Whitewater
Attractive To Bees
Last year, towards the end of August (just about 3/4 of the way through the 'safe' growing season around here, when there were plenty of tomatoes, peppers, and zucchini -- yikes, the zucchini -- growing in our garden), I came home from work one day to find a disturbing sight.
Our garden was mushed. There were kid-sized (about 8-10 years old) footprints EVERYWHERE and they apparently didn't care whether they knocked plants down or not. The only things to survive were the caged tomatoes. The children had heedlessly trampled cantaloupes, peppers, watermelons, and our teeny-weeny, itty-bitty, super-ultra micro butterfly sanctuary. Even two of the zukes got flattened. Pepper plants were hanging, broken, there were cracked and split baby cantaloupes . . . split banana peppers . . . I don't mind admitting, I cried. And swore.
Their footprints led from the bike tracks in the gravel (where they had parked their bikes, the tire marks were VERY clear), up the steps that lead past our side garage entrance, through the garden and butterfly sanctuary, then they hopped down (we have a raised bed, I'll explain in a second), got on their bikes again, and left.
Our gardening area is outside of our fenced backyard, and is raised about 2.5-3 feet up off the ground. It extends from one side of our property line (and the neighbor's garage) about 20-25 feet long E to W, and N to S it extends about 6-7 feet from our fence. There is a paved area easily big enough for a mini-van or truck between the edge of our garden and the alley behind us. The paved parking has some gravel in it, a pretty deep collection.
Now, there are a lot of kids in our area, ranging from approximately 5 to their first year in college, and most of them are good kids. I recognize many of them, they play in the alley, traditional kid games like hide and seek and bike riding, and of course, 'hanging out' for the older ones.
I never thought, though, that any of them would be so wantonly destructive. And last year was bad enough, even though we hardly had any plants or harvest to speak of . . . but this year will represent a solid investment of $$, time and effort, and our garden will be *considerably* larger -- and with root veggies in it that we didn't have last time.
We're getting rid of the butterfly sanctuary (our darling neighbors decided to step over their side of the line and "get rid of the mess" without consulting us first! Now there's only weeds. . . ) and digging up, then amending, then tilling (again) the entire thing instead of just a third of it. We're going to put up a semi-permanent fence of some sort on our property line so that the neighbors don't get any big ideas (and to show that we're not crossing into their territory!) but what do I do about the kids?
How do I keep these 2-legged pests out of our garden? Last year, miraculously, none of the veg were stolen, but we're putting in so much more stuff this year that I can't help but feel it will be that much more tempting. I mean, I can kind of see it from their point of view, A) they're city kids and don't know (and probably don't care about) the difference between a vegetable and a weed, B) our property was vacant for 3 years (that we know about) before we moved in, and the garden space was nothing but weeds, and I'm sure the kids played in it before and C) there was a fence but it was tiny (ornamental, and only about 6" high) and the zucchini ate it anyway, so it was useless for all practical purposes.
But still.
Should I get more of the semi-permanent fence stuff and just put it around the whole perimeter? Maybe try to cobble up some sort of a gate for our personal access?
Hang out in our garage with a paintball gun? (Just kidding!)
What would you guys do to keep destructive kids out of your garden?
Whitewater
Our garden was mushed. There were kid-sized (about 8-10 years old) footprints EVERYWHERE and they apparently didn't care whether they knocked plants down or not. The only things to survive were the caged tomatoes. The children had heedlessly trampled cantaloupes, peppers, watermelons, and our teeny-weeny, itty-bitty, super-ultra micro butterfly sanctuary. Even two of the zukes got flattened. Pepper plants were hanging, broken, there were cracked and split baby cantaloupes . . . split banana peppers . . . I don't mind admitting, I cried. And swore.
Their footprints led from the bike tracks in the gravel (where they had parked their bikes, the tire marks were VERY clear), up the steps that lead past our side garage entrance, through the garden and butterfly sanctuary, then they hopped down (we have a raised bed, I'll explain in a second), got on their bikes again, and left.
Our gardening area is outside of our fenced backyard, and is raised about 2.5-3 feet up off the ground. It extends from one side of our property line (and the neighbor's garage) about 20-25 feet long E to W, and N to S it extends about 6-7 feet from our fence. There is a paved area easily big enough for a mini-van or truck between the edge of our garden and the alley behind us. The paved parking has some gravel in it, a pretty deep collection.
Now, there are a lot of kids in our area, ranging from approximately 5 to their first year in college, and most of them are good kids. I recognize many of them, they play in the alley, traditional kid games like hide and seek and bike riding, and of course, 'hanging out' for the older ones.
I never thought, though, that any of them would be so wantonly destructive. And last year was bad enough, even though we hardly had any plants or harvest to speak of . . . but this year will represent a solid investment of $$, time and effort, and our garden will be *considerably* larger -- and with root veggies in it that we didn't have last time.
We're getting rid of the butterfly sanctuary (our darling neighbors decided to step over their side of the line and "get rid of the mess" without consulting us first! Now there's only weeds. . . ) and digging up, then amending, then tilling (again) the entire thing instead of just a third of it. We're going to put up a semi-permanent fence of some sort on our property line so that the neighbors don't get any big ideas (and to show that we're not crossing into their territory!) but what do I do about the kids?
How do I keep these 2-legged pests out of our garden? Last year, miraculously, none of the veg were stolen, but we're putting in so much more stuff this year that I can't help but feel it will be that much more tempting. I mean, I can kind of see it from their point of view, A) they're city kids and don't know (and probably don't care about) the difference between a vegetable and a weed, B) our property was vacant for 3 years (that we know about) before we moved in, and the garden space was nothing but weeds, and I'm sure the kids played in it before and C) there was a fence but it was tiny (ornamental, and only about 6" high) and the zucchini ate it anyway, so it was useless for all practical purposes.
But still.
Should I get more of the semi-permanent fence stuff and just put it around the whole perimeter? Maybe try to cobble up some sort of a gate for our personal access?
Hang out in our garage with a paintball gun? (Just kidding!)
What would you guys do to keep destructive kids out of your garden?
Whitewater
I wrote him a letter and I told him the next time he trespassed on my property I would call the police. I told him in the note that I realized that he was trying to help but YOU NEED TO ASK ME FIRST. I left the note on his door with my telephone number on it. 
