Table of Contents
Your garden is supposed to be a safe place for you to relax with your family and friends. But sadly, garden theft has increased over the years with burglars trying new ways to steal things from them, along with finding ways to access the inside of your house through them.
It shouldn’t come as a surprise since people keep high-value items such as barbeques, bikes, gardening equipment, decorative sculptures, and even expensive foliage in their gardens – all of which are lucrative items for burglars to sell for quick cash.
We take so much effort in keeping the insides of our houses safe that we often overlook other important parts, such as the garden.
Since your garden is the first point of access into your home, securing it can help secure your entire property and reduce the risk of a break-in.
There are simple ways in which you can increase the security of your garden, some of which might even add to the aesthetics of your home.
Read on for our top garden security tips on how to keep those pesky intruders and burglars away:
GATES AND FENCES
You must go around your house and look at it from a burglar’s perspective – it’ll help you identify the weak spots and create barriers for entry.
Open gardens are much easier to break into than ones secured with gates and fences. Choosing the right kind of barriers are key to keeping your gardens safe from intrusions.
If they are made in a way that are easy to break or climb on to, they might do you more harm than good. Gates and fences must be made with super strong, durable material, and they should be high enough to keep the inside hidden from plain view.
Fences with sharpened points on the top are also effective in preventing criminals from even attempting to climb atop them and make their way into your property.
LOCKS
Securing your garden with locks is kind of a no-brainer. It is a good idea to strengthen your doors and garden gates (front, side, and back) with secure locks, preferably one at the top and one at the bottom of the gate.
In addition to your garden gates, you must also securely lock the garage doors since garages can provide easy access into your home if the doors are easy to bypass.
However, fitting just any kinds of locks isn’t enough. The locks must be strong enough to keep intruders out and, even if they try to bypass them, they are unable to.
Burglars use a very common technique known as “lock-snapping” where they snap open doors fitted with standard euro-cylinder locks. All it takes is a few seconds, some DIY tools, and a bit of strength.
To counteract the issue, homeowners must use good quality anti-snap locks installed by a residential locksmith to make their gardens safe.
SECURE YOUR SHED
Sheds are one of the most common places in the house that burglars like to target, and also one of the most overlooked by homeowners in terms of security.
Homeowners tend to believe that sheds have nothing of value to steal and therefore, a majority of them fail to comply with the basic and proper security measures.
Sheds are home to a lot of high-value goods that are great steals for criminals. Gardening equipment, lawnmowers, bikes, and barbeques are all kept in sheds, and most criminals are aware of that fact.
The first thing that you must do to secure your shed is to inspect the structure for any weaknesses, such as cracks, gaps, rusty screws, and other structural defects, that might help potential intruders break-in.
The doors and windows must be reinforced and locked using strong anti-snap locks, and windows can be strengthened by installing bars on them.
You can also invest in a sturdy safe to keep your valuables protected not just from theft, but also other elements such as fires and floods.
STORE ITEMS AWAY
Some items are very popular among burglars and which they actively look out for when choosing a property to target.
These include gardening tools, lawnmowers and trimmers, ladders, garden furniture, bicycles and scooters, barbeques, and fancy lawn ornaments.
We get that since you assume your garden is a safe space for you, you can sometimes forget to lock things away after using them and just have them lying around.
This might be a forgetful incident for you or even a lapse in judgement, but for burglars casing your property for vulnerabilities, this can be an invitation.
Also, believe it or not, most burglars don’t carry equipment and tools for breaking in. They do this, or rather don’t do this, because the possession of burglary tools is a criminal offence and also because it’s a hassle to carry tools that might bring attention to them.
How do they manage to break in then? With the tools and equipment that you leave behind!
Intruders look for handy equipment such as ladders and crowbars along with other garden tools and furniture that they can use to break-in.
The simple solution to not let them use your own tools against you is to not leave such equipment out in the open and to lock up garages and sheds that might contain such tools.
DEFENSIVE PLANTS
Plants are an important part of the environment providing us with the air that we need to breathe and exist. That should be reason enough to fill your home garden with lots of beautiful flora and fauna.
In addition to looking lovely and adding to the aesthetics of your garden, plants can be used as barriers to keep trespassers and intruders out of your property.
How? There are many ways you can do that. You can plant a thorny, thick hedge to be used as a fence, or grow thorny climbers, creepers, and vines to act as a deterrent for burglars trying to climb on to them.
Thorny plants can also be strategically placed around the base of the fence’s perimeter, or underneath windows, all the while adding to the look of your home.
Some of the most common plants to be used as hedge barriers include Hawthorn, Blackthorn, Dog Rose, Holly, and Red Pyracantha.
When planting trees, special care must be taken to carefully consider the area of plantation and the size of the plant. Sometimes, due to their position and size, plants can aid intruders in gaining access to your property.
They can do this by climbing on them or using them as a hideout. Therefore, all tall trees in your garden must be trimmed to ensure clear visuals of every area of the property.
GET A DOG
A dog is a man’s best friend, and there is no doubt about that. They not just provide their owners with unconditional love and support, but are also extremely loyal, providing numerous security benefits as well.
These qualities make them an incredibly viable option for increasing your garden security. Dogs have been and still are used in situations where human lives, assets, livestock, and property need to be protected.
