)

[Dennis K.]

All good ideas guys, but just think how easy it is to take out an animal. Give a dog some antifreeze in his water,he will easily drink it, only to die a miserable death. Guess the same could happen to any animal. Maybe I will just stick to freeze dried and dehydrated. Eventually to run out of course. I have plans to plant other fruit and nut trees. Mary

Of course you can take out an animal. Or you can take out lights with an air rifle. You could disable alarms by disrupting their power source. You could take out a human guard, if you so choose.

So instead, you add layers of defense. Some out in the open as a deterrent. Some concealed.

Point is, there is no such thing as foolproof security.

[wareagle69]

do not forget the animal theives, they most likely will do more damage than the humans

[gryffynklm]

I protect parts of my garden with marigolds. It helps keep the rabbits away. I don't know if they don't like the smell or if they can't smell the veggies. Besides you can eat the marigolds in salad. Mmmm rose pudding. I haven't made that in a long time.

[Rick]

I always plant marigolds in the garden. It's one of the best natural ways to keep aphids at bay. And they just look nice. But be wary. Not all marigolds are eatable. Two that I'm familiar with are Lemon Gem and Tangerine Gem, which are a cultivar of Tagetes tenuifolia. As far as I know, those are the only edible marigolds and they are not the same as the garden variety marigold.

[jessielavon]

Our plan is to plant out garden in with the natural foliage and weeds,to try and make it look as natural as possible. We will do orgiastic with heirloom seeds.check out companion planting to see what plants can be planted next to what.

[Alpine_Sapper]

All good ideas guys, but just think how easy it is to take out an animal. Give a dog some antifreeze in his water,he will easily drink it, only to die a miserable death. Guess the same could happen to any animal. Maybe I will just stick to freeze dried and dehydrated. Eventually to run out of course. I have plans to plant other fruit and nut trees. Mary

If you are going to buy an animal to prevent a burglary or robbery/pilfering of your garden, make sure he's trained. Just like for an apartment, the dog is no protection if he's going to lick the face of whoever is trying to come in, or take food/water from them. If they can get access to your dogs water, you have done yourself and your animal a disservice. While the statistics show that a dog is not a deterrent, I personally feel (and many of the guard service/working dog trainers I've talked to recently) feel that this is simply a matter of having an undertrained dog. Can it still be shot? Sure. But the dog barking or the gunshot will both wake you up. And if I wake up to find my dog has been shot, you better hope you kept running. Otherwise I'm gonna hamstring you and drag you off into a hole for some hours of cuddly fun with sharp pointy metal things. Like was mentioned though, 24 hour watch shifts is the best route, with a solid firearm and a good dog backing you up while patrolling a high fence with concertina on top. Field expedient land mines and booby traps/mantraps are also a solid knowledge investment jic you are tossed into this situation for real. If they never make it to the fence, that's one less perp you gotta worry about.