Criminals are always on the lookout for opportunities to break into someone’s property and even a second of negligence on your part is enough to give them a chance to make their move.
Having a security dog is like having a living and breathing intruder alarm (without the advanced features, of course) who never let their guard down and are quick to take action.
Extremely alert and responsive, and with a natural hunting capability, if triggered, security dogs not just bark at criminals but also attack them if need be.
Even if they don’t attack, the mere sight of their strong jaw and sharp claws is enough to scare away anyone trying to even think about targeting your home for a burglary.
In addition to keeping human intruders away from your garden, dogs can also help keep stray animals such as raccoons off of your property.
SECURITY LIGHTS
The dark is a criminal’s best friend. It gives them just the right coverage to sneak into places without getting caught and also provides a great hideout while waiting for the right time to strike.
During the night, most homeowners turn on the lights on their front porches but mostly forget to light up their gardens, leaving a majority of the outside area in the dark.
This can be used to the burglars’ advantage and make your property even more lucrative in terms of ease of access.
A great option for all homeowners is to install lights with motion sensors that automatically turn on as soon as someone enters the area. These give them the benefit of saving up on electricity and being notified as soon as movement is detected.
You can also install light timers that work by automatically switching on/off your lights, leaving burglars guessing whether the place is empty or not.
They also give you the chance to override the timer and switch on/off your lights remotely, which enables you to control them even when you are away, such as on vacation.
SECURITY ALARMS
Security alarms work to serve two basic purposes; alerting inhabitants and neighbours of an intrusion, and scaring away potential intruders.
Placed in gardens, burglar alarms can substantially reduce the chances of someone trying to sneak into your property.
They work using a series of sensors that go off as soon as they detect any suspicious activity, notifying the owners to take the necessary action.
Burglar alarms come equipped with different kinds of sensors that include motion, infrared, ultrasonic, microwave, magnetic, photoelectric, and glass-break detectors.
Motion sensors are one of the most common ones and are used to detect movements that come in very handy when the requirement is to detect unusual activity in your garden.
There are different types of burglar alarms to choose from. Picking the best one for your garden depends on the level of security and responsiveness you require.
Bells-only burglar alarms are the most basic type that works using loud sounds and sometimes flashing lights to activate the sensor.
They rely on people inside the house or nearby to hear the alarm and respond to it, making it not the most ideal system for when the house is empty and there’s no one nearby to notify the authorities.
Other types include dialler alarms – with the additional feature of you or your nominated keyholders being contacted in the event of an alarm trigger, monitored alarms – that alert a professional monitoring centre manned by experts who notify the owners, nominated keyholders, or the police as soon as the alarm is triggered, and smart burglar alarms – that are managed via an app with notifications sent to your phone.
CCTV CAMERAS
Burglars hate attention and the idea of being monitored and recorded doesn’t bode well with them. Experts believe that as many as 67% of domestic burglaries could be prevented if people had CCTV cameras installed on their properties.
CCTV cameras monitor and record events happening around the premises and display them in real-time, or to be viewed later, to be used for surveillance.
They do not just record and monitor, but also provide evidence to help easily identify the perpetrators and increase their chances of being caught.
In addition to that, with CCTV monitoring, you can see what is going on in your garden from the comfort of your couch, and in case you sense something fishy, you can call the authorities straight away.
There are various types of CCTV cameras, each of which comes with specialised features used for a specific purpose.
The most popular ones include bullet, dome, C-mount, PTZ (pan/tilt/zoom), day/night, infrared/night vision, network/IP, wired, wireless, and high definition (HD) CCTV cameras.
Choosing the best one for your garden security depends on several factors that include the camera’s resolution, the field of view, placement, power supply, budget, and additional features that include professional monitoring, smartphone notifications, remote access, and two-way communication.
However, certain legal requirements have to be met if you intend to place a CCTV camera outside your property. You must make sure that you angle it in a way that it doesn’t infringe on your neighbour’s or passers-by’s privacy.
SEEK PROFESSIONAL SERVICES
Just implementing security systems and measures is not enough to guarantee maximum garden protection. You must choose a reliable security company to provide you with state-of-the-art services and also guide you along the way.
At Calder Security, we understand the special security that gardens require and are here to provide you with a comprehensive security solution that includes not just professional installation but also monitoring maintenance, and repair services.
We are SSAIB approved installers and follow all the best practices in the industry. We do not compromise on quality and install only high-quality, state-of-the-art security equipment.
We offer various levels of monitoring via a 24-hour monitoring centre, using Dualcom and BT Redcare signalling, which is the most secure alarm monitoring system and the largest supplier of intelligent alarm signalling services in the UK.
We understand the importance of having to regularly maintain security systems since the inability to do so might result in serious faults and consequent vulnerabilities in the security.
We provide professional maintenance checks and reminders for when the checks are due to help you stay compliant with the law, and work fast to restore your security systems to excellent condition.
We have been working in the security industry for over 40 years and have the experience to work on several systems.
We offer a 24-hour call-out service for customers and can also repair systems not installed by us. Our engineers are highly skilled and can restore faulty systems to full working order in one visit.
Contact us here or call us on 0800 612 9799 to talk to our experts right away!
Photo by Gibbon FitzGibbon on Unsplash